Chapter 10 - The Woman Everyone IgnoredMrs. Gable returned at dawn.
She walked into the kitchen carrying groceries.
Calm.
Unhurried.
As if nothing had happened.
Clare stared at her.
“You're alive.”
Mrs. Gable smiled.
“Of course.”
Leo entered behind Clare.
His gun was visible.
“Where were you?”
“Shopping.”
“You left the estate without permission.”
“I've been doing your shopping for twenty years.”
Leo studied her.
“You knew my mother.”
Mrs. Gable stopped.
Only for half a second.
But Leo saw it.
Clare saw it too.
Mrs. Gable sighed.
“I knew many women in this house.”
“Rosalia?”
Silence.
“Yes.”
“How?”
“She was my friend.”
Leo's voice hardened.
“You lied to me.”
“I lied to keep you alive.”
“Where is she?”
Mrs. Gable looked at Clare.
“She isn't dead.”
Clare stepped forward.
“You knew my mother too.”
Mrs. Gable's eyes softened.
“Your mother asked me to protect you.”
Clare's voice shook.
“Why didn't she tell me?”
“Because every time you got close to remembering, someone moved you.”
“Who?”
Mrs. Gable looked at Leo.
“Your father.”
Leo's face changed.
“You said he wasn't the mastermind.”
“He wasn't.”
“Then who?”
Mrs. Gable walked to the kitchen wall.
She pulled down an old framed painting.
Behind it was another passage.
“You want the truth?”
Leo nodded.
Mrs. Gable opened the passage.
“Then come.”
They descended beneath the mansion.
The tunnel ended in an underground room.
It contained dozens of files.
Photos.
Birth certificates.
Passports.
Medical records.
Clare walked past them.
Then froze.
A file bore her name.
She opened it.
Inside was a photograph of herself as a child.
Standing beside Rosalia.
And beside them...
her mother.
Alive.
Clare began crying.
“She lied to me.”
“No,” Mrs. Gable said.
“She protected you.”
“From what?”
Mrs. Gable looked at Leo.
“From the man who is coming tonight.”
Leo's phone rang.
He answered.
Nothing.
Then a child's voice whispered:
“Uncle Leo?”
Leo froze.
It was the voice of a little boy.
“Who is this?”
The child cried.
“Please help me.”
Then the line cut.
Mrs. Gable closed her eyes.
“That was your father's bloodline.”
Leo stared.
“My father had another child?”
Mrs. Gable whispered:
“Not another.”
May you like
She looked at Clare.
“Your brother.”
