The sirens shattered the silence first…the high-pitched wails of fire engines and squad cars tearing up the hill like banshees. Red and blue lights danced across the manicured lawn, washing the Duncan mansion in a storm of color.
Firemen swarmed out with hoses, barking orders, boots pounding. Officers followed, shouting commands, trying to push back the thickening crowd gathering at the edge of the estate.
And Jessie just stood there.
Unmoving.
Like marble in the middle of a battlefield.
Her gaze never left the flames curling up the frame of the Duncan mansion, devouring everything it once stood for.
Inside her head…wasn’t chaos.
It wasn’t even the sound of sirens or men yelling or water hissing over fire.
No—inside her head, an opera played.
The kind used in films right before t
