Chapter 7 - Lily's Secret
The smallest person in the room had been lying to everyone.
Lucian lowered Lily slowly.
“She knows where it is.”
I stepped forward.
“Leave her out of this.”
“You think she's helpless.”
He looked at Lily.
“She isn't.”
Emma ran toward them.
Lucian raised his gun.
“Stop.”
She froze.
Lily wasn't crying.
That frightened me.
Five-year-olds should cry when a gun is pointed at their mothers.
Lily simply watched Lucian.
Then she smiled.
“You're not Uncle Julian.”
Lucian blinked.
“No.”
“Mommy said Uncle Julian smells like smoke.”
Lucian's face changed.
I noticed it.
Emma noticed it too.
Lily continued.
“You smell like oranges.”
Lucian laughed nervously.
Then he turned toward me.
“Your daughter is clever.”
“She's not my daughter.”
The words left my mouth automatically.
Emma looked at me.
Something passed between us.
A question.
A possibility.
I ignored it.
“Let Lily go.”
Lucian shook his head.
“You have no idea what your father did.”
“Tell me.”
“He built a system.”
“What system?”
“A system that could erase anyone.”
He touched the scar beneath his chin.
“This scar was the price.”
“From what?”
“Fire.”
“Whose fire?”
“Yours.”
I stared.
“My fire?”
Lucian nodded.
“Thirteen years ago, your father ordered the warehouse burned.”
Julian had said the same thing.
“But why?”
“To erase the ledger.”
“And Daniel?”
“He escaped.”
“Then why was he killed?”
Lucian looked at Emma.
“Because Daniel trusted the wrong man.”
Emma whispered,
“Julian.”
Lucian smiled.
“Exactly.”
I felt rage rising.
“You said Julian saved Daniel.”
“I said no such thing.”
“Then who did?”
Lucian leaned closer.
“Daniel saved him.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“Daniel found Julian bleeding in that warehouse.”
He paused.
“Julian was dying.”
“Daniel dragged him out.”
“That scar?”
“From the fire.”
I stared at him.
“Then who is the Julian I've known for thirteen years?”
Lucian smiled.
“A man wearing his name.”
The world seemed to tilt.
“You're lying.”
“I wish I were.”
He reached into his coat.
Pulled out a photograph.
I looked.
The real Julian Carver was younger.
Same scar.
Same face.
But the man in the photograph beside Daniel had different eyes.
Different jaw.
Same scar.
I looked toward the figure holding Lily.
“You're saying you've had a replacement bodyguard all these years?”
Lucian's smile widened.
“No.”
“Then who are you?”
He didn't answer.
Instead, he looked at Emma.
“Ask her.”
Emma's face crumpled.
I turned.
“Emma.”
She didn't speak.
“Tell me.”
Her lips trembled.
“I met Julian thirteen years ago.”
My blood stopped.
“Before you worked here?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“In the hospital.”
“When?”
“The night Daniel died.”
I stared.
“You knew him?”
“Yes.”
“Who was the man who came to my hospital room?”
Emma whispered,
“Not Julian.”
I took a step back.
“Then who?”
She closed her eyes.
“Your brother.”
Lucian laughed.
“I told you.”
I stared at the man holding Lily.
“My brother?”
“No.”
Lucian shook his head.
“Not Lucian.”
He pulled a small mirror from his pocket.
Held it beside his face.
Then he peeled something from his cheek.
A thin layer of skin.
My stomach turned.
Makeup.
Prosthetics.
The face changed.
Not completely.
But enough.
It became someone I remembered.
A face from thirteen years ago.
A face I had buried in a photograph.
Daniel Harper.
Impossible.
Emma screamed.
I couldn't move.
The man smiled.
“Hello, Matteo.”
I whispered the only thing I could think of.
“Daniel?”
He shook his head.
“No.”
May you like
Then he smiled.
“I was his brother.”
