Chapter 7 - Tommy's CageThey found Tommy in an abandoned warehouse outside Boston.
Leo insisted on going himself.
Clare went with him.
The warehouse smelled of oil, rust and wet concrete.
Tommy was tied to a metal chair.
He was alive.
Barely.
“Clare!”
She ran toward him.
Leo stopped her.
“Trap.”
Too late.
The warehouse doors slammed shut.
Gunmen emerged from the shadows.
Leo's men opened fire.
The room exploded.
Clare crawled behind a crate.
Tommy screamed.
Then one of the gunmen shouted:
“Tell Leo where the ledger is!”
Leo fired.
“Who sent you?”
The man laughed.
“Your mother did.”
Silence.
Leo froze.
“What?”
“She's alive.”
The gunman smiled.
“And she knows you've found out.”
Leo shot the weapon from his hand.
“Where is she?”
“Closer than you think.”
The man swallowed blood.
“She's been watching you.”
“Where?”
He laughed.
Then a sniper's bullet struck him in the forehead.
Leo looked up.
Another shot shattered a light.
His team returned fire, but the sniper vanished.
Tommy was finally freed.
He stared at Clare.
“There was a woman.”
“What woman?”
“She came to see me before they kidnapped me.”
“What did she look like?”
Tommy swallowed.
“Old.”
“Anything else?”
“She had a scar.”
Leo and Clare exchanged a look.
Tommy continued.
“She told me something.”
“What?”
“She said, ‘Tell Clare not to trust the man with the sparrow ring.’”
Leo's hand slowly moved toward Father Luca's ring.
But Father Luca was dead.
Unless...
Leo suddenly looked at Tommy.
“Describe the woman.”
Tommy closed his eyes.
“Gray hair.”
“Anything else?”
“She knew your name, Leo.”
Leo's pulse raced.
“What did she call me?”
Tommy's eyes opened.
“Little sparrow.”
Leo stepped back.
His mother used to call him that.
No one else knew.
Except one person.
His father.
Leo's face hardened.
“What did the woman say about my father?”
Tommy whispered:
“She said he wasn't dead either.”
The warehouse fell silent.
Leo stared at him.
“My father died eight years ago.”
Tommy shook his head.
“She said he's been alive this whole time.”
Clare looked at Leo.
The conspiracy had just become something impossible.
Then her phone rang.
An unknown number.
She answered.
A woman's voice whispered:
“Clare.”
She froze.
“Who are you?”
The voice answered:
“The woman you sang to.”
Clare's heart stopped.
“Are you... Rosa?”
A pause.
Then:
“No.”
May you like
The woman laughed softly.
“I'm your mother.”
