Chapter 4: Fire in the Dark
The fake DNA results arrived three days later. Margaret slammed the envelope onto Elias’s massive mahogany desk.
"Read it," she demanded. "Zero percent probability. She is not your blood. She is a scam artist’s child, here to steal your million-dollar prize and your name."
Elias stared at the paper. His heart hammered against his ribs. He looked at Lily, who was sitting quietly in the corner, clutching her silver horseshoe. He didn’t need a piece of paper. He felt it in his bones.
"Who ran this test?" Elias asked, his voice dangerously quiet.
"Dr. Aris. A respected professional," Margaret insisted.
"Dr. Aris is your bridge partner's husband," Elias spat, tearing the paper in half. "I will get my own test. Until then, nothing changes."
Realizing the paper trail wasn't enough to sway Elias, Clara resorted to desperate, unforgivable measures. If the girl wouldn't leave willingly, she would have to be driven out by fear.
That night, a fierce thunderstorm rolled over the plains. The wind howled, masking the sound of footsteps creeping into the main barn. Clara, cloaked in a dark raincoat, unlatched the heavy iron gate to Midnight's stall, then quietly knocked over a kerosene lantern near the dry hay storage.
Flames erupted instantly, eating through the dry timber.
Lily, asleep in her room, awoke to the smell of smoke. Looking out her window, she saw the orange glow from the stables. She didn't scream for help; she ran. She ran in her bare feet, out into the pouring rain, her only thought on the giant black horse locked inside.
"Midnight!" she screamed, rushing into the burning barn.
The smoke was blinding. Timbers were groaning, ready to collapse. Clara watched from the shadows, expecting the wild, panicked horse to trample the girl in its bid for freedom.
But Midnight didn't run. The massive stallion broke through his burning stall door, grabbed the back of Lily’s nightgown with his teeth, and literally dragged the coughing, half-conscious child out of the inferno just as the roof collapsed with a deafening roar.
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Elias arrived seconds later, dropping to his knees in the mud as he saw the giant black horse standing protectively over his coughing daughter, shielding her from the heavy rain.
Through the chaos, Hank approached Elias, holding something he had found in the mud near the barn door. It was a diamond earring. Clara’s earring.
