Chapter 4 - THE ASHES OF NORTH HARBORTen minutes later, the dining hall doors were locked from the inside.
Outside, the rain had turned into a torrential downpour, washing the gutters of the Vale estate red.
Arthur sat tied to his own chair, sweat pouring down his pale cheeks, staring at Mason, who stood by the fireplace holding the open ledger of the syndicate’s past fifty years.
“You can’t kill me, Mason!” Arthur screamed as the smell of gasoline began to rise from the floorboards around him. “Without me, the entire board in Zurich will tear your empire apart within forty-eight hours! You’ll be hunting shadows for the rest of your life!”
Mason didn’t look up from the ledger.
He flipped to the very last page—the page where Arthur had signed his own name next to the shipment order for the flesh-destroying poison.
“Let them come,” Mason said, striking the brass lighter. A small yellow flame bloomed in the dim room. “I’ve spent thirty-five years living in your shadow, Arthur. It’s time I burned the house down and built something new.”
He dropped the flame onto the soaked carpet.
The fire didn’t crawl; it exploded upward, roaring like a trapped beast as it consumed the mahogany, the tapestries, and the lies of forty years.
As Mason, Jack, and Emily walked out through the heavy iron back gates into the pouring rain, the North Harbor mansion lit up the night sky like a dying star.
Arthur’s muffled screams faded behind them, swallowed by the roar of the flames and the howling wind.
Mason didn't look back once.
He stopped beside the black town car, turned to Emily, and extended his left hand.
“You’re terrible at cleaning floors, Emily,” Mason said, a faint, rare smirk touching his lips. “How are your management skills?”
Emily looked at the burning mansion, then down at Mason’s hand.
May you like
She wiped a smudge of soot from her cheek, took his hand firmly, and smiled.
“Depends on the salary, Mr. Vale.”
