Chapter 5 - Blood on the MarbleThe mansion became a battlefield.
Gunfire erupted upstairs.
Security guards ran through the corridors.
Windows shattered.
Guests who had stayed after the wedding screamed and scattered.
Alexander grabbed Clara.
“Stay behind me.”
She yanked her arm free.
“I don't need protecting.”
“You will if you keep standing in the open.”
Another shot exploded nearby.
Alexander pulled her behind a marble column.
“Who is attacking?”
“People who think they can destroy Black Thorn.”
“Can they?”
He looked at her.
“Yes.”
That answer frightened her more than the gunfire.
Eleanor was moved into a hidden room beneath the basement.
Jonathan remained outside.
Clara wanted to confront him.
Instead, Alexander grabbed her face gently.
“Listen to me.”
She slapped his hand away.
“Don't touch me.”
His expression tightened.
“I deserve that.”
“You deserve worse.”
“I know.”
For the first time since their wedding, he didn't defend himself.
Clara noticed.
“You knew I was being abused before tonight.”
“Yes.”
“And you let it happen?”
His voice dropped.
“I needed Black Thorn to believe I hated you.”
She stared.
“What?”
“If they believed I cared about you, they would have killed you.”
Clara laughed coldly.
“So beating me was part of the plan?”
“No.”
Alexander looked away.
“That was my mistake.”
She stared at him.
“What mistake?”
“I thought I could become the monster everyone expected me to be without eventually becoming one.”
Clara didn't answer.
A voice came through the mansion speakers.
“Jonathan Whitmore!”
Everyone froze.
The voice was distorted.
“Bring me the girl.”
Jonathan stepped into the central hall.
“She has nothing to do with this.”
The voice laughed.
“She is the only reason this operation exists.”
Clara's blood chilled.
“What operation?”
Alexander looked at her.
“Project Orchid.”
She stared.
“What is it?”
Before he could answer, the mansion speakers crackled again.
“Tell your daughter why you married Eleanor.”
Jonathan went silent.
Clara looked at him.
“Why?”
He whispered:
“To save her.”
The voice laughed.
“He didn't save her.”
A screen flickered on.
Old footage appeared.
A young Eleanor.
A young Jonathan.
And beside them...
a much younger Evelyn Vale.
Clara watched in horror as her father handed Eleanor a folder.
Eleanor opened it.
Inside was a list of names.
Some were judges.
Some were politicians.
Some were billionaires.
At the bottom was a child's name.
Clara.
Her childhood photograph appeared beside it.
Then text appeared:
SUBJECT: ORCHID
Clara felt sick.
“What was I?”
Nobody answered.
The distorted voice did.
“You weren't a daughter.”
Clara looked at the screen.
“You were an investment.”
Her father shouted.
“Enough!”
The voice replied:
“Then tell her the truth.”
The doors to the hall exploded inward.
Armed men stormed through.
Alexander pulled Clara down.
Jonathan fired.
Evelyn disappeared through a hidden door.
Then the lights went out.
Clara felt someone grab her.
She fought.
A cloth covered her mouth.
Her vision blurred.
The last thing she saw was Alexander running toward her.
Then darkness.
When Clara woke, she was sitting in the back of a moving car.
Her wrists were tied.
Across from her sat a man she had never seen before.
He smiled.
“You finally woke up.”
“Who are you?”
He leaned closer.
“My name is Adrian Cross.”
He opened a file.
Inside was a photograph of Clara as a child.
On the back, handwritten in red ink, were five words:
DO NOT LET HER REMEMBER.
Adrian smiled.
“Your father tried to erase your childhood.”
Clara stared at him.
“Why?”
“Because he was afraid of what you saw.”
She swallowed.
“What did I see?”
May you like
Adrian's smile vanished.
“You saw him murder someone.”
