Chapter 7 - My Mother Had Been the Real Power Behind Bellmont for Years, and Sofia's Death Was Only One Move in a War She Thought She Had Already WonI found my mother in the winter garden.
She was feeding birds.
Calm.
Elegant.
Like nothing had happened.
“Mom.”
She looked at me.
“You know.”
“Yes.”
She sighed.
“I was hoping you wouldn't.”
“You helped kill Sofia.”
“I prevented greater damage.”
“You erased my memory.”
“To protect you.”
“You manipulated me.”
“Because you were weak.”
I laughed.
“Everyone keeps using that word.”
She turned.
“You never understood what your father built.”
“I understand now.”
“No.”
She walked toward me.
“You think Bellmont is about money.”
“It isn't?”
“Money is merely the language.”
“What is the purpose?”
“Control.”
“Over what?”
“Everything.”
She believed it.
Politicians.
Banks.
Courts.
Businesses.
Families.
All connected.
Sofia discovered it.
She wanted to break free.
My mother ordered her death.
I stared at her.
“You murdered an innocent woman.”
“She wasn't innocent.”
“She was a mother.”
“And she knew too much.”
I almost lost control.
Then Rosie stepped forward.
My mother looked down.
“She's the child?”
I moved between them.
“Yes.”
“She has no idea what she's carrying.”
Rosie held her rabbit tighter.
My mother looked at me.
“Do you?”
I did.
The ledger.
The ring.
The star.
The network.
I understood.
She wanted Rosie because Sofia had hidden something in her memory.
Something only Rosie had heard.
My mother knew there was another ledger.
A backup.
A list of Bellmont members.
And Sofia had encoded it into a nursery rhyme she taught Rosie.
I stared.
“Rosie?”
She nodded.
“Mommy's song.”
My mother smiled.
“She remembers.”
I raised my weapon.
“No one is touching her.”
My mother laughed.
“You can't protect her forever.”
“No.”
I looked at Rosie.
“But I can protect her tonight.”
The lights went out.
May you like
Gunfire.
Bellmont's final attack had begun.
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