Chapter 4 - The Tides Turn
"Get the files!" Julian screamed at his guards, his arrogant composure completely shattering into frantic panic. "Burn the room! Burn everything in this wing right now!"
The guards hesitated, looking at each other in shock. "Sir, the State Attorney is downstairs—"
"I don't care!" Julian roared, pulling a silver sleek lighter from his pocket and flicking open the flame. "If those ledgers are in this house, we all go to prison for life! Set fire to the drapes! Move!"
He thrust the lighter toward the heavy velvet curtains hanging near the doorway. The dry, dusty fabric caught fire instantly, a wall of bright orange flame roaring up toward the wooden ceiling rafters. Smoke began to billow into the room, thick, black, and choking.
"Elena, run!" I screamed, turning and yanking the closet door open.
Elena burst out from the closet, her face pale with terror as smoke filled the chamber. Julian spun around, his eyes locking onto Elena for the first time in four years.
"You!" Julian snarled, lunging toward her like a rabid animal. "You ruined everything!"
Before Julian could reach her, I grabbed a heavy iron candlestick from the bedside table and swung it with all the strength left in my body.
CLANG!
The heavy brass base struck Julian right across the shoulder. He let out a howl of pain, stumbling backward into his two guards. The blow knocked the lighter from his hand, sending it rolling across the floor where it ignited the thousands of dry charcoal sketches covering the hardwood.
The room erupted into an inferno.
"Sarah, the door!" Elena choked out, coughing violently as the thick smoke filled her lungs.
The flames were spreading across the doorway, blocking our escape to the main hall. The heat was immense, blistering the paint on the walls. The guards, realizing the fire was out of control and hearing the sirens echoing outside the mansion, abandoned Julian altogether. They shoved past us, leaping through the wall of fire to save their own skin.
Julian stumbled up from the floor, clutching his injured shoulder, his eyes wild with madness. "You're both going to burn in here!" he laughed maniacally, backing toward the secret door behind the wardrobe. "This wing was built with a fire escape to the east courtyard! You have no key! You die here!"
He slipped through the hidden wardrobe panel and slammed it shut, locking it from the inside.
"The air is getting too thin!" Elena gasped, falling to her knees, clutching her throat. Her fragile body couldn't handle the suffocating carbon monoxide.
"We aren't dying in this trap!" I yelled. I grabbed Elena by the arm, slinging her thin frame over my shoulder, and looked around the burning room.
The boarded-up bay window was our only choice.
I grabbed the heavy oak chair from the vanity desk and smashed it repeatedly against the wooden planks covering the window.
CRACK! CRACK! BANG!
The old wood splintered. Fresh, cool outdoor air rushed into the room, clearing the smoke for a brief second. I leaned out the shattered window, coughing frantically, and looked down.
We were three stories up. Below us was the tiled roof of the garden conservatory, about fifteen feet down.
"Sarah!" a voice roared from below.
I looked down. Rafael was at the edge of the terrace, standing on his own two feet—his legs trembling violently, his hands gripping the iron railing for balance, tears streaming down his face as he stared up at the burning wing. The sheer shock and adrenaline of seeing the flames had forced his body to fight against its paralysis.
"Rafael!" Elena screamed from behind me, crawling to the window sill.
"Elena! Sarah!" Rafael sobbed, his voice carrying over the crackle of the flames. "Jump to the conservatory roof! The glass is reinforced! Jump!"
Behind us, the wooden ceiling beams groaned and began to collapse in a shower of glowing sparks. We had seconds before the roof caved in.
"Hold onto me, Elena!" I shouted, grabbing her around the waist.
"I'm scared, Sarah!" she sobbed.
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"Trust me!" I yelled. "On three! One... two... THREE!"
We leaped out into the open air.
