Chapter 8 - My Mother Was Alive, and the Woman Behind Everything Was Someone I TrustedElias finally told them where Elena was.
A private medical facility in Connecticut.
She had been living under another identity for years.
The facility specialized in neurological rehabilitation.
Elena had suffered a stroke.
She remembered almost everything.
She could barely speak.
Clara sat beside her bed.
For several minutes, neither moved.
Then Elena looked at her.
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Mom?”
Elena reached for her hand.
Clara took it.
“I thought you were dead.”
Elena shook her head.
She tried to speak.
Nothing came out.
Clara cried.
“I don't care.”
She kissed her forehead.
“I don't care what happened.”
Elena squeezed her hand.
A nurse left them alone.
Lily entered.
Elena's face changed.
Lily began to cry.
They had spent twenty years believing each other dead.
Now they were together.
Declan stood near the window.
He looked away.
Clara noticed.
“You should come here.”
He hesitated.
Then approached.
Elena looked at him.
She reached up.
Touched his face.
And whispered one word.
“Sorry.”
Declan closed his eyes.
“For what?”
Elena struggled.
“Your father.”
Declan shook his head.
“You didn't kill him.”
Elena's eyes widened.
“Not me.”
She pointed toward Lily.
“Margaret.”
Clara froze.
“Margaret Shaw?”
Elena nodded.
“She was the one who turned Victor's network against itself.”
“But Gabriel said she was protecting you.”
“She was.”
“Then where is she?”
Elena grabbed Clara's wrist.
She whispered:
“Inside.”
“Inside what?”
“The company.”
Clara stared.
“She has access.”
“To everything.”
“Who is Margaret now?”
Elena looked at Declan.
Then at Clara.
She whispered one sentence.
“She's Diane Sullivan.”
Clara felt the blood drain from her face.
Diane.
Victor Sullivan's wife.
The woman who had insulted her at dinner.
The woman who sat across from Declan.
The woman who had watched Clara take the seat beside him.
The woman who knew every executive in the company.
Clara suddenly remembered Diane's emerald dress.
Her diamonds.
Her cold smile.
Her question.
“So, Clara.”
She had been studying her.
Identifying her.
Declan's expression hardened.
“We need to go.”
Too late.
The hospital lights went out.
A gunshot sounded.
The door burst open.
Armed men flooded the hallway.
Clara grabbed Elena.
Declan fired.
Lily pulled Elena's wheelchair.
They ran.
At the end of the corridor stood Diane Sullivan.
She looked perfectly calm.
She raised a gun.
“Hello, girls.”
Clara froze.
Diane smiled.
“Did you really think Margaret Shaw was going to remain hidden forever?”
Declan stepped forward.
“You're insane.”
“No.”
She looked at him.
“I'm patient.”
She looked at Clara.
“And you are exactly what I feared.”
Clara's hands trembled.
“You killed people.”
Diane's expression didn't change.
“I preserved a system.”
“You sold children.”
“No.”
She smiled.
“I returned them to people who believed they belonged to them.”
“That makes no sense.”
“It will.”
Diane signaled her men.
“Take Elena.”
Two men moved.
Declan fired.
One dropped.
The other retreated.
Chaos exploded.
Lily pushed Elena toward an emergency exit.
Clara followed.
Diane chased them.
They escaped into the parking lot.
A black SUV waited.
The door opened.
Gabriel Shaw stepped out.
Diane stared.
“You.”
Gabriel smiled coldly.
“Margaret.”
Her face changed.
“Father.”
Clara froze.
Diane was Gabriel's daughter.
Declan's sister.
The missing heir.
The person controlling Victor's remaining network.
The woman who had been sitting at their dinner table all along.
Gabriel looked at her.
“You should have stayed away from my children.”
Diane laughed.
“You don't have children.”
She pointed at Declan.
“You have assets.”
She pointed at Lily.
“Failures.”
Then at Clara.
“And one final key.”
Clara stepped backward.
Diane raised her gun.
“You know what your mother did wrong?”
“What?”
“She loved you.”
The shot came.
Gabriel stepped in front of Clara.
He was hit.
“Dad!”
He fell.
Declan caught him.
Diane ran.
Clara stared at Gabriel's wound.
Blood spread across his coat.
He looked at her.
“Don't…”
“Don't what?”
“Trust…”
He gasped.
“Anyone.”
Then his eyes closed.
Clara screamed.
The ambulance came.
Gabriel survived.
Barely.
Diane disappeared.
Elias disappeared.
And the entire city descended into chaos as multiple ports were shut down.
The FBI finally entered the investigation.
But the evidence was scattered.
The ledger was incomplete.
The mastermind was gone.
And Clara knew something nobody else did.
The song still contained the final location.
She returned to the mansion.
She played the music box.
Over and over.
Then she heard something she had never noticed.
A second melody.
Hidden beneath the first.
Her mother's voice.
A whisper.
“Blue room.”
Clara closed her eyes.
She remembered.
A red door.
A blue room.
A little boy.
A silver key.
And Diane standing over them.
Clara gasped.
“I remember.”
Declan looked at her.
“What?”
“The blue room wasn't underground.”
“Where was it?”
May you like
She looked toward him.
“It was in your office.”
