Chapter 5 - The Second Fire.
The first time Amelia saw the mansion security feed on Marcus's tablet, she had to look away.
The image showed the east hallway outside the nursery.
Nothing moved there.
It was simply a corridor.
For Amelia, it was proof that the home she remembered had continued existing while she disappeared from it.
"Did you change anything?" she asked Ethan.
He shook his head.
"Not that wing."
"Why?"
"I couldn't."
Amelia looked back at the screen.
"I used to imagine you had remodeled everything."
"Victor told me you sold the house three years after the fire."
Ethan laughed once in disbelief.
"I barely changed a lamp."
"He said you couldn't stand reminders of me."
"I couldn't stand moving them."
The difference sat between them like another stolen year.
Victor had controlled Amelia with invented stories about Ethan moving on.
He had controlled Ethan with documents declaring Amelia dead.
Neither lie needed to be perfect.
It only needed to prevent contact.
Amelia touched the screen again.
"The nursery?"
"Still there."
Her face broke for a moment.
"I painted stars."
"I know."
"You said the baby wouldn't notice."
"I was wrong."
Amelia almost smiled.
Then Marcus received the first failed call from Lily's guards.
The fragile reunion disappeared beneath immediate fear.
Ethan watched Amelia transform in an instant from exhausted patient to mother.
She no longer leaned on him.
She moved ahead of him toward the stairs.
"We get her back," she said.
It was not a request.
Ethan followed.
On the stairwell landing, Amelia stopped long enough to look at the Blackwood logo engraved into the wall.
For years, Victor had told her Ethan chose the company over searching for her.
Now Ethan stood bleeding beside her while the company itself burned around them.
The lie finally lost its last piece of power.
Amelia touched the logo once and kept climbing.
As they moved through the smoke-filled service level, Amelia's body remembered the first fire before her mind could stop it.
She froze when an alarm bell changed pitch.
Her fingers dug into Ethan's arm.
"That sound."
"What about it?"
"The hospital had the same alarm."
For a second, she was no longer in Blackwood Tower.
She was back in a maternity corridor filled with smoke, holding a newborn while men shouted behind a locked door.
Ethan saw the memory take her.
He stepped in front of her.
"Look at me."
Her eyes struggled to focus.
"Amelia."
She found him.
"Tell me one thing you can see."
She swallowed.
"Your shirt."
"One thing you can hear."
"You."
"One thing you can feel."
Her hand tightened around his.
"This."
Her breathing slowed.
Marcus watched without speaking.
Ethan had once thought rescuing Amelia would mean getting her through a locked door.
Now he understood there would be hundreds of doors afterward.
Some would be made of memory.
Some would be made of fear.
He could not kick those open.
He could only remain on the other side when she reached them.
Amelia straightened.
"Keep moving."
"Are you sure?"
"No."
She looked toward the stairs.
"Do it anyway."
That sounded so much like the woman he married that Ethan almost smiled.
Then the phone call from Victor reminded them there was no time for nostalgia.
Smoke appeared beneath the vault door before the countdown reached two minutes.
Marcus pulled the emergency release.
Nothing happened.
The lock had engaged automatically.
Ethan looked at Voss.
"Open it."
Voss laughed.
"Victor never gave me the override."
Marcus slammed him against the wall.
"Then start remembering."
Amelia stirred in the chair.
Her eyes opened wider.
She looked at Ethan like a person afraid he was a hallucination.
"You're real."
Ethan cut one restraint with Marcus's knife.
"So are you."
Another strap came free.
Amelia tried to sit up and nearly collapsed.
Ethan caught her.
She was frighteningly light.
"Seven years," she whispered.
"I know."
"No."
Her eyes filled.
"You don't."
The countdown continued.
01:41.
Marcus examined the wall panels.
"There's an air system."
Ethan remembered the tower's original design.
The lowest archive rooms had independent ventilation in case of flooding or chemical contamination.
He pulled open a maintenance cabinet.
A narrow duct ran behind it.
