Chapter 11 - What Meline Saved
Fire alarms screamed.
Lena forced open a side window while Evelyn gathered the tapes. Clara ran toward the safe.
"Leave it," Meline shouted.
"There is one more file."
Smoke thickened near the ceiling.
Clara pulled a metal case from beneath the safe shelf. A burning beam fell across the doorway, separating her from the others.
Meline grabbed a chair and struck the beam. It did not move.
Lena dragged her back.
"We have seconds."
Clara coughed, trapped behind fire.
Meline saw the red glow reflect in her eyes.
For one instant, the stories of women being left inside burning houses stopped being history.
Meline wrapped a curtain around her arms and pushed through the edge of the flames.
She seized Clara's wrist.
Evelyn and Lena pulled from the other side.
They fell together onto the floor as part of the ceiling collapsed behind them.
The four women escaped through the broken window and ran down the slope toward the water.
The black vehicles were gone.
Fire consumed the house.
Clara lay on the wet grass, coughing.
Meline opened the metal case.
Inside was a single hard drive and a wedding invitation.
The invitation was addressed to Thomas Vale.
A handwritten note covered the back.
Bring Meline alive. The others are optional.
Evelyn read it.
"Who wrote this?"
Clara looked toward the flames.
"Jason."
Meline stared at her.
"No."
"Jason is not frightened of Rookwell," Clara said. "He works directly for Thomas."
Meline remembered his panic when she left the house.
Meline, don't leave.
Not love.
Fear that she would escape the plan.
Clara explained that Jason's father had been one of Thomas's financial partners. Cole Capital was built using money moved through Black Harbor. Jason had grown up knowing the Vale family as an unfinished transaction.
"Did he ever love me?" Meline asked.
Clara's expression softened.
"I do not know."
The answer hurt more than certainty.
They returned to the city with the drive and tapes.
Jonah discovered the hard drive was encrypted with a biometric key.
A fingerprint.
Whose fingerprint remained unknown.
Meanwhile, Meridian Crest entered crisis.
News of frozen transactions leaked. Lenders demanded proof of collateral. Employees feared layoffs. Meline's father appeared on television and blamed an unnamed family member for creating instability during a period of grief.
He looked directly into the camera.
"Mental illness should be treated with compassion, not given control of a company."
Meline watched from the conference room.
Jonah muted the screen.
"He is petitioning for emergency guardianship."
"On what evidence?"
"Prescription records, witness statements, and the video from the restaurant edited to show you provoking an armed attack."
Meline almost admired the speed.
"Who signed the medical statement?"
Jonah showed her.
Dr. Adrian Cole.
Jason's uncle.
The hearing was scheduled for the next morning.
If the judge accepted temporary guardianship, Meline's father could regain control long enough to transfer assets.
Evelyn prepared a response.
Lena prepared security.
Meline prepared something else.
She called the wedding venue.
"Keep the ceremony date."
Celia hesitated. "The hearing is tomorrow."
"And the wedding is in seven days."
"You still intend to use the ballroom?"
"Yes."
"For what?"
Meline looked at the invitation addressed to her grandfather.
"To make sure every guest arrives."
That night, someone broke into the evidence storage room at Evelyn's firm.
They ignored the trust certificates, recordings, and financial records.
May you like
They stole only one thing.
The child's red mitten.
