Chapter 6 - The Lieutenant Who Looked Afraid
The chapel stood at the edge of the Lombardi estate beneath ancient trees.
Sebastian had not entered it since his father’s funeral.
Clare came with him.
So did Carlo.
Owen remained inside the mansion under Adrian’s protection.
The brass key opened a narrow door behind the altar.
A staircase descended into darkness.
“You knew about this?” Sebastian asked.
Carlo nodded.
“Your father used it as a private archive.”
“And you waited eighteen years to tell me?”
“I promised him.”
Sebastian turned.
“You seem to have made a career out of promises that destroyed my life.”
Carlo accepted the words without defending himself.
At the bottom of the stairs they found a small room lined with steel cabinets.
Most were empty.
One required the brass key.
Inside was a sealed envelope.
SEBASTIAN.
The handwriting belonged to his father.
Sebastian stared at it.
Then handed it to Clare.
“You read it.”
“Why me?”
“Because I’m not sure I can.”
Clare opened the envelope.
The letter was short.
Sebastian,
If you are reading this, then Carlo has decided the danger has passed or I am no longer alive to stop him.
I failed you.
Your accident should not have taken your legs.
What happened afterward was not medicine.
It was fear.
I believed I was protecting you from a war within our family.
Instead I allowed something unforgivable.
Do not trust the surgical records.
Do not trust the story Vittorio tells you about that night.
And if Thomas Vale is still alive, find him.
He knows what was placed inside you.
Your father,
Antonio.
Silence.
Sebastian took the letter.
His face remained controlled.
But Clare saw his hand tremble.
“My father knew.”
Carlo said quietly, “Yes.”
“And you knew he knew.”
“Yes.”
Sebastian looked at him.
“Get out.”
“Sebastian—”
“Get out.”
Carlo left.
Clare remained.
“You don’t have to stay,” Sebastian said.
“I know.”
He looked down at the letter.
“I spent twenty years blaming myself.”
“For what?”
“The accident.”
“You didn’t cause the surgery.”
“I was driving too fast.”
“Were you?”
He looked up.
“What?”
“Do you remember the crash?”
“Yes.”
“All of it?”
“No.”
Clare held up the photograph.
“You also didn’t remember standing afterward.”
Sebastian’s expression shifted.
She continued.
“What if the accident story was altered too?”
He stared at her.
“Then somebody stole more than my legs.”
Clare crouched beside his wheelchair.
“Sebastian, I need to say something you’re probably not going to like.”
“That seems to be your specialty.”
“You need a real medical team.”
“I have one.”
“No. You have doctors who treat the version of your injury written in a file that may be fake.”
He studied her.
“What do you recommend?”
“A completely independent scan. Different hospital. No Lombardi doctors. No family connections.”
“Can you arrange it?”
“Yes.”
“Do it.”
On the way back to the mansion, Clare’s phone rang.
The pharmacy.
Owen’s medication had been paid for six months in advance.
Clare stopped walking.
She had not paid it yet.
“Who did that?” she asked the pharmacist.
“It was anonymous.”
Her pulse accelerated.
Sebastian watched her expression.
“What happened?”
She told him.
His jaw tightened.
Another message appeared immediately afterward.
NOW YOU UNDERSTAND.
WE CAN HELP YOUR SON.
OR WE CAN STOP HELPING HIM.
Clare’s hands shook.
Sebastian took the phone.
He read the message.
Then looked toward the mansion where Owen waited.
The threat had changed.
It was no longer about money.
It was about control.
Sebastian handed the phone back.
“Your son stays with us.”
“No.”
“I’m not asking.”
“You don’t get to make that decision.”
“Then make it yourself.”
He met her eyes.
“Go home where they already know his medical history, your address, your schedule and your bank balance.”
Clare hated him for being right.
And hated herself more for being relieved that someone powerful enough to frighten everyone else was standing beside her.
Then Adrian called.
They had found Dr. Thomas Vale’s daughter.
And according to her, Thomas Vale had not disappeared.
He had been hiding for eighteen years.
May you like
Because he believed the Lombardi family would kill him if Sebastian ever learned the truth.
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