Chapter 52

Chapter 52
3RD POV

He got home later than usual, shoulders aching from another long day that felt exactly like the one before it. The house was quiet when he walked into the double doors. It was the kind of silence that wasn’t peaceful but warning. He dropped his keys on the counter, calling out for his mother, expecting her voice from the kitchen.
But he heard a small, broken sound and he followed it through the hallway and stopped at the living room door. His mother was sitting on the couch, her hands shaking, eyes red and wet. She clutched a paper so tightly that the edges had torn and her whole body trembling like she was holding back an earthquake.
“Mom?” His voice cracked. “What’s wrong?”
She looked up at him, and his stomach dropped. She had that hollow look people get when the world had fucked them over. He crossed the room fast, kneeling in front of her.
“What happened? Why are you crying?”
She didn’t answer at first. Her lips moved like she was searching for words that wouldn’t come. Then she held out the paper. “It came back… ninety-nine point nine percent.”
He blinked, trying to catch up. “What came back?”
“The test,” she whispered, voice shaking. “The DNA test.”
That confused him even more. He looked at the paper, the words swimming before his eyes: Subject A: Elizabeth Caldwell. Subject B: Louisa Blackwood.  Result: 99.9% Probability of Maternal Relationship.
He stared at it, then at her, then back at it. “You took a DNA test with someone you don’t know?”
She let out a trembling laugh that wasn’t really laughter. “She was never a stranger. I knew it the moment I saw her, even when she didn’t remember me. A mother just….knows, you know.”
He sat back on his heels, mind spinning. His mom had said that before, about feeling something familiar about the Blackwood girl, about the sadness in her eyes. He’d brushed it off as her being kindhearted, but this…
His throat tightened. “You’re saying she’s—”
“My daughter,” she said, the words breaking in the middle. “My Aria.”
For a second, he couldn’t breathe. The world seemed to narrow, every sound gone except the rush in his ears. He’d been waiting for this moment for years, hoping and dreading in equal measure. His sister, abducted from him when they were kids. One second she’d been laughing, chasing after a ball he’d kicked, and then she was just gone.
He’d spent years replaying it as the guilt never left his chest. And now she was alive.
He let out a shaky laugh, tears stinging his eyes before he even realized he was crying. He pulled his mother into his arms, holding her tight. “She’s alive,” he whispered against her hair. “We found her, Mom. She’s really alive.”
She nodded against him, still shaking. “I knew it. I knew it all this time. When I saw her at that place, I could feel it in my bones.”
He pulled back to look at her, brushing away a tear from her cheek. “Then we have to go get her. Right now.”
Her eyes widened. “You mean—”
“Yes,” he said, already standing. “We’re going to the Blackwood estate. I’ve seen how they treat her in that house, she doesn’t belong there. She belongs here.”
She hesitated for only a second before she nodded, clutching her purse and following him out. He started the car, hands trembling on the wheel, adrenaline flooding his system. His sister, his baby sister, was alive. But before he could even shift into gear, his phone buzzed on the dashboard.
He almost ignored it until he saw the caller ID: St. Mary’s Psychiatric. His heart dropped. That was where his father was. He picked up immediately. 
“Hello?”
“Sir,” a nurse’s voice came through, tight and panicked, “you need to come quickly. The hospital is on fire.”
“What?”
“The east wing’s gone up in flames. We’re evacuating everyone we can.”
He froze, staring at the windshield, not really seeing it. Then his mother gasped beside him, hearing enough to understand. As soon as he ended the call, he threw the car into reverse, tires screeching against the pavement. 
“We have to go to the hospital first, get Dad out, then go for her.” His mom just nodded, gripping the edge of the seat.
When they reached St. Mary’s, chaos had already erupted. Flames clawed at the windows, smoke billowing so thick it made his eyes sting even from the parking lot. Fire trucks screamed, hoses blasted water, and people ran in every direction.
He slammed the car door and ran, ignoring the heat. His mother’s voice called after him, but he couldn’t stop.
“Dad’s inside,” he shouted. “I have to get him!”
A firefighter blocked his path. “Sir, you can’t go in there!”
“My father’s in there!”
The man shook his head. “We’re doing everything we can, but it’s not safe for civilians—”
“I’m not standing out here while he burns!”
Before he could push past, his mother grabbed his arm. Her nails dug into his skin as she desperately tried to stop him. “Please,” she begged. “Please don’t. I can’t lose you too.”
He turned to her, his heart pounding. Her face was streaked with soot, tears cutting pale lines down her cheeks. For a second, all the fight drained out of him.
He pressed his forehead against hers. “He’s my father,” he whispered.
“And you’re my son,” she said. “If I lose you, there’s no point saving anyone.”
He stood frozen there, fists clenched, the fire lighting their faces in pulses of orange. Every second felt like a century. Then, through the smoke, a shape appeared and someone pushed a wheelchair toward them.
“Mom,” he said, his voice breaking. She turned. The nurse was half-running, half-pushing, coughing into her sleeve as he guided a man out of the flames. It was his father. He looked pale and confused with an oxygen mask hanging on his face.
They both ran to him. His mother dropped to her knees, sobbing as she grabbed her husband’s hand. He crouched beside her, gripping his father’s shoulder, trying to help him breathe.
The nurse fell to the ground beside them, coughing hard. “He’s….he’s lucky,” she said, voice raw. “We almost couldn’t get him out.”
“Thank you,” his mother cried, clutching her hand. “Thank you so much.”
He looked at his father, who was dazed but alive. Relief crashed through him, but the relief was short-lived as he heard voices behind them. Bystanders, gossiping in low tones.
“Did you hear? They brought in another one from the Blackwood estate today.”
“The wife, right? Poor thing. No one has any idea if she is still in there.”
“Can you believe her husband didn’t even show up? Some billionaire he is.”
The words hit like a punch to the gut. He froze, every muscle going cold. Slowly, he looked up and met his mother’s eyes. She’d heard it too. The same thought flashed through both their minds.
Louisa.
He stood up before she could say anything, scanning the burning building. His heart was pounding so loud he could barely hear the sirens anymore.
“Wait,” his mother said, catching his sleeve. “What are you doing?”
“They said the Blackwood patient. That’s her.”
“You can’t go in there!” He didn’t even answer. He turned toward the fire, chest heaving. Smoke rolled out, swallowing the entrance.
“Please!” she screamed after him. “Don’t do this!”
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