CHAPTER 21 FIRE IN THE EAST WING
The east wing filled with smoke within minutes.
Elena carried Grace.
Adrian carried Daniel.
Rebecca guided residents toward the ballroom’s emergency exit.
The fire had started inside an empty apartment, but it spread faster than it should have.
Someone had disabled the internal fire doors.
“Use the courtyard!” a security guard shouted.
“No,” Elena said. “Take everyone through the kitchen service entrance.”
Daniel had warned her about the courtyard.
She did not know whether to trust him, but she would not risk Grace.
The residents escaped through the rear gardens.
Fire crews arrived seven minutes later.
One team entered the east wing.
Another searched the underground level.
Elena watched flames break through an upper window.
That section of the building had once contained Victoria Whitmore’s private bedroom.
It now stored intake documents for families staying at the center.
Rebecca stood beside her.
“They are burning records.”
“Whose?”
“Someone who came here under a false name.”
Adrian joined them.
“Daniel says Miriam brought him because she expected the attack.”
“Then why did she leave him?”
“Maybe she did not have a choice.”
A firefighter emerged from the building with blood on his gloves.
“We found a man behind the old service stairs.”
“Alive?” Elena asked.
“Barely.”
The injured man wore no identification.
His clothes were soaked from the sprinkler system.
A silver hawk pin was attached to his collar.
Daniel saw it and hid behind Adrian.
“That is one of them.”
Paramedics placed the man on a stretcher.
His eyes opened as they passed Elena.
He grabbed her sleeve.
“Samuel was right,” he whispered.
“About what?”
“The center.”
His breathing became shallow.
“They waited for you to open the gates.”
“Who waited?”
The man looked toward Adrian.
“He did.”
Elena followed his gaze.
Adrian stood motionless.
The paramedics tried to move the stretcher, but the man refused to release Elena’s sleeve.
“Your brother opened the gates once before.”
Elena’s stomach tightened.
“When?”
“The night your father died.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“He is confused.”
The man’s eyes remained fixed on Elena.
“Ask him what he traded for the child.”
His grip loosened.
The paramedics rushed him toward the ambulance.
Elena turned to Adrian.
“You said Dad ordered you to take the baby.”
“He did.”
“What did you trade?”
“Nothing.”
The injured man lifted his head from the stretcher.
His final words carried across the garden.
“Adrian Mercer traded Samuel’s evidence for the baby’s life.”
Then his body went still.
A paramedic closed the ambulance doors.
May you like
Elena stared at her brother.
Adrian did not deny it.
