Chapter 5 - WHAT REBECCA WAS REALLY HIDING
Vincent did not shout.
That frightened Clara more.
“Let me speak to my daughter.”
Mercer laughed softly.
“You still think you’re giving orders.”
“Sofia.”
A pause.
Then her small voice.
“Papa?”
Vincent closed his eyes.
“I’m here.”
“Clara’s mom okay?”
Clara covered her mouth.
Even frightened, Sofia was worried about someone else.
“She’s safe.”
“Okay.”
Mercer took the phone.
“Twenty minutes.”
The line ended.
Vincent turned toward Elena.
“Give me the watch.”
Clara stepped between them.
“No.”
Vincent stared at her.
“My daughter is in that house.”
“And Mercer wants the watch badly enough to drug a seven-year-old for it.”
“I know.”
“So handing it to him without knowing why is stupid.”
Daniel looked almost impressed.
Vincent did not.
Then his expression changed.
“She’s right.”
Elena opened the watch again.
The storage numbers were written in Lucia’s handwriting.
Daniel recognized the first.
“Union Trust.”
A private storage facility eight minutes away.
They went there instead of returning directly to the estate.
Inside box 312 were Carlo’s original medical records.
Inside box 313 was a cassette recorder.
And inside box 314 sat a child’s red sweater, a black-rose necklace, and a sealed envelope addressed:
CLARA ELENA MENDOZA
Clara stared at it.
Vincent said quietly, “Open it.”
Inside was a handwritten letter from Carlo.
Not a legal document.
Not an inheritance certificate.
A father’s letter.
He wrote that he had failed Elena.
Failed Lucia.
And would not fail the daughter who had never asked to be born into his mistakes.
He intended to tell Vincent and Rebecca about Clara.
He intended to provide for her.
But the line that mattered was near the end.
I have placed something more important than money in Lucia’s keeping: proof of what Mercer and two members of my organization have been doing through our charitable clinics. If anything happens to me, Clara’s necklace identifies the account where Lucia placed the evidence.
Clara looked at the necklace.
Vincent understood.
“The watch was a decoy.”
Daniel nodded.
“Mercer thinks the watch leads to the evidence.”
Elena picked up the necklace.
“So did I.”
Clara turned it over.
The black rose had seven tiny thorns.
One was darker.
She pressed it.
The pendant opened.
Inside was a miniature brass tag stamped with a number.
Vincent stared.
“Mercer killed my father for this.”
“No,” Elena said.
“Mercer helped kill your father for this.”
Silence.
Vincent looked at her.
“Who else?”
Elena’s face tightened.
“I never saw.”
Daniel did.
His voice was low.
“I did.”
Everyone turned.
Daniel sat down.
“I was twenty-three. I drove for Carlo.”
Vincent’s eyes hardened.
“You worked for my father?”
“Yes.”
“That would have been useful information earlier.”
“I’m aware.”
Daniel rubbed his face.
“Mercer wasn’t alone that night. Someone waited in a car near the greenhouse.”
“Who?”
“I never saw his face.”
Clara almost groaned.
Then Daniel added:
“But I saw the ring.”
A black rose.
Not silver.
Gold.
Vincent looked at his own hand.
He wore no family ring.
Rebecca did.
Clara remembered it.
A gold ring with a black stone.
Daniel saw her expression.
“Rebecca’s ring belonged to Carlo.”
Vincent’s face became unreadable.
They returned to the estate with a plan.
Vincent carried the watch.
Daniel entered through the service road.
Clara stayed with Elena in a vehicle outside.
At least, that was the plan.
Then Clara saw movement in an upstairs window.
Sofia.
The child pressed one hand to the glass.
Then pointed downward.
Clara followed the direction.
A service entrance.
She remembered the estate kitchen.
And Rebecca threatening her there.
Clara got out.
Elena grabbed her sleeve.
“Mija.”
“Sofia trusted me first.”
“That doesn’t mean you owe these people your life.”
Clara looked at her mother.
“No.”
She looked toward the house.
“But it means I won’t teach her that trusting someone was a mistake.”
She entered through the kitchen.
The house was eerily quiet.
Then Rebecca appeared.
Clara nearly screamed.
Rebecca put one finger to her lips.
“She’s safe.”
Clara stared.
“What?”
“Mercer thinks she’s upstairs.”
“Where is she?”
Rebecca opened the pantry.
Sofia sat inside with a housekeeper.
The child ran into Clara’s arms.
“You came.”
Clara hugged her.
“Of course I did.”
Rebecca closed the door.
“Mercer grabbed me in the hallway. Sofia bit him.”
Clara almost smiled.
“That sounds like her.”
“I moved her while he was looking for the watch.”
“Why didn’t you tell Vincent?”
“Because Mercer was listening.”
Rebecca held up her phone.
A tiny transmitter was taped beneath the case.
Clara understood.
Mercer had been hearing everything.
Rebecca removed her gold ring.
She placed it in Clara’s palm.
“Daniel saw this, didn’t he?”
Clara’s silence answered.
Rebecca looked exhausted.
“This was Father’s.”
“Were you wearing it the night he died?”
“No.”
“Who was?”
Rebecca’s eyes filled.
“My brother.”
Clara stared.
“Vincent?”
“No.”
The answer came like a dropped glass.
“Our older brother.”
Clara had never heard anyone mention another Moretti child.
Rebecca whispered:
“Gabriel.”
Vincent entered behind them.
He had heard.
His face went white.
“Gabriel died when I was sixteen.”
Rebecca shook her head.
“He disappeared when you were sixteen.”
Vincent stared at her.
“You told me—”
“Father told everyone.”
“Why?”
“Because Gabriel discovered what Father’s organization was doing through the clinics.”
Clara looked at Carlo’s letter.
Everything shifted again.
Carlo had not been an innocent victim exposing Mercer.
He had been involved.
Until he tried to stop it.
Rebecca continued.
“Gabriel wanted to go to the authorities. Father banished him.”
Vincent’s voice was barely audible.
“And the night Father died?”
“Gabriel came back.”
Sofia suddenly stepped from the pantry.
“Aunt Rebecca?”
Rebecca turned.
The little girl pointed toward the hallway.
A man stood there.
Not Mercer.
The stranger was older than Vincent, with gray at his temples.
On his right hand was a pale indentation where a heavy ring had once been worn.
He looked at Vincent.
Then Rebecca.
Finally Clara.
His eyes stopped on the black-rose necklace in her hand.
“Carlo’s daughter.”
Vincent stepped forward.
May you like
The man smiled sadly.
“Hello, little brother.”
