Chapter 7 - The Woman in the Hidden House
Dante's mother led them to a secluded property outside the city.
There, beneath layers of security, was a woman sitting by a fireplace.
Dark hair.
Gray streaks.
Scar near her temple.
Clara.
Alive.
Dante stopped.
For nine years he had imagined her face in dreams.
Now she stood before him.
He couldn't speak.
Clara stepped toward him.
“Dante.”
He crossed the room.
They embraced.
He cried.
She cried.
Sadi stood nearby.
Clara released him.
Then she looked at Sadi.
“My daughter.”
Sadi couldn't move.
“Why?”
Clara's eyes filled.
“Because I was trying to save you.”
“From what?”
“Everyone.”
Sadi looked at Dante.
“Why did you let him believe you were dead?”
Clara looked at Dante.
“Because Gabriel was going to kill him.”
Dante's jaw tightened.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
“He ordered the car bomb.”
“Yes.”
“But you survived.”
“Barely.”
“And the baby?”
“You.”
Clara reached toward Sadi.
“You were born while I was hiding.”
Sadi's eyes filled.
“I thought my mother was Isabel.”
“She was.”
Clara explained.
Isabel was her younger sister.
She raised Sadi to hide her.
Dante's father believed the baby carried access to the Black Thorn trust.
If he found her, he could force Clara to surrender.
Clara disappeared.
Isabel took Sadi.
Patrick tried to steal the trust.
The Black Thorn hunted them.
Eventually Isabel died protecting Sadi.
Clara had watched from a distance.
Unable to reveal herself.
Sadi cried.
“You should have come.”
Clara reached for her.
“I wanted to.”
“Why didn't you?”
“Because every time I considered it, someone else disappeared.”
Sadi looked down.
“How did you survive?”
Clara pointed toward Marcus.
“He helped me.”
Dante looked at Marcus.
His uncle stood across the room.
“You?”
Marcus nodded.
“I betrayed Gabriel.”
“Why?”
“Because I loved Clara's sister.”
Dante stared.
Everything became more complicated.
Marcus had not been the monster.
He had been trying to protect them.
But he had committed crimes.
Killed people.
Betrayed Dante's father.
And kept secrets for years.
“Then who killed Isabel?” Dante asked.
Marcus looked toward the floor.
“Gabriel.”
Dante went still.
His father had murdered Sadi's adoptive mother.
The same man who had ordered Clara's death.
Dante's entire life had been built on his father's lies.
He turned to Clara.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I was afraid you would become him.”
Dante looked at Sadi.
She was crying.
Then she looked at him.
“Did you?”
“What?”
“Become him?”
Dante shook his head.
“No.”
She stepped closer.
“You saved me.”
“And you saved me.”
Clara watched.
A soft smile appeared.
She knew something was happening between them.
Something neither understood yet.
Then Marcus spoke.
“The Black Thorn is still active.”
Dante turned.
“How many?”
“Enough.”
“Where?”
“Everywhere.”
Clara held out the ledger.
“The names inside are only half.”
Dante frowned.
“What is the other half?”
Clara looked at Sadi.
“The people who are still alive.”
Sadi understood.
“The people who can testify.”
Marcus nodded.
“If they all speak, the Black Thorn falls.”
Dante looked at the ledger.
“Then let's bring them together.”
The plan took weeks.
Witnesses were moved.
Evidence collected.
Accounts frozen.
But Marcus warned them:
“They'll attack before we finish.”
He was right.
The night before the evidence was released, the safe house was attacked.
Clara was wounded.
Dante was shot in the arm.
Sadi managed to get the witnesses out.
And the ledger disappeared.
Someone had taken it.
Dante looked at Sadi.
“Who knew where it was?”
“Everyone in this room.”
They checked the security footage.
One person had entered.
Rosa.
Dante's expression changed.
His trusted housekeeper.
She had been working for the Black Thorn.
May you like
For nine years.
And she had been the one person allowed to enter his private room.
