[COMPLETED] The Rings Hidden in the Whitmore Libraryc

"Elena!" Alexander roared into the receiver, but only the flat drone of a severed line answered him.

"We have to go," Evelyn said, her voice dropping into an icy, razor-sharp focus. She grabbed Alexander’s arm, pulling him toward the back hallway. "They aren't trying to hide it anymore. They’re purging the estate."

Before they could reach the side entrance, a muffled explosion rocked the rear of the manor. The tall French windows of the conservatory blew inward in a shower of diamond-sharp glass, followed immediately by an orange wall of heat. The carriage house was engulfed in flames, black smoke billowing into the rain-swept night.

"Move!" Thomas barked, drawing a revolver from his holster.

They burst through the kitchen and out into the freezing mud. The heat from the carriage house was blistering, the historic timber popping like gunshots as diesel-fueled flames consumed the estate's archives.

Through the sheet of rain, Alexander saw a dark SUV idling near the service gates, its headlights blacked out.

"Ethan!" Evelyn screamed, breaking into a sprint toward the burning building.

"Evelyn, no!" Alexander tackled her to the ground just as a burst of automatic fire stitched across the side of the stone garage, chipping masonry into their faces.

From behind the burning wreck of the carriage, a small figure stumbled into the mud, coughing violently. It was Ethan—his yellow rain jacket covered in soot, clutching an iron lockbox to his chest. Behind him, Elena was dragging herself through the grass, clutching a bleeding shoulder.

Alexander charged through the gunfire, scooping Ethan into his arms while Thomas returned fire toward the idling SUV, driving the vehicle back toward the highway gates.

"I got the box," Ethan sobbed into Alexander’s neck, shivering uncontrollably. "Aunt Elena told me to dig under the rosebush—she said Grandma left it for me!"

Alexander pulled Elena to her feet, supporting her weight as they scrambled into the relative cover of the estate's stone perimeter wall.