Chapter 13 - The Service Ladder
The heat in the hallway was becoming unbearable, the paint on the walls blistering and peeling away in long, charred curls under the onslaught of the flames. Elena dropped low to the floor, pulling Evelyn down with her as they crawled on their hands and knees through the dense, blinding black smoke toward the master bathroom door.
Every breath felt like inhaling shards of broken glass. Elena’s eyes streamed tears, washing away the soot on her cheeks, but her mind remained razor-sharp, driven by a cold, unrelenting fury. Clara was trapped in the bedroom at the end of the hall with Lily and the flash drive containing the stolen estate trust—the final key to the fifty-year conspiracy.
"Go!" Evelyn choked out, shoving open the warped wooden door of the master bathroom.
Inside, the bathroom was relatively untouched by the flames, though the air was hot and dry. Evelyn scrambled toward the clawfoot bathtub, leaning over the rim to push open a small, forgotten wooden hatch in the ceiling above. A rusted metal chain hung down from the dark aperture. With a guttural grunt, Evelyn yanked the chain downward, and a heavy, fold-down aluminum service ladder clattered into the room with a sharp, echoing clang.
"Up! Go!" Evelyn commanded, boosting Elena toward the rungs.
Elena didn't hesitate. She scrambled up the aluminum rungs, her hands burning against the metal, and pushed her head and shoulders through the attic opening just as a massive crash echoed from down the hall—the front staircase had collapsed into the foyer below, sending a geyser of sparks and roaring flames shooting up toward the ceiling.
From behind them, the master bedroom door burst open. Clara stumbled out, coughing violently, dragging Lily by one hand while clutching the wooden box under her other arm. Seeing Elena and Evelyn climbing the service ladder toward the attic, Clara changed direction, abandoning the fire escape plan and sprinting desperately toward the bathroom.
"You're not leaving me here to burn!" Clara shrieked, her voice distorted by terror and smoke as she reached the bathroom door, shoving Lily inside ahead of her.
Elena, now halfway up the attic stairs, looked down and saw Clara scrambling up the lower rungs of the service ladder, her pregnant belly encumbering her movements as she clawed upward with desperate urgency.
"Elena, cut the rope!" Evelyn screamed from the base of the ladder, coughing blood as she reached for the release lever.
"No!" Elena shouted back, her protective instincts overriding her anger. "She has the child! Get Lily out first!"
Lily scrambled past Clara on the rungs, reaching the attic floor and crawling into the dark space above, sobbing uncontrollably. Evelyn grabbed the little girl by the back of her yellow dress, hauling her safely into the attic just as Clara reached the top platform, her fingers clawing at Elena’s ankle.
"Help me!" Clara screamed, her eyes wide with mortal terror as the bathroom floor beneath them began to sag under the weight of the encroaching flames.
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Elena reached down, extending a strong, steady hand through the smoke, grabbing Clara by the collar of her beige dress just as the floor below gave way with a deafening roar.
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