Chapter 10 - Smoke Beneath the Mansion
The smoke thickened within seconds.
Matteo lunged for Drake, but the old lawyer twisted away with surprising speed and slammed the linen-room door against him. Alessandro grabbed Sophia’s arm.
“Move!”
Sophia clutched Emma and ran.
Behind them, alarms screamed through the archive corridor. Sprinklers burst overhead, soaking old stone and expensive paper alike.
But the smoke was not only smoke.
It carried a chemical sting that made Emma cough violently.
Sophia panicked.
“She can’t breathe!”
Alessandro pulled his jacket off and wrapped it around the child’s face.
“Keep this over her mouth.”
Matteo stumbled from the linen room, bleeding at the temple.
“Drake went through the west archive!”
Security guards rushed past them.
Alessandro turned to follow.
Sophia grabbed his sleeve.
“Don’t leave us.”
The words stopped him.
Not because they were weak.
Because they were honest.
For one moment, he saw the truth plainly.
He had spent his life chasing men in suits while people like Sophia paid the price in silence. Marco died alone. Sophia buried him alone. Emma carried the warning alone.
Not again.
He turned to Matteo.
“Take the guards. Catch Drake.”
“Sir—”
“Go.”
Matteo obeyed.
Alessandro led Sophia and Emma toward the service elevator, but the power flickered. The elevator panel went black.
“Stairs,” Sophia coughed.
They turned down another corridor.
The smoke followed.
Emma’s cough worsened.
Dr. Royce met them at the stairwell with a medical bag.
“Give her to me.”
Sophia hesitated for half a heartbeat, then surrendered Emma into the doctor’s arms.
Dr. Royce checked her breathing while walking.
“She needs fresh air now.”
They climbed.
One flight.
Two.
The mansion above them exploded into chaos: police shouting, staff crying, alarms shrieking, water raining from ceilings.
At the top of the service stairs, Victor appeared.
The cook.
He was holding a kitchen towel over his face.
Sophia froze.
Alessandro stepped in front of her.
Victor raised both hands.
“I didn’t know they would hurt the child.”
Alessandro’s eyes narrowed.
“What did you know?”
Victor shook his head, crying now.
“They paid me to prepare your cup. Said it was a harmless calming agent. Said you were unstable and needed to miss a board meeting. I swear, sir. I swear.”
Sophia’s voice was ice.
“My husband is dead.”
Victor looked at her.
“I know.”
That stopped everyone.
Sophia stepped forward.
“What do you mean, you know?”
Victor broke.
“I worked at Warehouse 12 before the kitchen. I saw Marco the night he died. He was scared. He asked me to call someone if anything happened.”
“Did you?” Sophia whispered.
Victor sobbed.
“No.”
Her face crumpled.
Victor covered his eyes.
“I had a daughter too. They threatened her. They said if I talked, she’d disappear. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
Alessandro grabbed him by the collar.
“Where is Drake going?”
Victor shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
Alessandro shoved him against the wall.
“Think.”
“The chapel,” Victor gasped. “There’s an old safe under the altar. Mrs. Beatrice said if anything went wrong, Mr. Drake would empty it and leave through the north gate.”
Alessandro released him.
Dr. Royce shouted from the doorway.
“Emma needs a hospital.”
Sophia looked torn between her child and the truth.
Alessandro made the choice for her.
“You go with Emma.”
Sophia grabbed his arm.
“And Drake?”
“I’ll find him.”
Her eyes burned into his.
“Don’t let him disappear like my husband’s truth disappeared.”
“I won’t.”
She held his gaze for one second longer.
Then she ran with Dr. Royce and Emma toward the waiting ambulance outside.
Alessandro turned to the chapel corridor.
Water dripped from his hair and suit.
Smoke rolled along the ceiling.
His house was burning from the inside.
His family was in handcuffs.
May you like
His father’s killer was still running.
And beneath the altar where generations of Ducas had been baptized, married, and mourned, Leonard Drake was about to steal the final secret.
