Chapter 7 — Clara’s Mistake
Emergency lights blinked red.
Clara slid down the wall.
Juliano caught her.
“Clara.”
“I’m okay.”
She was not.
Blood spread across the upper sleeve of her uniform.
The bullet had grazed her shoulder.
At the doorway, a shadow disappeared into the tunnel.
Juliano lowered Clara behind the medical bed and ran after it.
“Stay with my mother.”
He reached the corridor in time to see the elevator doors closing.
A man stood inside.
Tall.
Gray suit.
Face partly hidden.
Juliano lunged forward, but the cage rose before he reached it.
He slammed his fist against the iron gate.
Behind him, Clara called his name.
He returned to the medical room.
Elena was trying to sit up.
Clara pressed gauze against her shoulder.
“You were shot,” Juliano said.
“Barely.”
“That’s still shot.”
“I noticed.”
The awkward answer came out sharper than she meant.
Then her face crumpled.
“I’m sorry.”
Juliano crouched beside her.
“For what?”
Clara looked toward Elena.
“I brought this here.”
“What?”
“The man.”
Elena closed her eyes.
Juliano stared at Clara.
“What did you do?”
Clara’s hands shook.
“Three weeks ago, someone contacted me.”
“Who?”
“He said he knew about my brother. He said he had proof your father caused the crash.”
“And?”
“He told me to search the west wing.”
Juliano’s voice dropped.
“You came into my house for him.”
“At first.”
The words cut.
Clara kept going.
“He gave me a fake reference letter. He helped me get hired. I thought I could find proof.”
“You lied from the day you walked through my door.”
“Yes.”
“You searched my rooms.”
“Yes.”
“You used my trust.”
Clara pressed harder against the wound.
“I did.”
Elena opened her eyes.
“She didn’t know.”
Juliano looked at his mother.
“She knew enough.”
Clara swallowed.
“The man told me the woman in the west wing was a retired nurse. I didn’t know she was your mother until later.”
“And when you found out?”
“I should have told you.”
“But you didn’t.”
“No.”
“Why?”
Clara looked at Elena.
“Because she said you would send her back.”
“Back where?”
Elena’s voice trembled.
“To the clinic.”
Juliano looked between them.
“What clinic?”
His mother gripped the sheet.
“The one your father paid to declare me dead.”
Juliano stopped breathing.
Elena’s gaze drifted toward the empty syringe.
“He didn’t save me, Juli. He hid me.”
“Why?”
“Because I found out what he was doing.”
“What was he doing?”
Elena looked at Clara.
Then at the blood-stained ring still wrapped in Juliano’s handkerchief.
“The ring opens the vault.”
Clara’s eyes widened.
Juliano unfolded the cloth.
The engagement ring glinted under the red emergency light.
Elena pointed at it.
“That diamond was never meant for Vanessa.”
A siren suddenly sounded overhead.
Mateo’s voice came through the emergency speaker.
“Mr. Ferraz, the police are at the gate.”
May you like
Juliano reached for the intercom.
Then Mateo added, “They’re here to arrest Clara.”
