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Chapter 3
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My Family Died in His Fire, This Time I Light It First Chapter 8
Ava's POVThat hysterical scream echoed through the courtroom.I didn't even pause.I didn't look back. I didn't respond.I walked straight toward the exit and pushed the doors open.The early autumn sunlight was bright and warm.Golden light poured down onto my shoulders.I stopped. The sight in front of me made my heart ache with warmth.Not far away, on the great lawn of Central Park, my four children were playing in their colorful sweaters.They were running happily in the sun.My oldest son was holding his little sister’s hand, chasing a white butterfly.Their laughter was clear and bright.My parents were standing by the fountain.Their faces were relaxed and happy. My mother smiled and waved at me.A light breeze touched my face. The air smelled sweet, like grass and earth.There were no flames rising into the sky. No choking smell of gasoline.No stench of burning flesh. And no screams of absolute despair.There was only life. Only the freedom that was ours now.I closed my eye
My Family Died in His Fire, This Time I Light It First Chapter 7
Ava's POVThree months later. Manhattan Federal Courthouse.I sat in the front row of the gallery.The slow, heavy sound of wheels rolled down the aisle.It was Chloe.In just three months, she’d gone from a golden-haired bombshell to a vegetable who could only blink.Her broken neck had left her a quadriplegic. She was strapped into a special medical wheelchair.A heavy Halo brace was fixed to her head. Four titanium pins were screwed directly through her scalp into her skull to keep it still.A gray blanket covered her lower body. A clear catheter tube snaked out from the edge, connected to a urine bag below.Her once-proud face was slack and distorted. Drool trickled from her chin onto her hospital gown.She would spend the rest of her life in diapers and a catheter in a Federal Medical Center.This was the price she paid for her greed.A living death.Then came the harsh rattle of chains.Caleb was escorted in by two heavily armed marshals.He was in a bright orange jumpsuit. His w
My Family Died in His Fire, This Time I Light It First Chapter 6
Caleb's POVMDC Brooklyn. The air stank of bleach and cheap tobacco.Bail denied. Accounts frozen. I was a pariah. Even the court-appointed public defender didn't want to look at me.It was all that venomous bitch Ava’s fault.I dragged my heavy leg shackles down the hall, following the guard to the infirmary for a routine check-up.Just as I rounded the corner, a sharp curse cut through the silence.“Are you happy now?!”I looked up. It was Chloe.She was wearing a shapeless gray jumpsuit, her hair a rat’s nest.The glamorous woman who used to flirt with me in Michelin-star restaurants was gone. Her eyes were sunken, bloodshot, and they were fixed on me like nails.She had found out she was facing at least fifty years. She had snapped.Two female guards were trying to hold her back, but she broke free and lunged at me.A flash of silver.A sharp, tearing pain shot through my left shoulder.Chloe had hidden a sharpened pen somewhere.The point ripped through my jumpsuit and dug deep in
My Family Died in His Fire, This Time I Light It First Chapter 5
Three days later. The SDNY federal courthouse in New York.“You useless parasite! You ruined my life!”The shriek echoed down the empty hallway outside the courtroom.I heard the drama the moment I stepped out of the elevator.Since they both faced multiple serious federal charges, Caleb and Chloe’s bail requests had been denied. No surprise there.Two U.S. Marshals were trying to pull them apart.But Chloe, even in handcuffs, had lost her mind.Her platinum blonde hair, once perfectly styled on Fifth Avenue, was a tangled mess.Her Chanel tweed jacket was ripped from the arrest, revealing a wrinkled shirt underneath.She was spitting at Caleb, kicking his shins with her pointed-toe heels.“Why the hell did I even get with you? You had to use your wife’s credit card to buy me a Birkin!” Chloe screamed, her face twisted in rage. “And now look! I didn’t get the money, and I have to go to prison with you! Go to hell!”Caleb was in an orange jumpsuit from the New York detention center. His
My Family Died in His Fire, This Time I Light It First Chapter 4
FDC Englewood, Colorado. Interrogation Room Four.I watched him through the one-way glass. A pathetic wreck of a man.“You have to believe me, Agent!” Caleb, in handcuffs, was screaming hysterically. “I didn’t want to kill anyone! It was Chloe! That greedy bitch!”His eyes were bloodshot. Spit flew from his mouth onto the table. “She cleaned out my bank accounts! She called me, she pushed me! Said Ava looked down on me! She dared me to go to the Aspen house and burn it down for revenge! I’m a victim! She manipulated me!”The FBI agent’s face was cold. He slid a folder of crime scene photos across the table. “A victim? Do victims lock doors with heavy-duty chains and carry two giant cans of gasoline?”“She was blackmailing me! She threatened to send my sex tape to the tabloids if I didn’t do it! I couldn’t lose my family!” Caleb was a mess of snot and tears. He was desperately trying to pin everything on the mistress who had just abandoned him.This was the madman who dragged my whole
My Family Died in His Fire, This Time I Light It First Chapter 3
One second. Two.Silence.No screams. No pleading.The huge master bedroom was completely silent.There was no one there. The bed wasn't even made. No mattress.The walk-in closet was cavernous. Empty. Not a single thread left behind.The manic grin on Caleb's face froze."Ava?!"Panic flashed in his eyes. He stumbled into the bathroom, lighter still in hand, like a cornered rat. Then he scrambled back out, kicking open the doors to the kids' rooms.All empty.The tomb he was so ready to set ablaze... was nothing but an empty shell."Come out! Where the hell are you?! Ava!!"He was screaming at nothing. A mad dog, smashing the empty closets to pieces.I watched him lose his mind on the screen. I set down my wine. And I pressed the talk button on the console.At the same time, the 80-inch screen on the bedroom wall flickered to life.The cold, white light of the screen illuminated his face. Streaked with soot and sweat.There I was, on the screen. Sitting on a sofa hundreds of miles aw
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