Chapter 3
701words
The rain over the West Suburbs had finally stopped.
But these ruins still reeked with a stomach-turning stench.
The nauseating blend of damp rotting wood, melted plastic, and years-old ashes hung in the air.
And the phantom smell of my own corpse.
"You've got ten minutes,"
Damon leaned against the car, flicking his lighter to a cigarette.
He stared at the charred ruins, his eyes as empty as dried wells.
"Demolition crew arrives in ten minutes. Be back here if you don't want to join the rubble."
Without a word, I lifted my skirt and picked my way through the ruins.
I knew every inch of this ground like my own skin.
This was once Valentine Manor.
Three years ago, I reigned here as Elena Valentine, the darling of New York society.
Back then, I had everything—old money, beauty that turned heads, and a fiancé who worshipped the ground I walked on—Damon Sterling.
Everyone said God played favorites with me.
Until the fire changed everything.
I navigated around a collapsed beam, muscle memory guiding me toward what had once been the study.
Three years ago, on a rain-soaked night much like last night.
I waited for Damon in the study.
He promised a surprise—said he was finally going to propose.
I wore that green dress, heart fluttering with the thought of becoming his bride.
But there were no flowers. No ring.
Instead, thick smoke seeped through the door crack—a door locked from the outside.
I pounded on the door until my fists bled, screaming myself hoarse.
Flames devoured my skin as beams crashed down, shattering my spine.
But somehow, I clung to that last thread of life and dragged myself from hell.
Months in the hospital.
Endless needles and IV drips.
Whenever I wanted to let go, I thought of Damon—the man who supposedly loved me.
I fought to return to him, whole again.
But reality is never that kind, is it?
I discovered that a week before the fire, Sterling Group had purchased massive quantities of accelerants.
I learned that barely two months after my "death," Sterling Group had swallowed the Valentine family's market share whole, their stock prices rocketing skyward.
So, months ago, I underwent the knife to become Vera.
Slipping back to his side, determined to uncover the truth—and then personally escort him to hell.
"Cough, cough..."
I covered my nose and mouth, dropping to my knees before a heap of charred rubble.
This was all that remained of the study.
Ignoring the broken glass and rusty nails, I clawed frantically through the heavy bricks with my bare hands.
"Where is it... where is it..."
My nails split and my fingers bled, but I kept digging.
I couldn't feel the pain.
I had ten minutes.
Just ten minutes to find the safe hidden in the wall cavity.
A German black box my father had left behind—supposedly "nuclear blast-proof."
Three days ago, posing as a property claims agent, I tracked down my father's lawyer and old friend.
He didn't recognize me—how could he?—and handed over a journal my father had kept before his death.
In the final pages, my father had bragged about his new acquisition, mentioning he'd stored all his most sensitive documents inside.
I heaved aside a charred chunk of load-bearing wall.
A dull metallic gleam caught my eye.
Found it!
The safe, warped from extreme heat, was wedged between two broken wall sections, barely intact.
The supposedly impenetrable lock had cracked, revealing a narrow gap.
My heart hammered against my ribs.
I reached out, fingers awkwardly probing the crevice.
Inside lay mostly carbonized documents.
And—a voice recorder!
Perfect.
Just as my fingers were about to close around the recorder.
"Snap."
The sharp crack of a breaking twig froze my blood.
Every drop of blood in my body turned to ice.
I whirled around.
A tall, dark figure loomed behind me.
Damon Sterling.
Like a specter, he'd materialized silently in this graveyard of memories.
And at this precise moment.
My hand was still buried in the wall, one corner of the safe now plainly visible.
If he stepped closer, if he switched on his flashlight.
Every secret, every lie I'd crafted would shatter before dawn.
