We climbed the stairs carefully because the wood was soaked and weak. We reached the office and I shoved the door open.
The safe was visible because the bookshelf had burned away. I punched in the numbers.
Green light. The door swung open.
Inside were stacks of cash and a burner phone. There was also a small black ledger.
“Take it all,” I whispered.
Toby knelt by a loose floorboard in the corner. He pried it up and pulled out an envelope.
“There is more here,” he whispered.
That was when we heard heavy footsteps on the floor below us.
“Boss said to make sure no one left anything behind,” a man’s voice echoed.
“The safe is open,” another man shouted from the hallway.
Toby’s eyes were wide with terror. We slipped into the closet and pulled the door shut just as a flashlight beam swept the room.
“Footprints,” the man said. “Small ones.”
“Call Dominic right now,” the other one ordered.
From outside, we heard a woman scream. It was Sarah.
The men cursed and ran toward the stairs. I did not wait a second longer.
We bolted out the back and ran through the dark until we reached the car. Sarah was already inside with the engine running.
“Did you get the ledger?” she gasped.
I showed her the backpack. We sped away into the night.
Back at the office, we opened the ledger. It contained dates, names, and amounts.
“Final solution,” one entry read. “Insurance payout. Fire set for Thursday.”
He had written his own confession. Sarah smiled a cold and satisfied smile.
“He thought he was too smart to get caught,” she said.
By morning, the local detectives had the evidence. I sent one final text to Dominic.
“Meet me at the park fountain at noon. Bring the money,” I wrote.
He agreed instantly. He thought he could still fix his mistake.
I sat on the bench with a wire taped to my skin. Dominic approached me with a look of false relief.
“Ayira, thank God you are okay,” he began to lie.
“I know everything, Dominic,” I said calmly.
His face transformed into something monstrous. He realized his mask had slipped forever.
He reached for a knife in his pocket. “You ruined everything,” he hissed.
But the police were already moving in from every direction. The struggle was short and violent.
It was finally over.
The trial lasted months, but the evidence was undeniable. Dominic went to prison for a very long time.
Years later, Toby and I live in a small cottage near the coast. It is not fancy, but it is ours.
Toby sleeps through the night now. Sometimes he asks if I really believed him at the airport.
“I believed you, and I always will,” I tell him.
Because the smallest voice in the room was the only one telling the truth.
THE END.
