Chapter 4 - The Man Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
Norah did not sleep.
She sat in Sebastian’s guest room until sunrise staring at the photograph.
The man in it was unmistakable.
Henry Collins.
Older, thinner, but alive.
The date on the photograph was two years after the official date of his death.
Norah had spent fourteen years believing she had watched her father’s casket lowered into the ground.
She remembered the rain.
She remembered the black coat she had worn.
She remembered Sebastian’s uncle standing beside her family.
She remembered the priest.
She remembered the coffin.
Now she wondered what had been inside it.
At six in the morning, Sebastian found her in the kitchen.
She was holding a cup of coffee she had forgotten to drink.
He sat opposite her.
“You should sleep.”
“I should probably scream.”
“You can do that too.”
She looked at him.
“Your family ruins mornings.”
“Usually.”
Norah gave a broken laugh.
It was the first genuine laugh Sebastian had heard from her.
It made something inside him shift.
“What do you think happened?” he asked.
“My father discovered something. Someone needed him to disappear. They staged his death.”
“Why would he leave you?”
“That’s the part I can’t explain.”
Sebastian looked down.
“My mother left me secrets.”
Norah frowned.
“What?”
“She knew she was in danger. She stayed anyway.”
“Why?”
“Because she believed she could protect me.”
Norah stared at him.
“And did she?”
He took a breath.
“No.”
The honesty surprised her.
Sebastian Romano was supposed to be impossible to break.
Yet grief had already carved its name into him.
Norah reached across the table.
Her fingers touched his.
Neither moved.
Then Sebastian pulled back.
“I can’t do this.”
“Do what?”
“Care about you.”
Norah blinked.
“We’ve known each other three days.”
“Exactly.”
She stared.
“You think that’s enough time?”
“I think three days is enough time for someone to become a weakness.”
“I’m not a weakness.”
“I know.”
His eyes met hers.
“That’s the problem.”
Before either could say more, Luca entered.
“We found the hospital.”
Norah stood immediately.
“What hospital?”
“St. Catherine’s.”
They arrived an hour later.
The records were partially destroyed.
But one name remained.
Henry Collins.
Admitted under an alias.
Emergency surgery.
Discharged six days later.
No death certificate.
No record of burial.
Norah’s knees nearly failed.
Sebastian caught her elbow.
“He was alive.”
She stared at the file.
“For how long?”
“Unknown.”
The nurse on duty remembered him.
“He had a fractured rib, a gunshot wound, and severe blood loss.”
“Who brought him in?”
The nurse frowned.
“An older woman.”
“Who?”
“She called herself Evelyn.”
Sebastian froze.
Norah turned.
“Your mother?”
“The hospital staff thought so.”
“But she was already dead.”
Sebastian’s face went pale.
The nurse continued.
“She stayed with him all night. Then she disappeared.”
Norah whispered:
“My father didn’t run away from me.”
“No,” Sebastian said.
“He was hidden.”
They discovered a second clue in the hospital archives.
A payment made in cash under Romano foundations.
Sebastian stared at the document.
“My father paid for his treatment.”
Norah looked at him.
“So why?”
No one answered.
A phone buzzed.
Sebastian checked it.
A message from an unknown number.
COME TO THE OLD CLOCK TOWER. ALONE.
Sebastian showed Norah.
She shook her head.
“Trap.”
“Yes.”
“You’re going anyway.”
“Yes.”
“I’m going too.”
“No.”
“That wasn’t a request.”
He stared at her.
“You think because you broke my necklace, you can order me around now?”
She folded her arms.
“You’re beginning to understand.”
He looked at Luca.
Luca tried not to smile.
“Bring the car,” Sebastian said.
The old clock tower stood near the industrial riverfront.
No crowds.
No witnesses.
The perfect place for a betrayal.
Sebastian and Norah entered through a rusted side door.
A voice echoed from above.
“You came.”
Victor.
Sebastian looked up.
His uncle stood on the second floor.
“This ends tonight.”
Victor held up a small metal case.
“The original necklace is here.”
Norah stared.
“You have it?”
Victor opened the case.
Inside was the real necklace.
Older.
Heavier.
The ruby deeper.
Norah stepped forward.
Sebastian stopped her.
Victor laughed.
“You finally understand.”
“What do you want?” Sebastian asked.
“The Romano empire.”
Sebastian’s expression hardened.
“You already have money.”
“I want control.”
“Of what?”
“Everything.”
Victor looked at Norah.
“Your father knew the truth.”
“What truth?”
Victor sighed.
“Arthur was laundering money through legitimate jewelry transactions. The necklace carried account numbers and coded transfers hidden beneath the center stone.”
Sebastian stared.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
“He killed Mother.”
Victor’s silence was answer enough.
Norah felt sick.
“Why blame my father?”
“Because Henry discovered the records.”
“And my father?”
“Arthur framed him for stealing the original necklace.”
Norah’s eyes burned.
Sebastian looked like someone had taken the air from his lungs.
Victor continued.
“Evelyn tried to expose Arthur. He arranged the accident.”
Sebastian stepped forward.
“You murdered my mother.”
“No,” Victor said.
“Arthur did.”
“Then why are you protecting him?”
Victor smiled.
“Because Arthur is dead.”
Sebastian stopped.
“Dead?”
Victor nodded.
“He died six years ago.”
Norah looked at Sebastian.
“Then who has been protecting the secret?”
The lights went out.
A gunshot echoed.
Victor fell.
Sebastian pulled Norah down.
Luca fired toward the balcony.
A figure fled through the rear exit.
Sebastian chased.
Norah remained beside Victor.
He was wounded.
Barely conscious.
“Norah,” he whispered.
She leaned closer.
“Your father…”
His hand grabbed her sleeve.
“He’s alive.”
Her heart stopped.
“Where?”
Victor smiled faintly.
“Ask the woman who taught you to repair watches.”
Then he lost consciousness.
Norah looked at Sebastian as he returned.
“Who taught you?” he asked.
“My father.”
“No.”
She frowned.
“My father taught me jewelry.”
“Someone else taught you watches.”
Norah remembered.
An elderly woman had taught her precision mechanics when she was seventeen.
She had called herself Mrs. Collins.
But Norah had never seen her again.
She suddenly understood.
“That wasn’t my father.”
Sebastian looked at her.
“Who was it?”
Norah whispered:
“My mother.”
Her mother had died when Norah was twelve.
Or at least, that was what she had always believed.
Another lie.
Another impossible piece.
The original necklace lay on the floor.
Sebastian picked it up.
A hidden mechanism inside the ruby clicked.
Norah looked at it.
“The proof.”
“What proof?”
“The thing everyone killed to hide.”
May you like
She touched the central ruby.
“Let’s find out.”
