To Have A Heart (A New Adventure Begins - Star Elite 7)

CHAPTER FOUR

Callum managed to take only a few steps when the loud boom of a massive explosion shattered the night air. Both he

and Mallory instinctively threw themselves onto the ground. The world shook beneath them.

Once down, Callum lifted his head to look at Melrose House.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” he growled, somewhat awestruck by what he saw.

“What was that?”

Mallory peered around him to see what he was looking at. For a moment, she also struggled to believe what she was seeing.

“Is that - Is that the house on fire? Who did that? Was that an explosion? What happened?”

Mallory stared at the huge bank of flames surging out of the windows at the back of the house, trying desperately to lick the night sky. The orange and red glow created a haze around the property that was startling in its effect but was no less destructive.

Her gaze fell to the men who had been chasing them. They had also stopped running and had turned to look at the spectacle of the burning house. Some even started to run toward the property inside of which were the terrified screams of the trapped occupants.

“What?” Mallory asked when she heard Callum huff. She watched him shake his head in wonderment.

“Your friend has helped you,” Callum mused with an appreciative nod.

“What?” Mallory blinked at him in confusion.

“Never mind.”

“No. What do you mean?” Mallory pressed.

Callum pointed to the thick wall of smoke and flames coming from the house. Whatever had exploded inside had blown several windows out of the first floor. Through them was the orange evidence of fire, the flames of which were already eating the shutters avariciously and were far too rampant for any group of men to extinguish.

“Flames like that won’t be put out with buckets of water. They will only cease when there is nothing left for them to consume,” Callum reported.

He folded his arms and studied the small shadows of the guards running around the yard.

“They are going to be busy for a while.”

“Anybody inside that house will have been killed, won’t they,” Mallory whispered in horror.

Callum quirked a brow at her.

“You cannot feel sorry for them, surely? They stole your life and abused you. They murdered your friend in cold blood and would have done the same to you if they had been given permission to do so by your kidnapper. Don’t tell me you feel compassion for them.”

Callum knew she did. It was there, written on her face. It was a reminder that she truly was a remarkable person in that after everything her captors had done to her, Mallory still had the capacity to feel sorry for them.

“Well, no, but-” Mallory was confused. “They shouldn’t be in a position where they can harm anybody else. It isn’t right what they do – did. I-I just didn’t expect them to all die in a – an – explosion.”

“The rest of their days would have been spent in prison anyway,” Callum warned. “What kind of life would they have had? They have gone to meet their Maker instead and will have to account to him for what they have done. At least you now know that none of them can ever hurt you, or anybody else. That can only benefit society, don’t you think?”

“Most definitely, but-”

“Let’s go,” he interrupted.

Callum’s dismissal of the people still struggling to get into the property to rescue the victims warned Mallory that he might not be her knight in shining armour after all. While he had been kind enough to put himself in incredible danger to help her, she hadn’t expected him to be so cold-hearted about someone’s demise, no matter who that ‘someone’ was.

“They are still people,” Mallory whispered, more to herself than to him.

“Do you want me to go back to rescue them?” Callum asked sarcastically. “Because I warn you now that you will be on your own should you try. They will still want you to return to duties when they have put the fire out. Do you want to go back there and have them steal what is left of your life? A little explosion isn’t going to put them off their cruelty. It is what they are, not what they do. They have no respect for others, no manners, no decency left in them. Look at how they treat people. Remember how they treated you. They are beyond human comprehension and deserve nothing more than contempt. It is heinous to steal anybody’s life and abuse them. As far as I am concerned, if anybody has died in that house fire, justice has been served. I just hope that the master of the house, your kidnapper and tormentor, was in there too.”