Chapter 5 - CLARA’S MOTHER LIED
Clara called her mother from Dominic’s study.
Helen Reed answered on the second ring.
“Clara? Are you working?”
“Mom.”
Something in Clara’s voice made Helen go silent.
“Why do you have a photograph with Evelyn Vale?”
Nothing.
“Mom?”
“Come home.”
“No.”
“Clara, please.”
“Tell me now.”
Helen began crying.
Clara’s anger rose instantly.
“You knew.”
“I knew her years ago.”
“How?”
“I was a nurse.”
Clara frowned.
“You worked at St. Matthew’s.”
“Before that.”
Helen took a shaky breath.
“I worked for the Vale family.”
Clara looked across the room at Dominic.
He heard every word through speakerphone.
Helen continued.
“Evelyn hired me when Noah was a baby.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“I don’t remember you.”
Helen gasped.
“Mr. Vale?”
“Why were you in my house?”
“You were traveling constantly.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
That was true.
Helen spoke faster.
“Evelyn discovered someone was stealing money through your medical charities.”
“Who?”
“I never knew the top person.”
“What does Clara have to do with this?” Dominic demanded.
Helen began sobbing harder.
“Evelyn trusted me.”
Clara gripped the phone.
“With what?”
“Evidence.”
“What evidence?”
“I hid it.”
“Where?”
“At our old apartment.”
Clara went still.
They had moved six years ago.
The building had been demolished.
Helen whispered, “I thought it was gone.”
Dominic looked at Marcus.
“Find out who bought the property.”
Marcus typed.
Then stopped.
His face hardened.
“The land belongs to Hargrove Holdings.”
Clara stared.
Mrs. Hargrove.
Helen continued.
“After Evelyn supposedly died, someone came to our house.”
Clara remembered that night.
She had been fifteen.
A stranger broke their front window.
Her mother moved them the next morning.
Helen said, “They threatened Tyler.”
Clara closed her eyes.
Her brother had been seven.
“That’s why you never told me?”
“I was trying to keep you alive.”
Dominic leaned toward the phone.
“Helen, did Evelyn survive the ambush?”
“Yes.”
The room went silent.
“I treated her myself.”
Dominic gripped the desk.
“Where?”
“At the north wing.”
Clara’s stomach turned.
Helen continued.
“Evelyn believed someone inside the Vale organization arranged the shooting. She refused to go to a hospital because she didn’t know who she could trust.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“She wanted to.”
“What stopped her?”
Helen’s voice dropped.
“They took Noah.”
Dominic stared toward the door.
“What?”
“They threatened to kill him if she contacted you.”
Clara covered her mouth.
Helen whispered, “Evelyn surrendered herself to save her son.”
Dominic’s voice trembled with rage.
“Who took him?”
Before Helen could answer, someone knocked on her door.
Three slow knocks.
Helen stopped breathing.
“Mom?”
Another knock.
“Clara…”
Helen whispered.
May you like
“They found me.”
Then the call ended.
