Chapter 73 – The Baby That Lived
****Isabelle’s POV****
The fire was supposed to erase everything.
That was the whole point—stand in front of the Raze estate, watch it crumble into glowing embers, and feel the past finally loosen its claws. But as I stood in the skeletal remains of what used to be Victor’s private study the next morning, the smoke still clinging to my clothes, I realized that fire doesn’t always destroy.
Sometimes it reveals.
The room was barely standing. One wall had caved inward, half the ceiling was gone, and the once-polished mahogany shelves had been reduced to warped, blackened ribs. Ash clung to everything like frost. The air still carried that acrid, choking smell that makes you feel like you’re inhaling grief.
I didn’t come here to look for anything. I told
