Chapter 5 - Clara's Last NightGunfire erupted.
Robert tackled Oliver to the floor.
Bullets tore through the wooden doorway.
Security returned fire.
The attackers disappeared down the corridor.
Oliver crawled behind a desk.
“Are you hurt?”
Robert shook his head.
“You?”
“No.”
Another gunshot echoed.
Then silence.
Robert looked at the security chief.
“Find them.”
The guards rushed away.
Oliver was breathing hard.
“We need to leave.”
Robert nodded.
But before they moved, Victoria entered the room.
She was pale.
Her hands were trembling.
“I found this.”
She held out a small key.
Robert stared.
“Where?”
“In your father’s study.”
Oliver took it.
It had a tiny silver ring engraved on the head.
Clara’s symbol.
“What does this open?”
Robert knew.
“The old Morgan house.”
Oliver looked confused.
Robert continued.
“Clara’s childhood home.”
“You knew where it was?”
“I did.”
“And you never went?”
Robert looked away.
“No.”
Oliver’s expression hardened.
“Why?”
“Because I was ashamed.”
Oliver laughed bitterly.
“Shame is cheap when someone else pays the price.”
They left the mansion under heavy security.
By midnight, they reached the abandoned house.
The front door was rotting.
The windows were cracked.
Inside, dust covered everything.
Oliver walked through the living room slowly.
“My mother used to talk about this place.”
Robert looked around.
“She loved this house.”
“She said she met you here.”
Robert smiled sadly.
“She did.”
For a moment, they stood without speaking.
Then Oliver noticed the fireplace.
There was a small metal plate beneath it.
He inserted the silver key.
A hidden compartment opened.
Inside was a cassette tape.
And a handwritten note.
For Oliver. Only after Robert knows.
Oliver stared.
His hands shook.
Robert stepped closer.
“Play it.”
They found an old recorder in a cabinet.
Oliver pressed the button.
Static filled the room.
Then Clara’s voice.
Older.
Weaker.
But unmistakable.
“Oliver, if you are hearing this, then you finally found your father.”
Oliver closed his eyes.
His mother spoke again.
“I want you to understand something. I never hated Robert.”
Robert froze.
Clara continued.
“I hated what happened to us.”
A pause.
“I need you to know that your father did not simply leave me.”
Robert’s eyes widened.
“He was forced.”
Oliver looked at him.
The tape continued.
“Years ago, before you were born, Robert discovered something about Hale Industries.”
Robert whispered:
“What?”
Clara continued.
“He discovered that money was being stolen from the company.”
Oliver looked confused.
Robert did not.
He suddenly remembered.
His father had always told him not to ask questions about certain accounts.
Clara’s voice became quieter.
“Robert wanted to expose them. But the people responsible threatened his family.”
Oliver stared at the recorder.
“Then he met me.”
Robert closed his eyes.
“They told him that if he stayed with me, I would die.”
Silence.
Clara continued.
“So he left.”
Oliver looked at Robert.
“You believed that?”
Robert’s voice broke.
“I thought the threat was a lie.”
The tape continued.
“I was pregnant.”
Oliver looked down.
Clara’s next words were barely audible.
“When Robert left, I thought I had lost him forever.”
A pause.
“Then, three days later, I received a letter.”
Robert’s eyes widened.
“What letter?”
Clara spoke.
“The letter told me Robert had chosen money over me.”
Robert closed his eyes.
“The same lie.”
Clara’s voice shook.
“And I believed it.”
Oliver stared at his father.
“So both of you were manipulated.”
Robert nodded slowly.
Then Clara said something that made the room feel suddenly colder.
“But there is something even more important.”
The tape clicked.
Then:
“Oliver, your father’s life was never the real target.”
Robert leaned toward the recorder.
Clara whispered:
“The people behind this were afraid of you.”
Oliver froze.
“Me?”
“They knew what you would inherit.”
Robert frowned.
“But he never knew he had a son.”
Clara answered:
“That was exactly why they wanted you hidden.”
The tape ended.
Oliver stared at the recorder.
Then he saw something taped underneath it.
A second note.
He pulled it free.
Only four words were written.
Trust no one. Especially Victoria.
Oliver slowly turned.
May you like
Victoria was standing in the doorway.
And she looked terrified.
