Chapter 4

4: 4

I crawled through the escape passage for what felt like forever before my hand finally found the exit.

I dragged myself out into the back alley behind the mall.

I found a small motel, changed into clean clothes.

Then I pulled up the recording and reported it to the patrol bureau with one tap.

"Mr. Fox, we've received your report. We'll begin an investigation immediately."

Only when I saw that reply did I let out a slow breath.

In the distance, the mall was still ringed with police tape, sirens rising and falling without pause.

Looking toward it, I clenched my fist and shut my eyes.

Mia Harding. Christian Barnes. You wanted me dead so you could bleed me dry, so now you can wait to be arrested.

Three days later, the fire in the mall building was fully out, and the rescue team had packed up and pulled back.

Mia and Christian had reported my death that same day.

But the team searched through the collapsed steel beams in the heart of the fire zone and never found my body.

When she heard that, Mia's eyelid twitched, and something in her went uneasy for no reason she could name.

"It's fine, Mia. A beam that big came down on him. He was probably crushed and burned to nothing."

Christian held her and kept soothing her until she finally settled and let herself breathe again.

Five days after the fire, the leadership held a ceremony for the firefighting heroes in the rescue bureau's briefing hall.

I pulled a hooded sweatshirt over my face, dragged my weak body along, and walked quietly into the crowded hall.

I found a corner and sat down, watching the stage.

"Everyone, please welcome the two heroes of this rescue operation."

After a round of thunderous applause, Mia and Christian walked up onstage wearing black mourning bands, their faces solemn.

"Leaders of the rescue team," Christian began, his face full of grief, his voice catching,

"Captain Fox taught me while he was alive to sacrifice myself to save everyone. This time he set the example himself. When the fire broke out, he didn't hesitate. He charged into the heart of the blaze and sealed the iron shutter to keep the flames from spreading."

"He bought us half an hour. Only because of that could Mia and I get the civilians out. And in the end, we couldn't even find his body..."

Every leader in the room was sighing, and even Mr. Chavez looked at the two of them, shaking his head, tears falling.

In the dim corner, I quietly clenched my fist.

Listening to all of it, Mia frowned, her chest rising and falling. Not until Christian nudged her did she quickly lift her head.

She wiped the tears from her face and pulled up the big screen behind her.

On it was my scorched phone screen, showing the final words they had written for me, perfectly clear.

"Leaders, my fiance, Leonard Fox, was a firefighting hero in every sense."

"Before he died, he left me his final words, leaving all his property to me and Christian. And for the captain's post, he strongly recommended his trainee, Christian."

"Regarding my fiance's last wishes, I ask you all to give them serious consideration."

Looking at the words on the screen, the audience broke into an uproar. Mr. Chavez rose to his feet, grave and dignified.

"Miss Harding, Mr. Barnes, thank you for conveying Captain Fox's final words."

"His requests will be carried out in full. You have our word."

Hearing that, Mia and Christian let out a breath.

The two exchanged a glance, the corners of their mouths curving into a smug smile before they smoothed their faces back to solemn.

"Beyond that, the way you both handled yourselves in this fire deserves recognition too."

As he spoke, Mr. Chavez took out the firefighting hero medals and walked toward the two of them.

The whole audience burst into applause.

But just as the medal was about to settle around Christian's neck, I pulled off my cap, exposing the burns on my face, and quietly stood up.

The entire briefing hall froze in an instant, every head turning toward me.

Under all those eyes, I walked step by step to the front of the stage, looked at Mia and Christian, and spoke calmly.

"You two. That recording of you threatening me? I reported it to the patrol bureau a long time ago."

"And now it's time everyone got to hear it."

The two of them went blank, and before they could react, the big screen behind them cut over.

It began playing the recording of them threatening me, perfectly clear.

At that moment the main doors of the briefing hall were shoved open all at once, and a wave of patrol officers stormed in.