Chapter 5: The Arsonist’s Secret
"Give me that letter, Elena," Arthur whispered, his voice trembling in a way she had never heard in her twenty-six years. The invincible titan of maritime transport looked fragile, his knuckles white at his sides. "You don't know what you're holding. You will destroy everything we’ve built."
"What is this, Father?" Elena demanded, holding the envelope against her chest. "Julian's grandfather was loyal to this family for forty years. Why would he leave a letter for me?"
Julian stepped between them, his towering frame casting a long shadow across the marble terrace. "Because your father didn't just hide me, Elena. He hid the fact that the St. Jude fire wasn't an electrical fault. It was arson. Orchestrated by Richard Thorne—Gregory's father—to claim an eighty-million-dollar maritime insurance payout."
The silence that fell was heavier than any stone. Elena stared at her father, watching the color drain completely from his face. "You knew?" she breathed. "You knew Gregory’s father set fire to our home while I was sleeping inside it?"
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"It was a mistake!" Arthur stammered, stepping backward. "Richard Thorne didn't know you were staying at the cabin that weekend! When the fire happened, Thorne held all the debt on our shipping fleet. If I exposed him, Vance Global would have gone bankrupt overnight. I had to protect our legacy!"
"You traded the truth of my near death to buy business favor with the man who almost burned me alive," Elena said, her words dropping like ice. "And then you tried to force me to marry his son."
