Chapter 8 - The Blazing Cage
“Are you completely insane, Victoria?” Eleanor screamed, pushing Maya and Lily behind her.
“If I can’t have this empire, nobody will,” Victoria declared, her eyes wide with madness.
She pulled the trigger of the heavy flare gun.
A bright red projectile shot out and struck the gasoline puddle in the center of the room.
The carpet instantly erupted into a massive wall of raging fire.
The flames spread with terrifying speed, crawling up the heavy velvet curtains and antique wallpaper.
Victoria dropped the flare gun and sprinted out the door, locking it firmly behind her.
Thick, toxic black smoke immediately began filling the grand study.
“We have to use the trapdoor!” Maya yelled over the roaring sound of the fire.
She rushed to the corner where they had climbed up from the tunnels.
She pulled the brass ring, but the heavy wooden panel refused to budge.
The fire had rapidly expanded across the floorboards, warping the wood and jamming the mechanism completely.
They were trapped in a burning cage.
Eleanor grabbed a heavy oak chair and smashed it against the reinforced glass windows.
The security glass spider-webbed, but it did not break.
The heat was becoming utterly unbearable, blistering their skin.
Lily began coughing violently, clinging to her mother’s leg.
The ceiling groaned above them as the fire compromised the mansion's structural integrity.
A massive, burning crystal chandelier suddenly detached from the ceiling.
It crashed down precisely where Eleanor was standing.
Maya shoved her mother out of the way just in time, but the debris pinned Maya's foot to the floor.
“Leave me, Mom, save Lily!” Maya cried out, desperately trying to free herself.
Eleanor ignored her, grabbing a heavy book to pry the burning wood off her daughter.
The smoke was so thick they could no longer see the door.
Eleanor felt her lungs failing, knowing they were all going to die in the ashes of her legacy.
Suddenly, a deafening explosion shattered the reinforced windows from the outside.
A massive black armored SUV had just rammed backward directly through the exterior wall.
The impact tore a huge hole in the side of the burning mansion.
Three men in full tactical gear jumped out of the vehicle, wielding assault rifles.
They rushed into the flames, effortlessly lifting the heavy debris off Maya's leg.
One of the men scooped Lily up in his arms while another supported Eleanor.
They rushed the women into the back of the armored vehicle just as the entire roof collapsed.
Eleanor gasped for clean air as the SUV sped away from the roaring inferno.
She looked up at the man sitting in the front passenger seat.
He took off his tactical helmet, revealing a sharp, handsome face with piercing grey eyes.
May you like
Maya gasped in absolute disbelief, covering her mouth with her soot-stained hands.
“Alexander?” Maya whispered, staring at the husband who had supposedly died seven years ago.
