Chapter 7 - The Woman Behind the Glass|
The clinic stood on a quiet road outside Boston, surrounded by pine trees and a high stone wall.
Dante brought four guards, Rebecca, and me. I insisted on speaking to my mother alone if we found her.
He agreed, although the tension in his face told me he disliked the idea.
The clinic director met us in a private office.
"Mrs. Bennett was admitted under a confidential arrangement," she explained. "She requested that her records remain sealed."
"Is she here now?" I asked.
The director looked uncomfortable.
"She left yesterday morning."
My heart sank.
"Where did she go?"
"I cannot disclose that information."
Dante placed a document on the desk.
"Your clinic received money from a company linked to the Ashford family. That company also has ties to a fraudulent debt operation targeting Clara. We have reason to believe someone is using your facility to conceal a witness."
The director's face paled.
"I was told the arrangement was made for her protection."
"By whom?"
She hesitated.
"Mr. Adrian Moretti."
Dante went motionless.
"That is impossible."
The director opened a file.
"Mr. Moretti's representatives told us he was acting on behalf of the family. They said Mrs. Bennett had been receiving threats and that her daughter must not learn she was alive until the danger had passed."
I gripped the edge of the desk.
"Why?"
The director turned toward me.
"Your mother was frightened. She believed someone had tried to kill her."
"Who?"
"I don't know."
She led us through a secured hallway to a small room.
Behind a pane of glass stood a narrow bed, a desk, and a bookshelf filled with paperbacks.
My mother's scarf lay folded on the pillow.
I pressed my hand against the glass.
For a moment, I could almost hear her voice.
Then I noticed a photograph tucked beneath the scarf.
It showed my mother holding me as a baby.
Behind her stood a man with dark hair and gray eyes.
Dante's father.
On the back, my mother had written:
Adrian promised to protect us. Gabriel said never to trust him.
I read the sentence twice.
"Why would she trust him at all?" I whispered.
Rebecca examined the room.
"Because people rarely begin by looking like villains. Sometimes they begin by offering help."
A nurse entered carrying a sealed envelope.
"Mrs. Bennett asked me to give this to her daughter if she ever came looking."
My fingers trembled as I opened it.
Inside was a handwritten letter.
My darling Clara,
If you are reading this, I have failed to keep you safe from the truth. I am sorry for every lie I told you, but I need you to understand that I never stopped loving you.
Your father did not die at sea. He discovered that Adrian was stealing from the family and using its shipping network to move money and people without records. Gabriel planned to expose him. The night he tried to leave New York, someone sabotaged his boat.
I was supposed to die with him.
I survived because a woman named Evelyn helped me escape with you. I told everyone that Gabriel's child had died because Adrian was searching for the Black Rose heir.
I believed I could keep you safe by making you ordinary.
The letter continued for several pages, describing years of hiding, false identities, and threats.
The final paragraph made my hands go numb.
I did not stay away because I stopped loving you. I stayed away because Adrian told me that if I returned, he would kill you. But I am afraid he has found you now.
Beneath the letter was an address.
And one final sentence.
Find the woman who taught me to trust the sea.
Dante looked over my shoulder.
"Who could that be?"
I stared at the handwriting.
"My mother grew up in a fishing village. She always spoke about an old woman who taught her to read the currents."
Rebecca checked the address.
"It leads to a harbor in Maine."
A phone rang in the director's office.
She answered, listened, and turned pale.
When she returned, she was holding a printed message.
"Someone has just accessed Mrs. Bennett's medical file using a valid Moretti family authorization."
Dante took the paper.
The authorization had been issued less than five minutes earlier.
May you like
It carried his signature.
But Dante had never signed it.
