Chapter 43 Ashes And Truth

Chapter 43 Ashes And Truth
I watched the black smoke rise into the sky and block out the sun. The Vance mansion, the place where I grew up, was now on fire. The heat was so strong it felt like it was burning my face, but I could not look away.  

In my mind, I still saw her. My mother, Lily Vance, sitting in that chair. She did not move. She did not fight. She chose to burn with her secrets rather than live in a world where she was not in control.  

"Sir, the fire department says it’s too hot to go in yet," Mark said. His face was covered in soot. "The roof has collapsed. The library is gone."  

I did not answer. I felt Serena’s hand slip into mine. She was shaking. I looked down at her and then at Arthur, who was wrapped in a blanket in her other arm. He was looking at the orange flames with wide, innocent eyes. He did not know that his grandmother had just tried to kill us all. He did not know that she was gone.  

"Is it really over, Edward?" Serena asked.  

I looked at the house one last time. The gold "V" on the front gate had melted.  

"Yes," I said. "It’s over."  

We did not go back to the penthouse in Oaktown. We did not go back to the beach house either. The smell of salt and the sound of the waves reminded me too much of that night I almost lost Serena and Arthur.  

Instead, I drove to a small estate I owned three hours away. It was a farm, far from the city and the ocean. It was a place Lily had no idea existed. "That made it perfect.”

During the drive, I stared out the window. My phone kept buzzing with news alerts. “Vance Mansion Destroyed in Massive Fire.” “Billionaire Matriarch Missing.” “Police Uncover Massive Corruption Ring.”  

Mark sat in the front seat, his laptop open. He was working with Commander Miller to make sure everything was finally over.  

"Edward," Mark said. "The fire department called. They’ve been searching the ruins of the library for four hours."  

I felt my chest tighten. "And?"  

"They haven’t found anything else. No remains, Edward. If she was really in there, there might not be anything left to find."  

Serena looked at me, her eyes full of worry. I knew what she was thinking. If there was no body, was Lily really dead?  

I took a deep breath. I thought about the look in my mother’s eyes before the curtains went up in flames. It was not the look of someone planning an escape. She was a proud woman. She would rather turn to ash than be dragged out in handcuffs in front of everyone she spent her life trying to impress.  

"She’s gone, Mark," I said. I was not saying it for him. I was saying it for myself. "She would not leave that house. That house was her soul. When it died, she died with it."  

Mark nodded and went back to his computer. But I saw the way Serena hugged Arthur a little tighter.  

When we reached the farmhouse, the sun was setting. The fields were green and quiet. There were no cameras, no gold statues, and no ghosts.

I helped Serena out of the car. She looked exhausted. The trauma of the last few days had taken a toll on her. I led her inside the house. It smelled like cedar wood and dried lavender.  

"I’ll take Arthur," Sarah said softly, reaching for the baby.  

I led Serena to the back porch. We sat on a wooden swing and watched the stars come out. For a long time, we did not say anything. We just listened to the crickets.  

"Do you hate her?" Serena asked.  

I thought about the question. Did I hate the woman who gave me life, but tried to take away my future?  

"I feel sorry for her," I admitted. "She spent her whole life building a wall of money and power. She thought it would protect her. But in the end, it just became her prison. She could not love me, and she could not love Arthur, because she only loved the power and money ."  

"I was so scared in that cellar," Serena said. "I thought I would never see you again. I thought Arthur would grow up without a father."  

I pulled her close and rested my chin on her head. "I am never leaving you again. Not for power, not for a business deal, not for anything. The Vance empire is gone, Serena. I’m going to sell the company. I’m going to give the money to charity and then we can start our lives afresh."  

Serena looked up at me. "You’re giving it all away?"  

"Yes," I said. "We have enough to live a quiet life. I want Arthur to grow up in a world where people do not fear his last name. I want him to be a good man. Not a powerful one."  

Serena smiled. It was the first real smile I had seen in a long time. "I like the sound of that."  

Later that night, after Serena had fallen asleep, I went into the small office in the farmhouse. I opened a safe in the wall and took out a single folder. It was the only thing I had saved from the mansion weeks ago.  

Inside were photos of me as a child. In every photo, Lily was standing behind me, her hands on my shoulders. She never smiled. She always looked like she was preparing me for a war.  

I took a match and lit it. I watched the corner of the photo curl and turn black. I dropped it into a metal trash can and watched it burn.  

"Goodbye, Mother," I whispered.  

I did not need a body to know she was dead. I knew it because for the first time in years, the weight on my shoulders was gone. The air did not feel heavy anymore. The shadows in the corner of the room were just shadows.  

I went back to our bedroom. Serena was sleeping peacefully. Arthur was in the crib next to the bed. I watched the steady rise and fall of his chest.  

Lily Vance thought weakness was love. She thought strength was fire. She was wrong.  

As I lay down next to my wife, I closed my eyes. I did not dream of Lily. I did not dream of the incident in the warehouse. I dreamt of a long, quiet road with no one chasing us.  

The morning would come, and for the first time, we would not be looking over our shoulders. We were just a family. And that was more than Lily Vance ever understood.