“She knew Daniel would betray us.”
“She knew every safe place would eventually be found.”
“So she chose the only place they would never search.”
Khloe touched her stomach.
“What did she put inside me?”
Claire looked at her.
“Not inside your body.”
“Inside your life.”
She placed an old key on the table.
“The evidence was transferred through the protection agreement.”
“Your mother created a legal vault.”
“A vault only you can open.”
Marcus looked at the key.
“Where?”
Claire’s expression became dark.
“Under the place where everything started.”
Khloe frowned.
“Where?”
Claire whispered:
“Thorne Manor.”
The ancestral home.
The place Richard built.
The place Claire escaped from.
The place Marcus swore he would never return to.
And now…
It was the only place they had left.
But before anyone could move…
Marcus’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
A woman’s voice came through.
Weak.
Terrified.
But familiar.
“Sofia?”
Marcus froze.
Everyone looked at him.
The voice whispered:
“Marcus…”
“Please…”
“Don’t trust Claire.”
The call ended.
Nobody spoke.
Because now the impossible question appeared.
Who was telling the truth?
The woman who came back from the dead?
Or the woman who disappeared from the world?
And with only seventy-two hours remaining…
Marcus Thorne had to choose.
CHAPTER 14-THE PERSON KHLOE TRUSTED MOST
The call ended.
But nobody moved.
The silence that followed felt worse than the phone ringing.
Because everyone in that room had heard the same thing.
A voice from the past.
A voice they thought they would never hear again.
Sofia Bellini.
Alive.
Calling Marcus.
Warning him.
Don’t trust Claire.
Khloe looked at her mother.
The woman who had returned after twenty years.
The woman who had cried when she saw her daughter.
The woman who claimed she disappeared to protect her.
Now another person from the past was telling them not to believe her.
And the most painful part was…
Khloe no longer knew what truth looked like.
Every person in this family had a secret.
Every person had a reason.
Every person claimed they were protecting someone.
And every secret had caused someone else pain.
“Was that really Sofia?”
Marcus asked.
Nobody answered.
Because nobody knew.
Claire looked terrified.
Not angry.
Not defensive.
Terrified.
That reaction caught Khloe’s attention.
“Mom.”
Claire looked at her.
“Why are you afraid?”
Claire swallowed.
“Because Sofia should never have been able to call you.”
Marcus frowned.
“Why?”
Claire looked at him.
“Because I watched her die.”
The room froze.
Khloe stared.
“What?”
Claire closed her eyes.
“Not physically.”
A pause.
“But the woman who disappeared six years ago…”
“She was already gone.”
Marcus looked confused.
“Explain.”
Claire sat down slowly.
“She discovered the truth about Richard.”
“She discovered what Daniel was planning.”
“She knew too much.”
“So she disappeared.”
“Everyone assumed Richard killed her.”
“But the truth was different.”
Khloe stepped closer.
“What happened?”
Claire looked at the floor.
“Sofia chose to disappear.”
Marcus shook his head.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“She knew if she stayed, everyone connected to her would be destroyed.”
“She left the world behind.”
“But why would she call now?”
Nobody answered.
Then Isabella spoke.
“Because someone found her.”
Everyone looked at her.
Isabella continued.
“Or forced her to come out.”
Marcus looked at her.
“You knew where she was?”
Isabella hesitated.
That hesitation was enough.
Marcus’s expression hardened.
“Isabella.”
She looked away.
“I knew where she was hiding.”
“And you didn’t tell me.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because she asked me not to.”
Marcus laughed bitterly.
“Everyone in my life keeps deciding what I deserve to know.”
Nobody responded.
Because it was true.
Khloe looked at him.
She saw the pain.
But she also saw something else.
Growth.
For the first time, Marcus wasn’t trying to control the situation.
He was accepting that people had been hurt by his silence.
“What did Sofia want?”
Khloe asked Isabella.
Isabella looked at her.
“She wanted the truth exposed.”
“Then why warn us not to trust Claire?”
Isabella looked at Claire.
“That is the question.”
The room became tense.
Claire stood.
“I know how this looks.”
Khloe looked at her.
“Do you?”
The question hurt.
“Yes.”
“Because every person here has told me they were protecting me.”
Claire lowered her eyes.
“And every person lied.”
Silence.
Khloe continued.
“I spent twenty years believing I lost my mother.”
“I spent years wondering why she left.”
“I built my entire life around a story that was wrong.”
Her voice shook.
“And now you’re asking me to trust you because you came back?”
Claire looked devastated.
“No.”
“Then what?”
Claire stepped closer.
“I’m asking you to look at what I did.”
“Not what everyone says.”
Khloe stared.
“What did you do?”
Claire took a breath.
“I signed the protection agreement.”
“I hid the evidence.”
“I disappeared.”
“And I allowed you to hate me.”
