Chapter 9 - The Grave That Was EmptySomeone Was Supposed To Be DeadSmoke filled the chapel.
Adrien kicked open a side door.
"Move!"
They escaped into the snow.
Luca arrived with extinguishers.
The fire was contained quickly.
But the note was gone.
Clara stared at her empty hands.
"I had it."
Matteo had taken it.
Adrien looked furious.
"He knew exactly where we'd search."
Marco nodded.
"He's always one step ahead."
"Not anymore."
Adrien turned toward the cemetery.
They drove there after sunrise.
The location led to an old family mausoleum.
The Valente crypt.
Adrien opened the gate.
Inside were generations of names.
His mother's.
His father's.
Then Gabriel Valente.
The date of death was seven years earlier.
Adrien knelt before the tomb.
He touched the stone.
"Open it."
Marco hesitated.
"Adrien."
"Open it."
The stone panel shifted.
The coffin was there.
But the lid was open.
Empty.
Clara stared.
"He isn't dead."
"No," Adrien said.
A sound came from behind them.
A gun cocking.
Clara froze.
A man stepped from behind the columns.
Not Matteo.
Not Gabriel.
A stranger.
"You should have stayed at the estate."
Adrien raised his weapon.
The stranger smiled.
"You never learned what your mother knew."
Adrien fired.
The man ducked.
Luca shot him in the shoulder.
He collapsed.
Security dragged him forward.
Adrien crouched.
"Who sent you?"
The man laughed through the pain.
"Gabriel."
Clara felt the world tilt.
Adrien grabbed his collar.
"My uncle is alive."
"He never died."
"Where is he?"
The stranger smiled.
"He's closer than you think."
Then he bit down.
Luca shouted.
"Poison!"
The man convulsed.
Dead.
Clara stepped away.
Adrien stared at the body.
Something on the man's wrist caught her attention.
A bracelet.
Thin silver chain.
A tiny engraved symbol.
She had seen it before.
On Ethan.
"Adrien."
He turned.
She pointed.
"That symbol."
He recognized it.
"The Bell Tower."
"What's that?"
"A private club."
"Who goes there?"
Adrien's expression turned grim.
"People who don't want their names written anywhere."
That evening, Clara entered the Bell Tower wearing a black dress and a diamond necklace borrowed from Adrien's vault.
The club was hidden behind a restaurant in Manhattan.
She walked through the doors alone.
A bartender smiled.
"First time?"
Clara looked around.
"Yes."
"Then don't look nervous."
"I'm not."
"Good."
He leaned closer.
"People here can smell fear."
A man approached from the back room.
Matteo.
He smiled.
"Miss Whitmore."
Clara's blood went cold.
"You knew I'd come."
"I knew Adrien would send you."
"He didn't."
Matteo's smile widened.
"Even better."
He placed a glass in front of her.
"Sit."
She didn't.
"Where is the ledger?"
"Wrong question."
He stepped closer.
"The right question is why your father died."
Clara's throat tightened.
Matteo whispered,
"Because he found out who Gabriel really was."
She stared.
"Who?"
May you like
Matteo smiled.
"Your father."
Related Stories
