Page 104 of The Firefighter's Fate

The man nods, still crying like a child.

“Yes...”

“What did you do? Tell me.”

“I... I got my men to burn down the Penmayne mansion...”

“You are a coward,” I tell him. “You ordered something done that you couldn’t do yourself. When I want something done, I come and do it myself... such as throwing rich cowards like you off their nice skyscrapers...”

“Please.”

He’s swaying in the wind. His eyes are wild as he contemplates his fate splattered on the sidewalk far below. All that’s between him and an ending like that is my grip around his ankles.

“You don’t want to be thrown off, do you, senator?”

“No, please. No.”

I growl.

“Then tell me why you burned down my family home. Who were you after?”

The man shakes his head.

“No... I wasn’t after anyone...”

I let his ankle slip from my hand. Just an inch.

It’s enough to send a sudden panic through the Senator as he believes he might actually fall to his doom. He cries out before I have him back in my tight grip.

“Tell me, senator. Who did you want killed?”

“Ember...”

He only mentions her name.

And anger courses through me yet again.

She interviewed him. She had proof of his crimes. He wanted her gone.

And he failed.

And now I’m here to make sure he’ll never succeed.

“If you dare touch Ember again, then you will learn what it’s like to be hurled into a fire like the one you made of my family’s mansion,” I snarl at the man dangling in the wind. “Literally. My firefighter crew and I will come back for you, senator. And we have many, many painful ways to set you alight. And don’t think you can hide, us Penmaynes can track you down anywhere you go. You won’t be safe from my wrath, no matter where you end up. Is that understood?”

The politician nods. He’s still squealing, but he understands.

“You get that message?” I ask him.

“Yes, yes, yes.”

“Say it. Say you won’t touch Ember.”

“I won’t touch Ember. I won’t harm her.”

“Say that you’ll never think of her again.”

“I’ll never think of her again.”

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