"Can we fit through?"
Marcus measured the opening.
"Barely."
Voss shook his head.
"It vents to B2."
"Good."
"B2 is where the fire starts."
Ethan stared at him.
Voss smiled.
"Victor learned from the hospital."
The building shook.
Somewhere beyond the vault, glass shattered.
Marcus sent his smallest officer into the duct first.
The officer radioed back after thirty seconds.
"Clear passage."
Amelia could not crawl alone.
Ethan wrapped one arm beneath her shoulders.
"You're going with me."
She looked at the dark duct.
Panic flashed across her face.
"No closed rooms."
Ethan understood immediately.
Seven years of captivity had turned narrow spaces into terror.
"Look at me."
She forced her eyes toward him.
"I won't let go."
The countdown reached one minute.
Amelia nodded.
Marcus pushed Voss into the duct behind the first officer.
Ethan followed with Amelia.
Smoke entered the vault as they climbed inside.
The duct was barely wide enough for Ethan's shoulders.
Amelia's breathing became fast and shallow.
"I can't."
"Yes, you can."
"Ethan."
"Listen to my voice."
He kept talking as they moved.
He told her Lily had blonde braids.
He told her Lily liked books.
He told her Lily had saved his life by knocking the tea away.
Amelia made a broken sound that was half laugh and half sob.
"She always was stubborn."
"Like you."
"Like you."
The first explosion hit behind them.
Heat rolled through the metal duct.
Marcus shouted for everyone to move faster.
They reached a vertical maintenance shaft.
The officer above kicked open a grille.
Cold air rushed in.
Ethan lifted Amelia through first.
Then he climbed out.
They emerged in a storage room on B1.
Smoke filled the hallway outside.
Sprinklers had not activated.
Victor had disabled them.
Marcus radioed the upper team.
No answer.
He tried again.
Static.
Ethan's phone rang.
Victor's name appeared on the screen.
Ethan answered.
"Where are you?"
Victor sounded almost amused.
"Preparing for the board meeting."
"You tried to burn her twice."
"And somehow she survived twice."
Amelia heard him.
Her face changed.
For the first time since Ethan found her, fear gave way to hatred.
Victor continued.
"Bring me Lily and I may let Amelia leave the building."
Ethan's voice dropped.
"You don't have Lily."
"Neither do you."
Ethan went still.
Victor laughed softly.
"Check the executive suite."
The call ended.
Ethan dialed the officers guarding Lily.
No answer.
He ran.
Amelia tried to follow.
Marcus caught her before she fell.
"We'll get her."
Ethan reached the service elevator.
It was disabled.
They took the stairs.
Smoke thickened as they climbed.
On the lobby level, alarms finally began sounding throughout the tower.
Employees arriving early were evacuating.
Ethan pushed through the crowd toward the executive elevators.
One elevator opened.
Inside lay one of Lily's guards, unconscious but alive.
The second guard was missing.
Ethan entered the suite.
The room was empty.
Lily's purple hair ribbon lay beside the sofa.
Ethan picked it up.
His entire body went cold.
Amelia appeared behind him.
She saw the ribbon.
"No."
Ethan turned toward Marcus.
"Lock the tower."
Marcus hesitated.
"Fire department is evacuating everyone."
"Then lock the underground exits."
Amelia stepped toward the security monitors.
One camera still worked.
A black sedan was leaving the parking garage.
Lily sat in the back seat.
Beside her was the missing security officer.
He was not unconscious.
He was driving for Victor.
Amelia pressed both hands against the monitor.
"He took her again."
Ethan's phone buzzed.
A photograph arrived from Victor.
Lily sat in a leather chair inside the main boardroom.
Her wrists were not tied.
They did not need to be.
Victor stood behind her with one hand on her shoulder.
The message beneath the photograph contained one sentence.
May you like
NINE O'CLOCK, ETHAN.
BRING AMELIA, OR YOUR DAUGHTER BECOMES A MEMORY AGAIN.
