Chapter 8 - The Fire in the Night
They arrived back at the Hale mansion to the sound of sirens.
Clara’s heart plunged into her stomach. Red and blue lights flashed against the snow. Smoke—thick, black, and suffocating—was billowing from the west wing of the estate.
"The children!" Clara screamed, throwing open the car door before Victor had even parked.
She ran through the snow, her heels sinking into the drifts, Victor right behind her. The security guards were holding back Mason, Lily, Ryder, and Cole, who were all shivering in their pajamas.
"Where is Theo?!" Clara shrieked, looking frantically at the children.
"He went back in!" Mason cried, tears freezing on his cheeks. "He went back to get the family photo album! The one you made!"
Without a second thought, Victor sprinted past the guards, ignoring their shouts, and vanished into the burning, smoky entryway of the mansion.
"Victor! Theo!" Clara screamed, her voice cracking. She tried to follow, but a firefighter grabbed her, holding her back. She fell to her knees in the snow, clutching the four children to her chest, praying, crying, feeling the warmth of their perfect life being burned to ashes before her eyes.
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It felt like an eternity. The crackle of the flames and the roar of the fire engines filled the night.
Then, through the thick black smoke of the front double-doors, a figure emerged. Victor was carrying Theo over his shoulder. Both of them were coughing, covered in soot, but alive. In Theo’s arms, clutched tightly to his chest, was the leather-bound family album.
