Chapter 10 - THE BULLETThe bullet hit my shoulder.
I fell.
Everything became white.
I heard Ethan screaming.
Ryan shouting my name.
Then silence.
When I woke, I was in a hospital.
Mother slept beside the bed.
Ethan sat near the window.
Lily stood in the corner.
Alive.
Ryan was missing.
Again.
I looked at my shoulder.
“Where is he?”
Nobody answered.
“Where is Ryan?”
Ethan sighed.
“He disappeared during the shooting.”
I closed my eyes.
“Is he dead?”
“No.”
Lily spoke quietly.
“He saved me.”
“How?”
“He took a bullet.”
I looked at her.
“He's alive?”
“Probably.”
Probably.
The word terrified me.
Then Mother woke.
She looked at me.
“Claire.”
“What?”
“There is something you need to know.”
“About Ryan?”
“No.”
She pulled the silver pendant from her pocket.
“We found something inside it.”
She handed it to me.
The pendant had been opened.
Inside was a tiny screen.
Numbers appeared.
A date.
A location.
And a name.
ELEANOR VALE.
I stared.
“That's Jonathan's first wife.”
Mother nodded.
“She wasn't murdered.”
“What?”
“She disappeared.”
“By whom?”
Mother looked at Lily.
“Robert.”
I shook my head.
“But Robert was dead.”
“He wasn't.”
“Then why did everyone believe he was?”
Mother's voice became barely audible.
“Because I helped him disappear.”
I stared.
“What?”
She took a breath.
“Thirty years ago, Robert promised to protect me.”
“From Diane?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you help him?”
“Because he threatened Lily.”
My heart froze.
Mother continued.
“He told me if I didn't help him fake his death, he would kill your sister.”
“But Lily was a baby.”
“Yes.”
“So what did he do?”
“He took her.”
Mother began to cry.
“Diane raised her.”
“Why?”
“Because Diane wanted to control Robert.”
I shook my head.
“This doesn't make sense.”
“It will.”
She pointed at the screen.
“The location is a house.”
“Whose?”
“Eleanor Vale's.”
My pulse quickened.
“She's alive?”
Mother nodded.
“She has been living under another name for thirty years.”
Lily stepped forward.
“What does she know?”
Mother looked at her.
“Everything.”
Then the hospital room door opened.
A nurse entered.
“Claire?”
“Yes?”
She handed me an envelope.
“No return address.”
Inside was a photograph.
Eleanor.
Alive.
Smiling.
Standing beside Ryan.
On the back was written:
YOUR HUSBAND KNOWS HER.
Then another line.
HE KNOWS WHY YOUR MARRIAGE HAD TO END.
I looked at Mother.
“What does that mean?”
Before she could answer, the hospital lights went out.
And from the hallway came Ryan's voice.
“Claire.”
I turned toward the door.
May you like
“Don't trust anyone.”
Then someone screamed.
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