Page 59

“Alright, come on,” I say, taking the kids’ hands in mine.

I force myself to be brave because I know they’re watching me. If I let myself panic now, their little minds will do the same.

I quickly scan the corridor before rushing to my grandmother’s room. I wake her up and quickly explain what’s happening. She gets out of bed and puts on her robe.

As we rush toward the emergency stairs, Itry to ignore the way the heat smarts my skin. It feels like I’m inside an oven.

When I glance over my shoulder, I see that the fire has climbed up thegrand foyer wall, licking at the high ceilings. The chandelier I saw earlier now drips molten crystal and embers, its golden frame twisted by heat. The smoke is thick in the air, and the acrid fumes make it hard to breathe.

The four of us take the emergency stairs that lead to the backyard.

Once we’re out in the open, it gets easier to breathe. There’s no smoke here. In fact, there’s not a single sign of the fire. It almost feels like everything we saw inside was just a bad dream.

We’re also the only people in sight.

“Why didn’t the fire alarm go off?” Rosalie asks quietly.

I look at the little girl. I was wondering that myself.

“I need to go back inside,” I say.

“It’s not safe, Emma,” my grandmother says, clasping my wrist.

“I have to,” I say. “I think Helena is still inside the mansion.”

“There’s something about this fire,” my grandmother says, shaking her head. She glances over at the kids and then back at me.

She leaves the rest of her thoughts unsaid.

She believes that someone intentionally set the fire.

My heart jumps in my chest as I think about the woman in the wedding dress. I was creeped out by her presence, but I don’t think she was there to harm me. It felt like the opposite, if anything.

“Please watch over the children, Grandma,” I say.

I tug my arm away and run back inside the mansion. I hear my grandmother calling out my name, but I don’t let myself glance back.

I step inside the house again.

The smoke is even thicker now. I lift my shirt to my nose, breathing through the cotton. Helena’s room is located on the ground floor, so I don’t need to take the staircase.

I do a quick scan of the open space, making sure I know all the areas to steer clear of.

I’m about to head toward Helena’s bedroom when the hairs on the back of my neck rise. Someone’s watching me.

My phone rings, making me jump. I relax when I see Klaus’s name flash on my screen.

“Hello?” I say, holding the phone to my ear. My hand is shaking as I stay frozen in the middle of the foyer. Flames dance all around me in choreographed synchrony.

“Emma? Where are you? Why didn’t you pick up your phone?”

I glance at my phone screen to see that there were multiple missed calls from Klaus. I should have called him right away, but it hadn’t crossed my mind. I was just focused on getting everyone out to safety.

I put the phone back to my ear and keep moving.

“There’s a fire in the house,” I tell him. “The kids and my grandma are safe.”

There’s silence on the other end.

“And you?” he asks.

“I came inside to get Helena,” I say. “I think she’s still asleep. The fire alarm didn’t go off.”

“Emma, listen to me,” he says urgently. “I need you to leave the house. Alaric and I are four minutes away, and the firefighters are on their way too.”

“I can’t leave Helena inside,” I say.

“Emma, please,” he says. “I can’t lose you. Not like this.”

I can’t see his face, but I hear the affection in his voice. It reminds me of Rosalie standing in front of her closet, trying so desperately to salvage everything she loves.

“Please hurry,” I say.

And before he can reprimand me, I hang up. I wipe the tears from the corners of my eyes.

Even in this life-and-death situation, I’m still analyzing every little word he says. I’m still trying to determine if his feelings for me were ever real.

I’m near Helena’s bedroom when the feeling of being watched returns. I glance over my shoulder.

My throat tightens when I see that a beam fell over the emergency exit, blocking it. I’ll have to figure out another way to leave.

“Sweet Emma.” The two words are sung, making my blood instantly curdle. “Did you miss me?”

My gaze swings wildly over the open space. All I see is the orange and yellow of the raging fire.

My heart thrashes against my ribs as I realize who set the fire.

He’s finally come for me.

“Did you really think I’d let us be separated for too long?” My stalker emerges from the shadows, walking steadily toward me.

The fear is paralyzing. I’m rooted to the spot. I don’t run or call for help like I should.

When I played this moment over in my head before, I assumed that I would be stronger. I thought that I would be wiser. But I’m still the weak, pathetic teenager I once was.

“You’re a slippery little fish, aren’t you?” he says. “It took me a while to catch hold of you, but you’re finally mine again. And I’m never, ever going to let you go now. What we have is too special. I’m not going to let another man get in the way.”

He’s talking about Klaus.

Klaus .

Klaus will be here any second now.

As I think about him, the fear melts. It’s replaced by something new—valor.

“Adam?” I say sweetly.

He stops walking when I take a step toward him.

“I need to tell you something,” I say. “When I first met you, I had real feelings for you. I never felt that way for anyone. Anyone .”

“Me neither,” he replies, staying right where he is.

“But when I saw you,I realized you were lying to me the whole time. Our whole relationship was based on a lie,” I say. “But I know now that it doesn’t matter.”

“I never wanted to hurt you, Emma,” he says. “You made me do all those things to you. I just wanted us to be happy.”

He’s a smart man, but he’s only a man.

Like everyone else in the world who has felt obsession, he believes what he wants to believe. And what he wants to believe right now is that I still have feelings for him.

He’s only a few feet away from me now. I stop walking.

“Come to me, Adam.” The words echo against the ceilings.

It’s like having a puppet on a string. He moves closer toward me, not taking his eyes off me. When he’s about three feet away, I jump out of the way.

As expected, he lunges toward me.

A loud thud follows.

I squeeze my eyes shut and hope that luck is on my side tonight. After a beat, I cautiously open my eyes again. The giant chandelier fell right on top of him, squishing him like a bug.

All this time, he was so focused on me that he didn’t notice the chandelier that was about to fall.

I walk toward him.

He’s dead. He’s really dead.

Finally .

“You deserve so much worse for the hell you put me through,” I say. “I hope you rot in hell for the rest of eternity.”

I notice that his phone and wallet had fallen out of his pocket. I grab them quickly and rush toward Helena’s room. I kick the door open. The smoke follows me inside.

“Helena, wake up,” I say.

I whirl around when I feel tendrils of heat against my back. There’s another loud thud from inside the house. The very foundation of the mansion is falling apart now.

A cloud of fire erupts before me.It enters the room like an unwelcome guest, filling my lungs with more smoke.

Helena is wide awake now.

I point toward the window. It’s the only exit we have left.

My vision blurs at the edges. I’ve been breathing the toxic fumes for too long. My lungs feel like they’re on fire.

I want to keep fighting, but my body has reached its limits.

My vision goes black.