The Fire at Saint Anne’s
Chapter 12 - The Fire at Saint Anne’s
Smoke poured from the fifth-floor windows.
Claire arrived behind the fire engines and saw Adrian’s black car abandoned near the loading dock.
Rivera ordered her to stay outside.
Then a nurse shouted that two children from the oncology floor were missing during evacuation.
Claire ran before anyone could stop her.
She knew the old hospital corridors. Michael had renovated them during Noah’s infancy, insisting every pediatric wing include low windows so children could see the sky.
On the fourth floor, sprinklers turned smoke into black rain.
Claire found the missing children hiding inside a playroom. A respiratory therapist guided them toward the stairs.
From the records wing came the crash of metal.
Adrian emerged carrying a fireproof document case.
He stopped when he saw Claire.
“You should have finished the ceremony,” he said.
“You should have left my child alone.”
Sirens sounded below.
Adrian held up the case.
“This is all that stands between you and bankruptcy.”
“No. It stands between you and prison.”
He backed toward a service elevator.
The doors did not open.
Power had failed.
Adrian’s confidence flickered.
Claire did not approach.
She had spent years mistaking confrontation for courage. The safest move was not always the most dramatic.
She pulled the fire alarm station beside her, triggering steel smoke doors at both ends of the corridor.
Adrian was trapped.
He charged toward her.
A firefighter entered through the stairwell and forced him to the floor before he reached her.
The document case opened.
Inside were the original trust, the missing blue file, and the detached analog recorder from the ballroom.
Adrian had stolen the secret CCTV unit.
But the memory tape was missing.
He smiled from beneath the firefighter’s grip.
“You still have nothing from the altar except a child’s story.”
Claire looked at him.
“A child’s story was always enough for me.”
May you like
It had not always been true.
She intended to spend the rest of her life making it true.
