Chapter 14 - The Man Who Attended His Own Funeral
Laurent Moreau had been Margaret’s mother’s older brother.
Margaret remembered him as charming and unpredictable.
He taught her to ride horses.
He brought her books from Morocco.
He attended every birthday until she was seventeen.
Then his plane crashed over the Mediterranean.
No bodies were recovered.
The Laurent family held a funeral.
Margaret’s mother wore black for a year.
If Hélène was telling the truth, Laurent Moreau had faked his death before arranging the destruction of his own family.
Margaret returned to the rental house after midnight.
Claire was waiting in the kitchen.
“What did Hélène say?”
Margaret told her.
Claire sat slowly.
“Your uncle is alive?”
“Possibly.”
“And he controls the Black Rose?”
“According to Hélène.”
“Do you believe her?”
“I believe she believes it.”
Luca entered from the hallway.
He had been listening.
“Did she tell you where Étienne is?”
“No. She said Laurent took him.”
“My brother knew your uncle?”
“I do not know.”
Luca placed something on the table.
A letter.
“It arrived tonight.”
Margaret recognized the handwriting.
Philippe’s.
Luca had finally opened one of his father’s letters.
Inside was a single page.
Luca,
Everything you believe about your mother and me is incomplete. We took you because Lucien asked us to. He knew the Circle would kill you if your identity became known.
Your mother loved you. Whatever else she did, believe that.
Étienne found Lucien alive. That discovery placed all of us in danger.
If you want the truth, go to Saint-Rémy station at six tomorrow morning. Locker 214. The key is hidden inside the watch I gave you when you turned eighteen.
Tell no one.
Luca looked at Margaret.
“The watch is in London.”
Claire shook her head.
“No. You brought it.”
“What?”
“You packed it in the black case. I saw it when I put your cuff links away.”
Luca went upstairs and returned with a silver watch.
He opened the back.
Inside was a tiny key.
At dawn, the three of them traveled to Saint-Rémy.
Inspector Mercier insisted on accompanying them.
The station was nearly empty.
Locker 214 contained a leather satchel.
Inside were photographs, letters, and a digital recorder.
One photograph showed Philippe with a man standing outside a clinic.
The man was Lucien Bastien Laurent.
Luca stared at his biological father’s face.
Lucien looked remarkably like him.
Another photograph showed Lucien meeting Thomas Hale.
Margaret turned it over.
The date was six months before Thomas died.
Claire’s eyes filled.
“They knew each other.”
The digital recorder contained Philippe’s voice.
“I do not know who will hear this.
Lucien came to me before Luca was born. He said the Circle had discovered Sabine’s pregnancy. He asked Hélène and me to take the child and raise him as ours.
Hélène agreed because we believed we could protect him.
Years later, Étienne discovered the adoption papers. He found Lucien and demanded answers.
Lucien told him the truth about the Circle.
Étienne wanted to expose everything.
Hélène begged him to stop.
When he refused, Laurent Moreau intervened.
He took Étienne to a facility in Italy.
I was promised he would be safe.
I believed them.
I was a coward.
The recording paused.
Margaret heard Philippe breathing.
“Thomas Hale discovered Lucien was alive. They planned to release the full ledger together.
Laurent ordered Thomas’s death.
Lucien tried to stop it.
After the crash, Lucien disappeared again.
I do not know whether he is alive.
The Circle’s current operation is called Union.
Claire and Luca were always part of it.
The marriage would consolidate the Laurent inheritance and place control under a trust administered by the Beaumont companies.
I encouraged the relationship after learning Claire’s identity.
Luca did not know.
Hélène knew more than I did.
If she claims Laurent Moreau controls the Circle, believe her.
But do not trust her.
She has been communicating with him for years.”
The recording ended.
Luca sat on a bench.
“My entire life was arranged.”
Claire sat beside him.
“Our meeting may have been arranged.”
“What difference is there?”
“The difference is what happened after.”
Luca looked at her.
“Can you still look at me without seeing them?”
Claire took the engagement ring from her pocket.
She placed it in his hand.
Luca’s face fell.
“I cannot marry you now,” she said.
He closed his fingers around the ring.
“I understand.”
“I am not leaving you.”
He looked up.
“I need to know who I am without their plan. So do you.”
“And after?”
Claire’s voice softened.
“After, we choose again.”
Luca nodded.
Margaret watched them with equal sorrow and pride.
Inspector Mercier examined the final document in the satchel.
It was a map of Europe marked with black roses.
One mark appeared in northern Italy.
Another in Paris.
A third in London.
The London mark was placed directly over Margaret’s catering business.
Mercier’s phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed.
“What happened?”
He listened.
Then he looked at Margaret.
“Hélène Beaumont is dead.”
Margaret stared.
“How?”
“Poisoned in her cell.”
“That is impossible.”
“She ate nothing. Drank nothing.”
“Then how?”
May you like
Mercier lowered the phone.
“A black rose was found beneath her tongue.”
