Chapter 13 - The Last Secret of the Whitmore FamilyMarcus stared at Victoria.
“My mother took Clara?”
Victoria nodded.
“She was trying to save her.”
“That doesn't make sense.”
“It does when you know what happened next.”
Victoria sat down.
“Your mother discovered the Black Compass operation. She knew Clara had the ledger. She realized Hargrove agents were coming for her.”
“So she hid Clara?”
“No.”
Victoria looked toward David.
“She made a deal.”
Marcus turned.
“With whom?”
David closed his eyes.
“With Black Compass.”
Marcus stared at him.
“You knew.”
“I discovered it later.”
“What deal?”
David whispered:
“She gave them herself.”
Rosa gasped.
Marcus's hands trembled.
“My mother sacrificed herself?”
“Yes.”
“For Clara.”
The memory returned.
His mother standing in the kitchen.
Clara crying.
Marcus holding his toy truck.
A door closing.
His mother saying:
“Take care of your brother.”
Marcus suddenly remembered something else.
He had a sister.
He had always had one.
Clara.
He remembered her laugh.
The red ribbon in her hair.
The way she used to hide beneath his bed.
And one night, years ago, she disappeared.
Marcus sat down.
His memory was returning.
All of it.
His mother had not abandoned them.
She had saved Clara.
And then she had returned home.
Only to be silenced.
Marcus looked at David.
“Who killed her?”
David couldn't answer.
Victoria did.
“The board.”
Marcus looked toward the old estate.
The mansion.
His empire.
Every person who had smiled at him.
Every executive who had toasted his success.
He suddenly understood.
The enemy had never been outside.
It had been inside the family business all along.
His phone rang.
Unknown number.
Marcus answered.
Clara's voice came through.
“You know now.”
“Where are you?”
“Not far.”
“Tell me.”
A pause.
“Look under your father's office.”
Marcus turned toward David.
“My father's office?”
“Before he died, he hid the final ledger.”
“He told me he never had it.”
“I know.”
“Where?”
Clara whispered:
“Behind the clock.”
The line disconnected.
Marcus ran.
David followed.
The old office had been untouched since his father's supposed death.
Marcus found the grandfather clock.
He pulled it away from the wall.
A compartment opened.
Inside was a metal cylinder.
He removed it.
The cylinder contained a stack of microfilm.
A single envelope.
And a photograph.
Marcus unfolded the photograph.
It showed his family.
His grandfather.
His father.
His mother.
Clara.
Marcus.
And one other person.
Rosa's mother.
On the back was written:
THE FIVE WHO KNEW.
Marcus looked at Rosa.
“What happened to your mother?”
Rosa's face went pale.
“She died when I was ten.”
Marcus turned the photograph over.
Five names were listed.
Four were crossed out.
One remained.
ROSA DELGADO.
Rosa stared.
“What?”
Marcus looked at her.
“Your mother didn't just work here.”
“She was part of this.”
Rosa stepped back.
“No.”
David approached.
“She was the person who moved Clara.”
Rosa shook her head.
“My mother was a housekeeper.”
David nodded.
“That was the cover.”
Then the front doors of the mansion exploded inward.
Armed men stormed the foyer.
Marcus grabbed Rosa.
Daniel raised his weapon.
Victoria shouted:
“Thomas!”
A voice echoed through the house.
“Bring me the little girl.”
Lily clung to Rosa.
Marcus looked toward the staircase.
Thomas Hargrove appeared.
May you like
And beside him stood Clara Whitmore.
Alive.
