Chapter 12 - The Fire That Tried to Bury the Truth Again|
Fire spread across the kitchen floor so quickly that I barely had time to scream.
Heat struck my face.
Black smoke rolled toward the ceiling.
Luca grabbed my hand.
“Claire, move!”
Tomas shouted for everyone to get away from the doorway.
Maya's agents were calling for emergency assistance.
The evidence specialist seized the steel box.
But burning debris began falling from the ceiling.
Margaret stumbled.
I caught her before she hit the floor.
“Margaret!”
She was coughing violently.
“I can't breathe.”
I pulled my sleeve over my mouth.
“Stay with me.”
Luca hurried toward us.
He lifted Margaret into his arms.
Tomas pushed against the front kitchen door.
It wouldn't open.
Someone had jammed it from the other side.
For one terrifying second, I thought we were going to die in the same kind of fire that had destroyed Dominic's life.
Then Margaret grabbed my wrist.
“The pantry.”
I leaned closer.
“What?”
“Behind the pantry.”
She coughed again.
“There's an old delivery exit.”
Luca turned toward Tomas.
“Find it!”
We hurried through the narrow passage as smoke thickened behind us.
The pantry was filled with abandoned shelves and overturned crates.
A heavy wooden cabinet blocked the far wall.
Tomas pushed against it.
It barely moved.
Luca lowered Margaret onto a sturdy chair.
Then he helped Tomas shove the cabinet aside.
Behind it stood a narrow wooden door.
My heart leaped.
But the metal latch had rusted shut.
Tomas tried to force it open.
Nothing happened.
Smoke began filling the room.
Margaret started coughing harder.
“Please,” I whispered.
“Please open.”
I looked down.
Margaret was still wearing my black secondhand heels.
The same shoes I had given her outside the wedding.
Their narrow heels were made of reinforced metal.
An idea struck me.
“Margaret, I need one of your shoes.”
She looked confused.
“Sweetheart?”
“Please!”
She slipped it off.
I grabbed it and wedged the metal heel beneath the rusted latch.
Then I pulled with everything I had.
The latch shifted.
I tried again.
This time it snapped.
The door swung outward.
Cold air rushed into my face.
“It's open!”
Tomas immediately called to the agents outside.
We emerged into the rear alley, coughing and covered in soot.
A firefighter was approaching from the street.
Other emergency vehicles arrived moments later.
Luca helped Margaret onto a stretcher.
Her breathing was difficult, but she was conscious.
I held her hand.
“You're going to be okay.”
She tried to smile.
“My shoes.”
I looked down.
One black heel remained wedged in the pantry door.
The other lay beside us in the alley.
I almost laughed through my tears.
“Margaret, I promise I'll buy you another pair.”
She squeezed my hand.
“I don't need another pair.”
Her voice was weak.
“Those shoes helped us get out.”
An emergency medical worker guided her toward the ambulance.
Then Luca looked back toward the burning restaurant.
“Where's Sal?”
Tomas grabbed his arm.
“Luca, don't.”
“He went through the basement.”
“He knows another way out.”
“You can't go back inside.”
Luca stared at the smoke.
I knew what he was thinking.
Thirty years earlier, someone had died behind a locked door while powerful men chose to protect themselves.
Luca didn't want history to repeat itself.
Then a figure appeared through the smoke near the rear entrance.
Salvatore stumbled into the alley.
His coat was burning at one sleeve.
He fell to his knees.
Luca rushed forward with Tomas and pulled him clear.
A firefighter extinguished the flames.
Salvatore stared at Luca in disbelief.
“Why?”
Luca was breathing heavily.
“Why what?”
“Why would you save me?”
Luca looked at the man who had betrayed his family.
“Because I'm not going to become Victor Bellini.”
Salvatore began crying.
Maya approached with two agents.
They took Salvatore into custody after medical personnel examined him.
He didn't resist.
Before they led him away, he reached toward Luca.
“I should have told you.”
Luca said nothing.
Salvatore's voice shook.
“I was there that night.”
“I knew Leonard Price was locked inside.”
Luca's face went pale.
“You knew?”
Salvatore nodded.
“Victor told me Leonard was already dead.”
“I wanted to believe him.”
“But I heard someone shouting before the fire spread.”
He began sobbing.
“I walked away.”
Luca slowly stepped backward.
For a moment, he looked as though he'd been struck.
Then Maya asked Salvatore one final question.
“Where is Victor Bellini?”
Salvatore wiped his face.
“He has a private escape route through the river docks.”
“Which dock?”
“Pier Nine.”
Maya immediately alerted her team.
Meanwhile, the evidence specialist emerged from the alley carrying the recovered steel box.
The papers had been damaged by smoke, but the sealed contents were intact.
Several pages had also been photographed before the fire started.
Victor had failed to destroy the evidence.
Again.
As the firefighters worked, Luca stood beside me watching the restaurant burn.
The glow reflected across his exhausted face.
“I spent my whole life trying to make people afraid of me.”
He looked at the ambulance carrying Margaret away.
“And an old woman with one shoe just saved us all.”
I touched his hand.
“Maybe that's what strength really looks like.”
He looked at me.
Then he gently wrapped his fingers around mine.
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
But Maya's phone suddenly rang.
Her expression darkened.
She listened for several seconds.
Then she approached us.
“Luca, Victor knows we recovered the documents.”
“How?”
“He contacted Vanessa.”
I felt my stomach tighten.
“What did he say?”
Maya looked toward the burning restaurant.
“He wants his daughter to meet him at Pier Nine tonight.”
May you like
She hesitated.
“And he told her that if she brings the police, he'll make sure she never leaves the pier alive.”
