Chapter 7 - Through the Flames
Thick black smoke billowed into the sky, choking the air around the burning warehouse.
"Tessa!" I screamed, running toward the blazing structure without a second thought.
Lucas caught my waist, but I elbowed him hard and kicked the side entrance door open.
The heat was unbearable, singeing my eyelashes and making my lungs burn with every frantic breath.
We crawled on our hands and knees beneath the thick layer of toxic smoke.
In the far corner of the storage room, I spotted a figure tied to a heavy metal support beam.
It was Tessa, unconscious but still breathing faintly.
Lucas used his pocket knife to slash through the thick zip ties binding her wrists.
We dragged her out of the building just as a massive section of the burning roof collapsed behind us.
Tessa coughed violently as the cool night air filled her lungs on the grassy embankment.
"The video... I backed it up on a flash drive in my pocket," she gasped, handing me a small metal stick.
"Why did he go this far just for a beauty pageant?" I asked, wiping soot from her forehead.
Tessa looked up at me with tears cutting through the dark ash on her face.
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"It was never about the pageant," she choked out.
"Grandpa didn't leave the family fortune to Warren; he bypassed him and left the entire trust fund to Maisie."
