The Mistress
He hung there, suspended upside down over the inferno of the foyer, his face inches from the rising flames.
“Victoria! Help me!” he screamed, his voice once again that of a terrified child.
I hung from the tapestry, my muscles screaming, watching him dangle. I could see Zander below, moving through the smoke, his gun raised.
But then, I saw something else.
Behind Daniel, in the shadows of the nursery wing that hadn’t yet been touched by the fire, a door opened.
It wasn’t a guard. It wasn’t the police.
It was Michael Blackwood. He was holding a small, leather-bound book—the original Vermon ledger. He looked at his son hanging over the fire, and then he looked at me.