Chapter 12 - THE FIRE IN THE LIBRARY
The bullet struck the desk lamp.
Glass and sparks exploded across the carpet.
Flame caught the old curtains.
Smoke rolled toward the ceiling.
Graham grabbed the gun from Evelyn’s hand and shoved her aside.
He ran for the locked doors.
Serena picked up the damaged ring.
The transmitter light was gone.
“Did they hear enough?” she asked.
Julian kicked at the door panel.
“They heard everything.”
Outside, officers rammed the entrance while the fire climbed the curtains.
Evelyn crawled toward a hidden wall switch.
Julian caught her hand.
“What does it open?”
“Nothing you deserve.”
He pressed it.
A section of bookcase swung inward, revealing a narrow escape tunnel.
Graham was already inside.
Serena followed him.
“Serena!” Julian shouted.
But she disappeared into the smoke.
Ortiz and her team broke through the library doors.
They pulled Evelyn outside as firefighters entered.
Julian headed for the tunnel.
Ortiz grabbed him.
“You don’t know where it leads.”
“I know where Graham is going.”
The tunnel ended near the estate boathouse.
Julian reached the lake as Graham untied a speedboat.
Serena stood on the dock, blocking him.
“You’re done,” she said.
Graham raised the gun.
“You chose a man who watched you humiliate him.”
“No. I chose not to become you.”
He fired.
Julian pulled Serena down.
The bullet struck the dock.
Ortiz’s officers surrounded the boathouse from both sides.
Graham stepped into the boat, but the engine would not start.
Noah appeared near the fuel station holding the boat’s ignition cable.
Julian stared at him.
“What are you doing here?”
Noah lifted the cable.
“Making sure rich people don’t escape through employee parking again.”
Graham was arrested before sunrise.
But as Ortiz placed him in the patrol car, she received a call from the hospital.
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Rachel Cross had vanished from her guarded room.
And the nurse assigned to her had been found tied up in a supply closet.
