Chapter 5 - The Flame
The explosion ripped through the small apartment with terrifying, deafening force.
A massive wall of fire consumed the kitchen, blasting the assassins back into the hallway.
Dante shielded Clara and Sophia with his own body as the shockwave shattered the windows.
The fire sprinklers instantly activated, raining dirty water down upon the burning room.
"Move now!" Dante shouted, hauling Clara to her feet.
They scrambled through the shattered living room window and dropped onto the rusted fire escape.
Sirens wailed in the distance as the entire apartment building began to evacuate.
They climbed down to the dark alley and stole a running delivery car left idling near the curb.
Dante drove them furiously out of the city limits, his face pale from blood loss.
A piece of shrapnel had torn deeply into his left shoulder during the explosion.
Clara sat in the passenger seat, holding Sophia and the dead phone closely.
"Where are we going?" Clara asked, tearing a piece of her shirt to bandage Dante's wound.
"I know an underground doctor who owes me his life," Dante gritted out through the pain.
They arrived at an abandoned veterinary clinic hidden deep in the industrial district.
Dr. Aris, an older man with nervous eyes, quickly let them inside and locked the steel doors.
He immediately began stitching Dante's bleeding shoulder on a metal examination table.
Clara found a compatible outlet and plugged Elena's phone into the wall again.
For ten agonizing minutes, nothing happened.
Then, the cracked screen suddenly flickered and glowed a bright, artificial white.
The phone powered on, revealing a hidden lock screen photograph.
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It was a picture of Julian Vancini passionately kissing Elena.
Dante stared at the screen, his entire world completely shattering.
