Chapter 7 - THE WHITE TREE
Alessandro moved Clara and Emma into a secure library while guards searched for the shooter.
Marcus remained outside the door.
Inside, rows of ancient books rose toward a painted ceiling. A fire burned behind an iron screen, but Clara could not stop trembling.
Alessandro stood near the window.
“You saw Adrian’s message.”
It was not a question.
Clara said nothing.
“Marcus would not have brought you back unless you had learned enough to become dangerous.”
“You mean dangerous to Vivian?”
“To everyone.”
Clara held Emma on her lap.
“Gabriel said I shouldn’t trust you unless you answered a question.”
Alessandro turned.
“What question?”
“What was buried beneath the white tree?”
For several seconds, he did not move.
Then his face softened with grief.
“A wooden horse.”
Clara waited.
Alessandro crossed to a locked cabinet and removed a small carved horse with faded white paint.
“Adrian made this for his mother when he was seven. One of the legs broke. He believed she had thrown it away.”
He placed the horse on the table.
“Isabella buried it beneath a white magnolia tree because Adrian had written a secret inside the body. She feared Vivian would discover it.”
“What secret?”
Alessandro opened a hidden panel beneath the horse.
Inside were three childish words.
Mother is afraid.
Clara looked at him.
“Gabriel was testing whether you knew about something only he and his mother shared.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t he trust you?”
“Because I chose the family’s reputation over his accusations.”
Alessandro’s voice became rough.
“When Isabella died, Adrian insisted Vivian was responsible. I demanded proof. He had none. I told him grief had made him irrational.”
“And then he disappeared.”
“Because I failed him.”
Emma climbed down from Clara’s lap and approached the wooden horse.
“Daddy made this?”
“When he was a boy,” Alessandro said.
She touched the faded paint.
Alessandro watched her with an expression Clara could not fully understand.
Wonder.
Regret.
And fear.
“What is Lazarus?” Clara asked.
His gaze snapped toward her.
“Where did you hear that name?”
“Gabriel’s message.”
Alessandro went to the library door and locked it.
“Lazarus was an illegal medical program proposed by a company the family acquired thirty years ago. It sought to create new identities for children displaced by war.”
“New identities?”
“Documents, families, histories. At first, it was meant to protect them.”
“At first?”
“The program was corrupted. Some children were placed with wealthy families in exchange for political favors. Others disappeared into intelligence networks.”
Clara felt ill.
“Vivian was involved?”
“She was seventeen when the program officially ended.”
“Officially.”
Alessandro stared into the fire.
“Adrian believed it continued.”
A panel in the library wall opened without warning.
Marcus entered, bleeding from the forehead.
“The shooter is dead.”
“Who was he?” Alessandro asked.
“One of our guards.”
“Vivian’s man?”
“He carried a Black Crown mark.”
Marcus placed a bloodstained access card on the desk.
“Someone has reached the lower vault.”
Alessandro checked the antique clock.
Ten fifteen.
“The archive will not fully open until midnight.”
Marcus shook his head.
“They are not trying to open it.”
May you like
“What are they doing?”
“Deleting it.”
