Chapter 5 - Fire and Redemption
A flash-bang grenade crashed through the high skylight above Victor’s head, exploding with a deafening bang and a blinding white flash.
The sudden blast threw Victor backward onto the balcony floor. The two guards below lowered their weapons instinctively to cover their eyes, and in that split second, I raised my pistol and fired twice.
Both guards went down instantly, their weapons clattering against the hardwood floor.
"Jason!" Emma screamed as the smell of smoke began to fill the hall. A secondary charge placed near the basement doors had ignited, flames quickly licking up the wooden walls.
I sprinted to her, dropping to my knees and using my tactical knife to slice through the heavy zip-ties around her wrists and ankles.
The moment her hands were free, Emma didn't run. She threw her arms around my neck, pulling me tight against her, her warm breath trembling against my ear.
"The boys..." she sobbed, her body shaking violently. "Jason, where are the boys? Did they make it to you? Are they safe?"
"They're safe, Emma," I whispered fiercely, pressing my face into her hair, smelling the familiar scent of vanilla and rain despite the smoke. "They're at my home. They're eating pancakes. They're waiting for you."
Tears spilled over her eyes as she pulled back, staring at my face as if verifying I was real. "You... you didn't turn them away?"
"I will never turn them away," I promised her, my heart breaking at the realization of what she had suffered alone for five years. "And I am never letting anyone hurt you again."
"Jason! Above you!" Marcus shouted from the doorway.
I looked up. Victor had stumbled to his feet on the balcony, his face bloody from the glass shards of the skylight. He was holding a heavy revolver, pointing it directly at my head.
"If I don't get the firm, nobody does!" Victor screamed, his eyes wild with madness.
Before he could pull the trigger, the entire structural beam supporting the second-floor gallery—already weakened by years of neglect and now consumed by fire—snapped with a thunderous crack.
Victor gasped as the floor gave way beneath him. He plummeted into the raging inferno below, his screams swallowed by the roar of the collapsing roof.
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"Out! Get out now!" Marcus yelled, hauling both of us toward the shattered conservatory doors.
I grabbed Emma’s hand, lacing my fingers tightly through hers, and pulled her through the roaring flames and out into the cool, cleansing mountain rain.
