Chapter 8 - The Second Fire
Clara smelled gasoline before she saw the flames.
Sebastian had planned everything.
If he couldn't unlock the money, he would destroy the evidence.
And everyone with it.
Onyx thundered toward the abandoned barns.
Sebastian disappeared inside.
Clara jumped down.
“Stay.”
Onyx stamped.
“Please.”
She entered.
Rows of empty stalls stretched into darkness.
Sebastian stood at the far end with the ledger.
“You always were reckless,” he said.
“You never knew me.”
“I watched you grow up.”
Clara stopped.
“What?”
“Someone had eyes on your family every year.”
Cold moved through her.
“Why?”
“Because your mother refused to reveal the last cipher.”
“She was dying.”
“She was stubborn.”
Clara’s hands curled.
“You threatened her.”
“Yes.”
“Did you cause her cancer too?”
Sebastian laughed.
“No. Life did that for me.”
Clara wanted to kill him.
The feeling frightened her.
Then she remembered Eliza.
People can leave us and still stay inside our hearts.
Her mother had not survived everything so Clara could become Sebastian.
“What do you want from me?”
“The sequence.”
“I don’t have it.”
“You do.”
“No.”
Sebastian studied her.
“Helen gave it to you.”
“My mother gave me medical bills and recipes.”
“She gave you a lullaby.”
Clara froze.
Sebastian smiled.
“There.”
Her mother had sung one unusual lullaby while Clara was young.
Not words.
Numbers.
Clara had always thought it was a strange memory.
Seven-one-four.
Three-nine-two.
Repeated rhythms.
Her mother had turned code into music.
Sebastian saw recognition.
“Tell me.”
Clara shook her head.
“No.”
He pulled a gun.
“Then Roman Bellamy becomes a widower twice.”
“He’s not my husband.”
“Not yet.”
Clara’s expression changed.
Sebastian smiled.
“Men like Roman don’t look at employees the way he looks at you.”
“Roman wants to arrest me half the time.”
“And kiss you the other half.”
Clara almost rolled her eyes.
“Are we really discussing my dating life while standing in gasoline?”
Sebastian raised the pistol.
“Numbers.”
A gunshot echoed.
Sebastian’s weapon flew from his hand.
Roman stood behind him.
“I’m beginning to understand why she slapped me.”
Clara stared.
“You followed me.”
“Obviously.”
“I told you—”
“You actually never told me not to.”
Sebastian ran.
Roman pursued.
The older man kicked over a lantern.
Flames raced along gasoline trails.
“ROMAN!”
Fire exploded between them.
Clara backed away.
Smoke filled the barn.
Onyx screamed outside.
Roman appeared through flames.
“GO!”
“Sebastian!”
“Forget him!”
“He has the ledger.”
“He can have it.”
Clara stared.
“Four hundred million dollars.”
“I have enough money.”
“That’s not your money!”
“I DON'T CARE!”
Roman grabbed her.
“I care about getting you out alive.”
For a moment, Clara forgot the fire.
Then the roof cracked.
They ran.
Outside, Gabriel held Eliza.
Blood covered his temple.
Roman looked at him.
“You okay?”
“I’ve had better mornings.”
Roman punched him.
Gabriel fell.
Eliza gasped.
“Daddy!”
Roman shook his hand.
“That was for lying for three years.”
Gabriel sat up.
“Fair.”
Then Roman pulled him into a hug.
Gabriel froze.
Roman whispered:
“That is for bringing her back alive.”
Gabriel closed his eyes.
Clara looked away, unexpectedly emotional.
A horse screamed.
Onyx.
One of Sebastian’s men had grabbed his reins.
Clara ran.
The man attempted to mount.
Onyx threw him violently.
Clara reached him.
“Easy!”
The stallion trembled.
Behind them, the barn burned.
Clara suddenly remembered another night.
Another fire.
Her mother running toward her.
Her father disappearing.
But this time she wasn't seventeen.
This time she wasn't helpless.
“Clara!”
Elias arrived in a vehicle against every doctor’s instruction.
He limped toward her.
“Dad?”
“There’s another tunnel.”
“What?”
“Blackthorne was connected to the old rail line.”
Roman understood.
“Sebastian escaped.”
Elias nodded.
“He knew we would corner him.”
Gabriel swore.
Then Eliza tugged Clara’s coat.
“He dropped this.”
A small device lay in her hand.
Sebastian’s phone.
Roman opened it.
Encrypted.
Gabriel connected it to a laptop.
Minutes passed.
Then a map appeared.
One location was blinking.
A private airfield.
“He’s leaving,” Gabriel said.
Roman looked at his men.
“Move.”
Elias stopped him.
“Wait.”
“What?”
“If Sebastian leaves with only the ledger, he still can't access the account.”
Clara looked at her father.
“He needs the lullaby.”
Elias stared.
“What lullaby?”
Clara told him.
Her father’s face crumpled.
“She did it.”
“What?”
“Helen told me she had hidden the master sequence somewhere nobody could steal.”
Clara smiled sadly.
“She hid it in me.”
Elias touched her face.
“She knew you’d remember.”
Roman looked at the airfield coordinates.
“Then Sebastian isn't leaving.”
Clara understood.
“He wants us to follow.”
“Yes.”
“It’s another trap.”
“Yes.”
Gabriel loaded his pistol.
“Starting to dislike this family tradition.”
They reached the airfield forty minutes later.
A jet waited on the runway.
Engine running.
No Sebastian.
Roman approached.
Inside, one man sat tied to a chair.
Nathan Callahan.
Clara stared.
“What happened?”
Nathan looked terrified.
“He took Elias’s documents.”
Elias stepped forward.
“What documents?”
“Everything from the hospital safe.”
Elias went pale.
Nathan continued.
“He doesn't need Clara anymore.”
Clara frowned.
“He doesn't have the sequence.”
Nathan looked at her.
“Yes, he does.”
“How?”
“He recorded your conversation in the barn.”
Clara’s stomach dropped.
She had spoken the numbers aloud when explaining the lullaby to Roman after escaping.
Sebastian had planted a microphone.
Nathan swallowed.
“He has the ledger.”
“And the code,” Roman said.
“And Onyx’s veterinary genetic record.”
Clara looked toward the jet.
“He can unlock the account.”
Nathan nodded.
Roman asked:
“Where did he go?”
Nathan looked at Elias.
“To the bank.”
“What bank?”
Elias answered.
“Geneva.”
Roman almost laughed.
“Of course.”
Then Nathan shook his head.
“No.”
Everyone looked at him.
“That's what he wants you to think.”
Nathan held up his bound hands.
“Sebastian doesn't want the money.”
Clara stared.
“What does he want?”
Nathan’s face was white.
“To identify every person Helen secretly paid.”
Roman understood.
Witnesses.
Families.
Former informants.
People who could testify about decades of crimes.
Nathan whispered:
May you like
“The account isn't treasure.”
“It’s a kill list.”
