Chapter 2 - The Watch She Refused to Sell
By eight the next morning, Clare had already spent $1,842 of Sebastian Lombardi’s money.
Oliver’s prescriptions came first.
Then the overdue filtration-machine payment.
Then rent.
She stood at the pharmacy counter watching the numbers disappear from her account and felt something she had not felt in months.
Relief.
Not happiness.
Relief was smaller and more fragile.
But she would take it.
“Mom, can we get pancakes?”
Oliver stood beside her wearing a red winter coat that was becoming too short in the sleeves.
Clare smiled.
“We can get pancakes.”
“With strawberries?”
“Don’t get greedy.”
“With whipped cream?”
“Now you’re negotiating.”
Oliver grinned.
For half an hour, they were simply mother and son.
No mafia boss.
No mysterious mansion.
No moving toe.
No man in a black suit who knew too much about their lives.
Then Clare opened her handbag to pay.
Sebastian’s watch lay inside.
Oliver’s eyes widened.
“Whoa.”
“Don’t touch.”
“Is that real?”
“Unfortunately.”
“Whose is it?”
“A patient’s.”
“Your patients wear watches like that?”
“One does.”
Oliver leaned closer.
“It looks like a spy watch.”
Clare almost laughed.
Then she turned it over.
S.L.
Beneath the initials was something she had not noticed the night before.
A date.
October 17.
Four years earlier.
The date Daniel died.
Clare’s smile disappeared.
“Mom?”
She closed her hand around the watch.
“Eat your pancakes.”
Daniel Bennett had died in what police called a single-vehicle accident.
His car went through a guardrail during heavy rain.
No witnesses.
No other vehicle.
Daniel had been thirty-five.
Clare had been left with a four-year-old son, medical debt, and a grief so large she sometimes felt she had never completely climbed out of it.
October 17.
She knew that date the way people knew their own birthdays.
Why was it engraved on Sebastian Lombardi’s watch?
At 6:00 p.m., Gabriel appeared outside the clinic.
“You’re expected.”
Clare held up the watch.
“I believe this belongs to him.”
For the first time since meeting Gabriel, she saw genuine surprise.
“Where did you get that?”
“He dropped it.”
Gabriel did not take it.
“You kept it overnight?”
“I was supposed to chase your SUV?”
“You could have sold it.”
“I considered it.”
Gabriel stared at her.
Clare frowned.
“That was a joke.”
“I know.”
“You don’t look like you know.”
Gabriel opened the vehicle door.
At the mansion, Sebastian was waiting in the same room.
But tonight there was no sarcasm in his expression.
Clare crossed the room and placed the watch on the table beside him.
“You lost this.”
Sebastian stared at it.
Then at her.
“Do you know what it’s worth?”
“No.”
“One hundred and eighty thousand.”
Clare’s stomach dropped.
She looked at the watch again.
“You walked around with a house on your wrist?”
“A small house.”
“You need different friends.”
His mouth almost curved.
“You could have sold it.”
“And spent the rest of my life wondering who was coming through my door?”
“That’s why you returned it?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
“Because it wasn’t mine.”
The answer seemed to bother him.
Sebastian picked up the watch.
“People always want something.”
“So do I.”
“What?”
“My son healthy.”
“That has nothing to do with me.”
“Exactly.”
Something shifted in Sebastian’s expression.
Then Clare pointed at the engraving.
“What happened October seventeenth?”
The room went silent.
Gabriel, standing near the window, looked toward Sebastian.
Clare noticed.
“What?”
Sebastian put the watch down.
“My accident.”
Her chest tightened.
“What year?”
“You know the year.”
“Yes.”
“Then why ask?”
“My husband died that night.”
Sebastian did not react.
That frightened her more than surprise would have.
“You knew.”
“Clare—”
“You knew.”
Gabriel moved toward her.
She stepped back.
“Don’t.”
Sebastian raised one hand.
Gabriel stopped.
Clare’s pulse hammered.
“Why was Daniel connected to you?”
Sebastian looked toward the fire.
“Your husband worked for a company called Northstar Medical Logistics.”
“Yes.”
“What did he tell you he did?”
“Hospital equipment.”
“He transported more than equipment.”
Clare felt cold.
“What does that mean?”
Sebastian’s gaze returned to her.
“It means Daniel was in the wrong place when dangerous people needed something hidden.”
“What people?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“Four years and you don’t know?”
“I spent most of those four years learning how to live in this chair.”
The cruelty of that truth silenced her.
Sebastian continued.
“The crash that injured me happened three weeks before October seventeenth. Doctors stabilized my spine. My prognosis was uncertain, but there was still a possibility of significant recovery.”
Clare slowly sat down.
“What happened on October seventeenth?”
“My second surgery.”
His voice became colder.
“After that surgery, the possibility disappeared.”
Clare looked at his legs.
“The doctors said the damage progressed.”
“That’s what they told me.”
“And now?”
“Now you touched my hip and my toe moved.”
Clare understood.
“You think someone caused additional damage.”
“I think somebody may have wanted me permanently disabled.”
“And Daniel knew?”
Gabriel stepped forward.
“We found security footage.”
He handed Clare a tablet.
She saw Daniel.
Alive.
