Chapter 5 - THE WOMAN IN THE MIRROR
That night, Clara woke to a tapping sound.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
It came from the mirror above her bedroom dresser.
She sat up slowly.
The mirror reflected the room, the bed, the curtains, and a woman standing behind her.
The woman wore a red scarf.
Clara spun around.
No one stood there.
Bruno, sleeping near the door, immediately growled.
Clara moved toward the mirror. A line of condensation marked the glass.
Someone had touched it recently.
Before she could reach it, the door opened.
Matteo stood in the hallway.
“What happened?”
“I saw someone.”
“Who?”
“A woman in the mirror.”
His gaze moved toward the glass.
He removed the mirror from the wall.
Behind it was a narrow recess.
Inside lay a small recording device.
Matteo pressed play.
Static filled the room.
Then Evelyn Hayes’s voice emerged.
“If you are hearing this, they found my daughter before I could return.”
Clara’s knees weakened.
Matteo placed one hand near her elbow but did not touch her.
The recording continued.
“Do not trust the person who tells you I died. Do not trust the man who calls himself your protector. The Moretti family does not know what happened in the east wing, but one person does.”
Evelyn’s voice trembled.
“Find the name beneath the floor.”
The recording cut off.
Clara turned toward Matteo.
“You knew my mother.”
“She was connected to my father.”
“Did you kill her?”
“No.”
“Did your father?”
“I do not know.”
“And Luca?”
“I do not know.”
His honesty was not comforting.
A crash came from the south corridor.
Matteo drew his weapon.
“Stay here.”
“You keep saying that.”
“You keep ignoring it.”
“Because someone is attacking me in my own bedroom.”
He looked at her sharply.
“You are not a prisoner.”
“Then stop giving me orders like one.”
For a moment, something shifted between them.
Matteo lowered his weapon slightly.
“What do you want?”
“The truth. About my mother. About your family. About why someone is hunting me.”
“I will get it for you.”
“And the right to leave whenever I choose?”
“You already have it.”
Before she could answer, smoke filled the corridor.
A masked intruder appeared near the broken window, holding Clara’s locket.
He lunged toward her.
Matteo fired at the ceiling, forcing him back.
Bruno charged from the bedroom and bit the man’s wrist.
The locket fell.
The intruder escaped through the window.
Matteo reached Clara and stopped inches from her.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
His fingers trembled as he checked her neck.
She noticed.
“You were afraid.”
“I was angry.”
“That was not anger.”
He looked at her for a long second.
Then Bruno dropped the locket into Clara’s palm.
The silver had cracked open.
A hidden sentence was carved beneath the inner plate.
ASK MATTEO WHO LOCKED THE DOOR.
Clara looked at him.
“What door?”
May you like
Matteo stared toward the east wing.
“The door where my brother disappeared.”
