Chapter 6 - The Other Scar
The face was wrong, but the scar was right.
We drove through the city without headlights.
Julian insisted.
No police.
No phones.
No digital trail.
Emma sat in the back seat with Lily.
I drove.
For the first time in thirteen years, Julian wasn't behind the wheel.
Neither of us spoke.
Finally, I asked,
“Lucian has the scar.”
Julian stared out the window.
“Yes.”
“You told me you got yours thirteen years ago.”
“Yes.”
“Did Lucian get his then?”
Julian hesitated.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he was there.”
“At the warehouse?”
Julian nodded.
I looked at him.
“There were two men in that fire.”
“Yes.”
“One was you.”
“Yes.”
“The other was Lucian.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
Julian looked at me.
“He tried to kill Daniel.”
I tightened my grip on the wheel.
“And you stopped him?”
“No.”
“Then why is he alive?”
“I don't know.”
He turned away.
That answer was becoming a habit.
We reached the old estate at dawn.
The property had been abandoned after the fire.
The mansion was a shell.
Windows broken.
Walls blackened.
Trees growing through the courtyard.
Lily squeezed Emma's hand.
“Mommy.”
“What?”
“I remember this place.”
Emma froze.
“You've never been here.”
“Yes, I have.”
“When?”
Lily stared at the ruined house.
“When Daddy was still here.”
Emma's face went white.
“Lily, sweetheart, Daddy died before you were born.”
Lily shook her head.
“No.”
“What?”
“He gave me Bunny.”
My eyes moved toward the rabbit.
Daniel had been dead before Lily was born.
Yet she remembered him.
Unless someone had been lying.
We entered the house.
Julian found a hidden trapdoor beneath the old dining room.
Underneath was a steel staircase.
We descended.
The room below was untouched.
No ash.
No damage.
A table.
Three chairs.
One old tape recorder.
And a single envelope.
My name was written across it.
MATTEO.
I opened it.
Inside was a letter.
My father had written it.
My hands shook.
Matteo,
If you are reading this, Lucian has failed.
I stopped.
Julian looked over my shoulder.
The letter continued.
Your brother was never your enemy.
He was recruited to become one.
My heart pounded.
He believed the family needed to change.
I believed the family needed to survive.
We both made the wrong choice.
Then came the line that made my blood run cold.
The man you call Julian Carver is not Julian Carver.
I looked up.
Julian was gone.
“Where is he?”
Emma turned.
The basement door was open.
“Julian?”
No answer.
I ran upstairs.
The estate was silent.
Then I heard Lily scream.
I rushed outside.
Emma was standing in the yard.
The rabbit was gone.
So was Lily.
I stopped breathing.
“Emma!”
She turned.
Tears streamed down her face.
“He took her.”
“Who?”
She shook her head.
“I don't know.”
I scanned the trees.
Then I saw him.
A man stood at the end of the road.
Black coat.
Scar beneath his chin.
He lifted Lily in one arm.
My blood turned to ice.
“Put her down.”
The man smiled.
It wasn't Julian.
It was Lucian.
“You always were protective of little things, Matteo.”
I raised my weapon.
“Let her go.”
Lucian laughed.
“You still don't understand.”
“Understand what?”
He held up the stuffed rabbit.
“The key is gone.”
“What key?”
He smiled.
“The one your father left for you.”
He pulled the red ribbon.
A tiny metal object dropped into his hand.
I stared.
“That isn't the key.”
Lucian's smile vanished.
Lily started laughing.
Lucian looked down at her.
“What?”
She whispered something into his ear.
His expression changed.
“What did she say?”
I asked.
Lily smiled.
“Mommy told me not to give the bad man the real key.”
My eyes widened.
Lucian looked toward Emma.
Emma was crying.
But she was smiling too.
Because suddenly I understood.
The rabbit had never contained the real key.
May you like
It had contained a decoy.
And Lucian had just exposed what he was really after.
