The Fourth Time

Thea’s POV

We glared at each other for a solid thirty seconds. Finally, I turned the key in the ignition, too exhausted to fight him. “Your car?”

“Damien will take care of it.”

I pulled away from the curb, feeling strangely hollow. “Funny how shit works out, huh? Finally step into the spotlight, and boom, everything goes up in flames. Literally.”

“This isn’t your fault.”

I let out a bitter laugh. “Seems like the universe disagrees with you there.”

“It will be okay.”

“Will it?”

For some reason, I had a feeling things wouldn’t be okay, and the worst was yet to come. I pulled over to the side of the road and called my real estate agent. He answered immediately.

“Glenn, it’s Thea. You’ve probably heard—”

“I just saw the news,” he interrupted, sounding genuinely distressed. “Are you alright?”

“It’s fine.” I paused for a moment. “Please tell me you have a house for me, anything, considering I’m now homeless.”

I didn’t like the idea of staying in a hotel for any length of time. If he told me there was no house available, I didn’t know what I’d do.

“I have one, and it’s perfect for you. I’m sure you’ll love it,”

Relief washed over me. “Text me the address. I’ll go see it now.”

After he agreed, I hung up.

“So you’re buying a new house? You know I have several properties sitting empty. You’re welcome to one. No strings,” Sebastian said, startling me.

He’d been so quiet, and I’d been so focused on finding a house that I’d completely forgotten he was with me in the car.

“I’m good, thanks,” I said flatly, putting the car back in drive. “I don’t need your charity.”

“It’s not charity, Thea. It’s—”

“Guilt? Pity? No thanks.”

We drove in uncomfortable silence for several minutes before Sebastian spoke again.

“How did you do it?” he asked quietly.

“Do what? Get my house torched? No idea, but apparently I’ve got a talent for pissing people off.”

“Become successful on your own. Build everything you have. As far as I know, your father cut off your finances.”

I glanced at him, surprised by the genuine curiosity in his voice. There was something disarming about it, something that made me answer honestly.

“I knew our marriage wouldn’t last. Either I’d give up and ask for a divorce, or you would. Honestly, I thought it would be you. I knew you’d leave me once Aurora came back; it was just a matter of time.” He took a deep breath at the mention of her name.

I didn’t know what had happened between them yesterday, but I didn’t care. After all, it wasn’t my business.

“I also knew I didn’t want to take a penny from you beyond what Leo was entitled to. I wanted to continue providing Leo with the life he was used to, but my salary as a teacher wouldn’t allow that, so about three years into our marriage, I took all the money I had and invested in a new company.” I paused before continuing.

“The bank told me it was risky, that the company had little chance of success. They were sure I’d end up losing everything. But they were wrong—that company thrived.”

Thinking back on it, I smiled. It was a major company, very successful in its field. I was still a shareholder, just not publicly.

“I started making money from the shares, and it felt great. I took part-time business courses, just to understand the ins and outs of running a business. From there, I began investing in startups. Companies that needed funding but couldn’t get it from banks came to me. I studied their business plans, and if there was potential, I invested.”

So far, none of my investments had failed. After the companies grew, they either bought out my shares or I remained on the board.

I glanced at him, wanting to see his reaction. He looked impressed.

“This has been going on for over four years?” he asked softly.

“Yes… when I made my first million, I was so excited to tell you, hoping you’d be proud. Hoping you’d see that I wasn’t just a worthless failure.” I recalled that day. “I remember waiting for you to come home, but you didn’t, so I saved the news for morning, still excited to tell you. When I saw you in the kitchen the next morning, I sat next to you and told you I had something to say.”

I stopped to swallow, taking a deep breath. The memory was etched in my mind.

“But instead of listening, you looked at me coldly and told me you didn’t care what I had to say. You didn’t care about my life or what I was doing. You cruelly said that even if I dropped dead at that moment, you wouldn’t care, so rather than waste your time and ruin your morning, why didn’t I go bother someone else.”

The silence in the car was thick and heavy. I saw his Adam’s apple bob up and down.

“Thea…” he began, his voice rough, but I cut him off.

“So, after that morning, I never said anything again, and since you made it clear you weren’t interested in anything I did, I kept quiet about everything related to my life.”

The memory still hurt, but like everything with Sebastian, I was learning to live with it. Someday, I knew, it wouldn’t hurt so much.

We fell into silence again. When I couldn’t take it anymore, just as I was about to turn on the radio, his phone rang. He answered it.

“Yes, I’m with her now,” he said.

He listened for a moment before responding: “We’ll be right there.”

Then he hung up and turned to me. “That was Chief Hawthorne. He wants to see us at the station now, before he leaves for a meeting.”

Without a word, I changed course and headed for the police station. My house was gone, but at least I had insurance. I’d deal with the real estate agent later.

The police station was bustling when we arrived. Hawthorne ushered us into his office immediately, his expression grave.

“Ms. Sterling, Alpha Ashworth,” he nodded to each of us. “Please sit.”

“What’s happening?” I asked, getting straight to the point.

Hawthorne leaned forward, clasping his hands on his desk. “There’s no easy way to say this. The fire at your home was deliberately set.”

“Arson?” Sebastian growled.

“Yes. And from the accelerant pattern and timing, our investigator believes whoever did this thought you were home, Ms. Sterling. They weren’t trying to destroy property—they were trying to kill you.”

My mind went blank, and a chill crept up my spine. If not for my meeting with Fiona this morning, I would have been in that house. I would have been trapped in those flames.

“So I was the target all along,” I whispered.

Again and again. Someone was methodically trying to eliminate me, and they were getting bolder with each attempt.

“Do you have any leads?” Sebastian demanded.

“Nothing concrete yet,” Hawthorne admitted. “But…”

I barely heard the rest of the conversation. My mind kept replaying a single thought: How long could I keep dodging death before it finally caught up with me?