Chapter 14 - THE LAST FIRE
Carmine knocked Nell to the ground.
“Down!”
Another shot hit the dirt.
Benny fired toward the trees.
“Move!”
They crawled behind a stone wall.
Nell’s heart hammered.
“Calder?”
“Probably.”
Carmine looked over the wall.
Nothing.
Then an engine roared near the cemetery gate.
A black SUV tore away.
Benny fired twice.
Missed.
Carmine stood.
“He’s not trying to kill us.”
Nell stared.
“He just shot at my head.”
“He wanted us scared and moving.”
“Moving where?”
Carmine’s phone rang.
Palmira.
He answered immediately.
“Grandmother?”
A man replied.
“Wrong Orsini.”
Calder.
Carmine’s face emptied.
“Where is she?”
“Home.”
Nell whispered, “No.”
Calder continued.
“Bring the evidence.”
“You’ve tried that already.”
“This time I have your grandmother.”
Carmine’s voice went low.
“If you touch her—”
Palmira shouted in the background.
“Carmine, don’t bring him a damn thing!”
A slap.
Carmine’s eyes turned black.
Calder laughed.
“Still terrifying.”
The call ended.
They drove like the city was burning behind them.
When they reached the Orsini estate, smoke was pouring from the kitchen windows.
Nell stared.
Fire.
Again.
Carmine grabbed her.
“You stay outside.”
“No.”
“Nell.”
“Your grandmother is inside.”
“So is Calder.”
“Then we agree there’s a problem.”
Benny cut the alarm.
They entered through the east wing.
Smoke rolled across the ceiling.
Carmine moved toward the dining room.
Nell heard Palmira coughing.
“This way!”
They found her tied to a chair near the fireplace.
Calder stood behind her.
Gun in hand.
“You came.”
Carmine lifted the metal box.
“The evidence.”
“Put it down.”
He did.
“Kick it over.”
Carmine kicked it.
Calder smiled.
“There we go.”
Palmira glared at him.
“You always were an ugly little boy.”
Calder looked offended.
Nell almost laughed.
“Shut up, old woman.”
“I’m seventy-eight. You think that insult has power?”
Calder raised the gun.
Carmine moved half an inch.
“Don’t.”
Calder looked at him.
“Your father ruined me.”
“My father didn’t chain people inside buildings.”
“He blocked my future.”
“You did that yourself.”
Calder’s face twisted.
“All of you say that.”
Nell stepped from the smoke.
“And it keeps being true.”
Calder turned.
His eyes widened.
“Eleanor.”
“You really should’ve stayed with property development.”
He aimed at her.
“You destroyed everything.”
“No.”
She took another step.
“You burned my bakery.”
Another.
“You hurt my father.”
Another.
“You bought a report.”
Another.
“You let Varrick destroy my name.”
Calder shouted, “Stop!”
She did.
“But you didn’t destroy me.”
His hand shook.
That was when Palmira kicked him.
Hard.
Calder stumbled.
Carmine lunged.
The gun fired.
Nell screamed.
Carmine and Calder crashed onto the floor.
Benny ran in.
Calder grabbed a burning curtain and threw it across the doorway.
Flames climbed fast.
He bolted toward the kitchen.
Nell untied Palmira.
Carmine chased Calder.
“Carmine!” Benny shouted.
The kitchen was fully burning.
Calder reached the rear service door.
He pulled.
It wouldn’t open.
A fallen beam had jammed it.
He pulled again.
Panic took over his face.
“Help!”
Carmine stopped ten feet away.
The irony was brutal.
Calder looked at the blocked exit.
Then at Carmine.
“Help me!”
For one terrible second, Carmine didn’t move.
Nell appeared behind him.
She understood exactly what he was thinking.
Calder had chained her family inside a burning building.
Now the fire had chained him.
“Carmine,” she said.
He looked at her.
She could have said leave him.
Part of her wanted to.
Instead she whispered, “We’re not him.”
Carmine grabbed Calder.
Together they dragged him toward another exit.
A burning cabinet collapsed behind them.
They stumbled outside as the kitchen windows blew out.
Police surrounded the yard.
Calder fell to his knees, coughing.
An officer cuffed him.
Nell stood in the rain watching the house burn.
Carmine came beside her.
“You saved him.”
“We saved ourselves.”
He looked at her.
She wiped soot from her face.
“If I let him die because I wanted him to feel what we felt, he still owns part of me.”
Carmine said nothing.
Across the lawn, paramedics checked Palmira.
She yelled at one of them.
“I said my blood pressure is always high. My family is annoying.”
Carmine almost smiled.
Then Benny approached.
“The federal prosecutor called.”
“And?”
“Varrick survived.”
Nell turned.
“Calder?”
“Going back into custody.”
“Doyle?”
“Testifying tomorrow.”
Carmine nodded.
Benny looked at Nell.
“There’s one more thing.”
She tensed.
“What now?”
“The city attorney wants to speak with you.”
“Why?”
“Because Fontaine Bakery was condemned using falsified evidence.”
Nell stared.
May you like
Benny smiled.
“They want to discuss giving the property back.”
