Chapter 11 - The Brother Who Chose the Grave
Lucian had spent seven years dead for one reason.
Lucian looked at me.
For a long moment neither of us spoke.
Then he smiled.
Not the smile I remembered.
Something colder.
Older.
Tired.
“You've changed.”
I laughed bitterly.
“So have you.”
My father stood between us.
“Enough.”
Lucian looked at him.
“You still think you control us.”
“I control what matters.”
“No.”
Lucian reached for his gun.
“Not anymore.”
Three shots.
My father fell.
Emma screamed.
Lily ran toward me.
I grabbed her.
Lucian looked at the body.
Then at me.
“He was dying anyway.”
I stared at him.
“You shot our father.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he was going to kill Lily.”
Giovanni laughed.
“Finally.”
Lucian pointed at him.
“And you're next.”
Giovanni raised his weapon.
Julian fired first.
Giovanni disappeared behind a column.
Chaos erupted.
Glass shattered.
Bullets tore through the chapel walls.
Julian shoved Emma behind the altar.
Lucian dragged me toward the side entrance.
“Move.”
“What about Lily?”
“She stays with us.”
We escaped into the woods.
Lily clung to my neck.
Behind us, the chapel burned.
After several minutes, Lucian stopped.
“You have questions.”
“I have hundreds.”
“Ask the important one.”
“Why did you let me believe you were dead?”
Lucian stared into the trees.
“Because if you knew I was alive, they'd use you to find me.”
“Who?”
“The people behind the Archive.”
“You mean Giovanni?”
“No.”
He looked at Lily.
“Bigger.”
“Who?”
He hesitated.
“The Council.”
I frowned.
“There is no council.”
“There is.”
“How many?”
“Seven.”
“Names?”
“Some are dead.”
“And the rest?”
“One is sitting in your house.”
My pulse stopped.
“Who?”
Lucian wouldn't answer.
“Tell me.”
He looked at Julian.
Julian shook his head.
“No.”
Lucian ignored him.
“The person inside your house has access to everything.”
“The security.”
“Yes.”
“The cameras.”
“Yes.”
“The staff.”
“Yes.”
“The money.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Lucian stared at me.
“Your housekeeper.”
I turned toward Emma.
She looked devastated.
“No.”
Lucian shook his head.
“Not Emma.”
“Then who?”
“The woman who hired her.”
I remembered.
Emma had been recommended by the estate staffing company.
A company I had never questioned.
I suddenly understood.
Lily had said the worst man was the one who smiled.
Not the scarred man.
The smiling woman.
Lucian reached into his pocket.
He pulled out a phone.
A photograph loaded.
A woman sitting beside my father.
I recognized her.
Marianne Bell.
The head of my household security administration.
The woman who had worked for my family for twenty-two years.
I whispered,
“She has access to everything.”
Lucian nodded.
“She also knows where Lily was born.”
Emma looked at me.
“Then she knows who Clara was.”
“And she knows what happened to her.”
Julian stood.
“We have to go.”
“Where?”
“Back to the penthouse.”
I shook my head.
“It's compromised.”
“Yes.”
“So why go back?”
Julian stared at me.
“Because Lily left something there.”
“What?”
May you like
He looked at her.
“The real ledger.”
