Chapter 153

Rose stood on the rooftop of a building across from the Grand Plaza Hotel, her face lit by the orange glow of flames. The night air carried smoke and screams to her ears, a symphony of destruction that made her heart race. She laughed, the sound bursting from her throat in waves, wild and uncontrolled.

“Look at it burn,” she whispered, then laughed again, louder this time. “Look at it all burn!”

From this height, she could see everything, fire trucks with lights flashing, ambulances lined up along the street, police pushing crowds back from danger. The once-beautiful hotel was now a blazing skeleton, its west wing completely collapsed, windows shattered across its face like broken teeth. The ballroom where Camille had stood so proudly just hours before was now a pit of flames and black smoke.

Rose’s laughter died suddenly, replaced by a strange, hollow silence. She stepped closer to the edge of the roof, her eyes fixed on the destruction below. All those months of