Walking toward a hospital loading entrance.
The timestamp was October 17.
9:43 p.m.
Clare’s hands began shaking.
Daniel had told her he was working late.
He died at 11:26.
“Why didn’t police have this?”
“We only found it last night,” Gabriel said.
“How?”
“We have resources.”
“You mean criminals.”
Gabriel did not answer.
Clare looked at Sebastian.
“Did you kill my husband?”
Gabriel stiffened.
Sebastian’s expression did not change.
“No.”
“How do I know?”
“You don’t.”
The honesty hurt more than denial.
Clare stood.
“I’m leaving.”
“You came to treat me.”
“I came because you threatened me.”
“And because you needed money.”
She slapped him.
The sound cracked through the room.
Gabriel moved instantly.
Sebastian stopped him with a glance.
Clare’s eyes filled with furious tears.
“Never use my son to make me ashamed.”
Sebastian touched his cheek.
“I deserved that.”
That stopped her.
Men like Sebastian Lombardi were not supposed to say those words.
He looked at Gabriel.
“Leave.”
Gabriel hesitated.
“Now.”
When they were alone, Sebastian spoke quietly.
“My father believed love was a weakness other men could use against you.”
Clare said nothing.
“He taught me never to need anyone. Women came into my life wanting money, protection, status, or the Lombardi name. Eventually I stopped pretending any of it meant something.”
“What does that have to do with Daniel?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why tell me?”
“Because you returned a watch worth enough to change your life.”
Clare looked away.
“And that makes you trust me?”
“No.”
“Good.”
“It makes me curious.”
“I’m not interested in being interesting to you.”
“Another unusual quality.”
Clare almost walked out.
Instead she looked at his foot.
Professional instinct won.
“Try moving your toe.”
Sebastian concentrated.
Nothing happened.
Again.
Nothing.
His jaw tightened.
“Relax.”
“I am relaxed.”
“You look like you’re trying to murder your own foot.”
His eyes lifted.
Clare nearly smiled.
“Close your eyes.”
He did.
She positioned his leg.
“Don’t think about moving. Think about pushing against my hand.”
She placed two fingers beneath his foot.
“Now.”
A twitch.
Sebastian opened his eyes.
“Again.”
Another twitch.
Stronger.
For the next forty minutes, they worked.
When the session ended, Sebastian was sweating.
Clare packed her equipment.
“You need imaging.”
“It’s arranged.”
“Independent imaging.”
“I heard you yesterday.”
“And I want your original scans.”
Gabriel entered carrying a folder.
“We found them.”
Clare opened it.
Pre-surgery.
Post-surgery.
Radiology reports.
Operative notes.
She scanned the pages.
Something looked wrong.
“Who was your surgeon?”
“Dr. Adrian Vale.”
Clare knew the name.
A celebrated neurosurgeon.
She compared two reports.
One stated the spinal cord had shown no evidence of complete transection before the second procedure.
The later report described irreversible neurological damage.
But one page had been replaced.
Different paper.
Different formatting.
Different signature placement.
“This isn’t original.”
Sebastian leaned forward.
“What?”
Clare showed him.
“Someone altered your file.”
Gabriel’s phone rang.
He answered.
His face changed.
“What?”
Sebastian watched him.
Gabriel ended the call.
“Someone broke into Clare’s apartment.”
Clare’s blood went cold.
“Oliver?”
“He’s safe. Mrs. Alvarez took him downstairs when she heard glass.”
Clare grabbed her coat.
Sebastian caught her wrist.
“Wait.”
“Let go.”
“Whoever did this may still be watching.”
“My son is there!”
Sebastian released her immediately.
“Gabriel, take the armored car.”
“I don’t need—”
“Yes,” Sebastian said. “You do.”
They reached Clare’s building seventeen minutes later.
Her apartment had been destroyed.
Drawers emptied.
Mattress cut.
Kitchen cabinets opened.
Nothing valuable appeared stolen.
Oliver ran into her arms.
“Mom!”
She held him so tightly he protested.
Then Gabriel called from the bedroom.
“Clare.”
She followed him.
On her bedroom mirror, someone had written five words in red lipstick.
GIVE BACK WHAT DANIEL STOLE.
Clare stared.
“I don’t know what this means.”
Sebastian had come upstairs despite her objections.
He rolled into the room and studied the message.
Then Oliver appeared behind him.
“Mom?”
Clare turned quickly.
But Oliver was staring at Sebastian.
More specifically, at the watch now back on Sebastian’s wrist.
Oliver’s face changed.
“I’ve seen that before.”
Clare froze.
“Where?”
Oliver pointed toward the watch.
“Dad had one like it.”
“That’s impossible.”
“No.” Oliver looked confused. “It was in his secret box.”
Clare knelt.
“What secret box?”
“The one behind the wall.”
Nobody moved.
Oliver pointed toward his bedroom.
Behind a loose ventilation panel, Gabriel found a small metal container Clare had never seen.
Inside were three objects.
A hospital access card.
A flash drive.
And a handwritten note addressed to Clare.
Her hands shook as she unfolded it.
There were only two lines.
Clare, if anything happens to me, don’t trust the police.
May you like
And whatever you do, don’t let Sebastian Lombardi die.
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