CHAPTER 5 – The Fire That Was Meant to Kill Them All
The smell reached Manuela before the smoke.
She opened her eyes just after two o'clock in the morning.
At first, she thought she was dreaming.
Then Miguel began coughing.
A second later, Sofía sat upright in bed.
"Mom..."
"I smell something burning."
Manuela jumped to her feet.
The hallway outside their room was already filling with thick gray smoke.
Her heart nearly stopped.
"Stay close to me!"
Wrapping Miguel tightly in a blanket, she grabbed Sofía's hand and hurried toward the staircase.
But the moment she reached the landing—
Flames erupted below.
The grand staircase had become a wall of fire.
Someone screamed from the servants' wing.
Another window shattered.
The mansion was turning into an inferno.
...
Downstairs, Henrique woke to the sound of the fire alarm.
He rushed into the corridor and immediately realized something was wrong.
The flames were spreading too quickly.
Far too quickly.
This wasn't how accidental fires behaved.
"Everyone outside!" he shouted.
"Move!"
Servants poured from their rooms in panic.
Teresa counted faces as they escaped through the kitchen entrance.
Then her expression changed.
"Sir..."
"Manuela and the children!"
Henrique looked toward the second floor.
Their hallway was completely blocked by smoke.
Without hesitating, he ran back inside.
"Henrique!" Teresa cried.
"You'll die!"
But he never looked back.
...
Upstairs, Manuela searched desperately for another way out.
Every corridor was filling with smoke.
Miguel's cries grew weaker.
Sofía clung tightly to her mother's sweater.
"I'm scared."
Manuela forced herself to smile.
"We're getting out."
"I promise."
Even as she said it, she had no idea how.
Suddenly, heavy footsteps echoed through the smoke.
"Manuela!"
Henrique's voice.
"We're here!" she shouted.
Moments later he emerged from the smoke, covering his mouth with a wet towel.
"This way!"
"There isn't enough time."
He led them toward the old library.
Manuela stared at him.
"The fire is everywhere!"
"Trust me."
Inside the library, Henrique rushed straight to Laura's portrait.
He pushed against the hidden latch.
The painting swung open.
The secret steel door appeared once again.
"There was another exit all along," he said.
Neither Manuela nor the children had time to ask questions.
They hurried into the narrow passage.
Henrique closed the hidden door behind them just as burning beams crashed into the library.
The entire room disappeared in flames.
...
The hidden tunnel was dark, damp, and narrow.
Sofía squeezed her mother's hand.
"Did Mrs. Laura know about this place?"
Henrique nodded.
"My grandfather built it during the war."
"It leads beyond the estate."
After several minutes, they reached an iron hatch hidden behind a stone gazebo near the edge of the property.
Fresh night air rushed into their lungs.
Behind them, firefighters were arriving.
The mansion glowed against the night sky as flames consumed its roof.
Teresa burst into tears the moment she saw them alive.
"You made it..."
Henrique looked back at the burning house.
His eyes narrowed.
The library had been the first room consumed.
Exactly where Laura's missing journal had been kept.
Too convenient.
Someone wanted evidence destroyed.
...
Hours later, firefighters finally brought the blaze under control.
Their commander approached Henrique with a grim expression.
"Mr. Vasconcelos..."
"We've completed our initial inspection."
"And?"
The commander hesitated.
"We found traces of an accelerant near the staircase."
Henrique's jaw tightened.
"So it was intentional."
"I'm afraid so."
"It appears someone started the fire."
Not an accident.
An attack.
Someone had tried to trap everyone inside.
...
Across the city, Eduardo Barros watched the breaking news on television from his penthouse office.
FIRE DESTROYS BUSINESS TYCOON'S HISTORIC MANSION
He switched off the television.
His expression remained calm.
His assistant entered nervously.
"They survived."
Eduardo slowly poured himself a glass of whiskey.
"I know."
"The hidden tunnel."
His assistant frowned.
"You knew about it?"
"No."
"But someone else clearly did."
For the first time, genuine concern crossed Eduardo's face.
"If Henrique escaped..."
"...then he'll start asking questions."
"And questions are dangerous."
He opened a safe hidden behind a painting.
Inside lay a thick file labeled:
PROJECT PHOENIX
Beneath it were photographs of Laura.
Insurance documents.
Medical reports.
Bank transfers.
And one sealed envelope marked:
OPEN ONLY IF HENRIQUE BEGINS TO REMEMBER.
Eduardo stared at the envelope for several long seconds.
Then he whispered,
"We should have finished this two years ago."
...
Meanwhile, exhausted and wrapped in blankets inside a temporary emergency shelter, Sofía reached into the pocket of her coat.
She smiled.
The silver key...
was still there.
So was the loose screw she had found beside the fallen cabinet.
As she held them in her tiny hands, something slipped from inside the folded blanket Henrique had wrapped around Miguel during the escape.
A folded piece of paper.
It wasn't hers.
It wasn't Henrique's.
She carefully opened it.
Across the top, written in Laura's unmistakably elegant handwriting, were six chilling words:
"If you're reading this... don't trust Eduardo."
Sofía's eyes widened.
She looked toward Henrique, who was speaking with the firefighters only a few feet away.
Without saying a word, she quietly folded the note and hid it inside her pocket.
She didn't yet understand why.
But somehow...
May you like
She knew someone else was watching.
End of Chapter 5
