Chapter 10 - THE VOICE OF A DEAD WOMANNo one moved.
The voice came again.
“Daniel, please open the door.”
I couldn't breathe.
Sophie smiled.
“Mommy.”
I grabbed her before she could run.
“Wait.”
“But it's Mommy.”
“It isn't.”
A shadow crossed the frosted glass.
The same height.
The same posture.
The same voice.
The front door handle slowly turned.
Thomas drew a weapon.
Helen whispered, “Don't.”
“Why?”
“Because that's exactly what they want.”
The door opened.
A woman stepped inside.
She looked enough like my late wife to make my chest hurt.
Same dark hair.
Same eyes.
Same scar near the eyebrow.
But she wasn't her.
She was younger.
And terrified.
She raised her hands.
“My name is Clara.”
I stared.
“How do you know my wife's voice?”
She swallowed.
“Because she trained me.”
“What?”
“She knew they would eventually use recordings against you.”
She handed me a device.
“Your wife left it with me.”
I played the first file.
My wife's voice.
This time it sounded different.
Not a farewell.
An instruction.
“If Clara is standing in front of you, believe her before you believe the people around you.”
Thomas looked furious.
“She should never have come here.”
Clara turned to him.
“You lied to him.”
Thomas didn't deny it.
I looked at him.
“My wife knew Clara.”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Five years.”
“Why didn't I know?”
“Because the less you knew, the safer you were.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Safe?”
I pointed toward Sophie.
“They tried to take my daughter.”
Thomas lowered his weapon.
“I was trying to stop them.”
Clara shook her head.
“You were trying to control the outcome.”
“What is the difference?” he snapped.
“Everything.”
I stepped between them.
“No more secrets.”
Clara nodded.
“Then I'll tell you the truth.”
She looked at Sophie.
“The trust was created by your grandfather after discovering a criminal financing network.”
“Financing what?”
“Private operations.”
“What operations?”
“Bribes. Blackmail. Identity changes. Fake deaths.”
I thought of the grave.
“Who was buried there?”
Clara answered:
“Your biological father.”
Thomas closed his eyes.
I stared at him.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“You let me mourn the wrong man.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because your biological father betrayed the network.”
“And you?”
“I took over protecting you.”
I shook my head.
“You weren't protecting me.”
Thomas looked broken.
“I protected you the only way I knew how.”
I turned away.
Clara stepped forward.
“There's more.”
She gave me another folder.
Inside was a birth certificate.
My name.
My mother's name.
And under father:
UNKNOWN
Attached was a photograph.
A man standing beside my mother.
I recognized him immediately.
Gregory.
Younger.
Smiling.
My stomach dropped.
“Gregory is my father?”
Clara nodded.
“He is.”
Amanda looked horrified.
“That would make me…”
“Your half-sister,” Clara whispered.
Amanda covered her mouth.
I stepped away from her.
The room spun.
The wedding.
Amanda.
Gregory.
The trust.
The child.
Everything suddenly became tangled in a way I couldn't process.
Amanda began sobbing.
“I didn't know.”
I believed her.
And that frightened me more.
Because if she wasn't the mastermind…
Then someone else had chosen her.
Someone who knew exactly how dangerous that connection was.
The door suddenly slammed shut.
The windows shattered inward.
A flash grenade exploded.
I fell to the floor.
Sophie screamed.
When I could see again, the room was empty.
Amanda was gone.
Thomas was gone.
Clara was gone.
Only Sophie remained beside me.
And on the floor lay a piece of paper.
I picked it up.
One sentence.
YOU WERE NEVER SUPPOSED TO MARRY AMANDA.
Below it:
SHE WAS SUPPOSED TO MARRY YOUR FATHER.
I stared at the words.
Then Sophie whispered:
“Daddy…”
She was holding something.
A wedding ring.
May you like
It wasn't mine.
It belonged to Thomas.
Related Stories
