Chapter 6 - The Great Escape
The intense heat radiated against Adrian’s skin as he stared helplessly through the wall of roaring flames.
Clara was trapped on the other side, weakly leaning against the wall as the smoke grew thicker.
She yelled at him to go, her voice barely audible over the crackling and popping of the burning wood.
Adrian violently shook his head, refusing to let the woman who saved his daughter die alone in this inferno.
He wrapped his ruined suit jacket around his arm and prepared to dive straight through the blazing debris.
Suddenly, a powerful blast of water shattered the remaining glass of the bay window from the outside.
The local fire department had finally arrived, and their high-pressure hose blasted the flames back just enough.
Adrian didn’t hesitate for a single second, rushing into the gap and grabbing Clara around the waist.
He dragged her through the soot and water, pulling her safely out onto the cool, wet grass of the lawn.
Paramedics immediately swarmed them, placing oxygen masks on their faces and checking Clara’s gunshot wound.
Adrian sat on the grass, coughing up black soot while watching his beautiful mansion burn into the night sky.
He looked over at Olivia, who was rocking little Emma in a thick foil blanket, both completely unharmed.
Relief washed over him in a massive wave, followed instantly by a crushing sense of gratitude toward Clara.
He crawled over to her stretcher and took her uninjured hand, promising that he would make everything right.
Clara gave him a weak, tired smile before her eyes fluttered closed and the monitors began to beep rapidly.
A paramedic shouted that her blood pressure was dropping fast and they needed to move her immediately.
As they loaded Clara into the ambulance, a police officer approached Adrian with a grim expression.
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The officer held up a clear evidence bag containing Vanessa’s charred, abandoned purse, asking if Adrian recognized the passport inside.
Adrian stared at the document, realizing the photo was Vanessa, but the name belonged to a notorious international fugitive.
