Chapter 14 - What Clare RememberedClare's gun trembled.
Leo stared at her.
“Clare.”
She didn't answer.
Mrs. Gable stood beside her.
Rosalia looked terrified.
“You remember everything?”
Clare nodded.
“I was four.”
Leo took one cautious step.
“I saw a man kill someone.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Clare's eyes filled with tears.
“Your father.”
Leo froze.
“My father?”
“He killed a man in the underground room.”
Rosalia shook her head.
“No.”
Clare looked at her.
“You were there.”
“I was.”
“You saw him.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you hide the truth?”
Rosalia whispered:
“Because the man your father killed was not innocent.”
Clare laughed bitterly.
“And that's why you erased my memories?”
“We protected you.”
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
Clare raised the gun.
“Everyone lied.”
Mrs. Gable stepped forward.
“Clare.”
“Don't.”
“You are remembering the wrong part.”
“There is no wrong part.”
Mrs. Gable's voice softened.
“You remember the gunshot.”
“Yes.”
“You remember the body.”
“Yes.”
“But you don't remember who was standing behind you.”
Clare froze.
A memory flickered.
Small hands.
A red dress.
Someone kneeling beside her.
A woman whispering:
“Don't look.”
Clare's breathing became uneven.
Then she remembered.
A man standing in the doorway.
The man who had killed the victim.
Not Adriano Rossi.
Not her father.
Someone else.
Someone she knew.
Someone who had been there recently.
Clare looked at Leo.
“He was there.”
“Who?”
Her eyes widened.
“The man with the sparrow ring.”
Leo turned toward Mrs. Gable.
She shook her head.
“It wasn't me.”
Clare looked at Rosalia.
“No.”
Then she understood.
The sparrow ring.
The priest had worn it.
Father Luca.
But he was dead.
Unless the ring had belonged to someone else.
Clare whispered:
“Your uncle.”
Leo's face changed.
Suddenly the entire puzzle aligned.
The uncle had controlled the guards.
The uncle had manipulated Tommy.
The uncle had hidden the ledger.
The uncle had arranged the deaths.
And the uncle had been standing behind Clare when she witnessed the murder.
Leo pulled out his phone.
“Where is he?”
Mrs. Gable answered:
“The estate.”
Leo's phone buzzed.
A live video appeared.
Tommy sat tied to a chair.
Behind him stood Leo's uncle.
And beside the uncle was a man Leo recognized.
His father's supposedly dead lawyer.
The uncle smiled into the camera.
“You've finally remembered.”
Then he turned to Tommy.
“Tell them.”
Tommy looked directly into the camera.
His face was bruised.
His voice broke.
“I'm sorry, Clare.”
The uncle pressed a gun against his head.
“Tell them what you saw.”
Tommy closed his eyes.
“I saw her father die.”
Clare screamed.
The screen went black.
Leo grabbed his coat.
“We're going home.”
Rosalia stopped him.
“You can't go alone.”
Leo looked at her.
“I won't.”
Clare stepped forward.
“I remembered the way in.”
Leo stared.
“What way?”
“The tunnel beneath the library.”
Rosalia shook her head.
“No.”
Clare looked at her.
“There's another entrance.”
“Where?”
Clare whispered:
“Under the nursery.”
Leo's blood ran cold.
His childhood nursery.
The room he had never entered after his mother's disappearance.
May you like
The uncle had chosen the one place Leo would never think to search.
And that meant the final secret had been waiting there for fifteen years.
