CHAPTER 5 — The Secret Hidden Inside Clara's Locket
The next morning...
Clara woke inside a luxury penthouse.
She immediately jumped out of bed.
"What am I doing here?"
A maid smiled gently.
"Mr. Salvatore insisted."
"You weren't unconscious."
"You simply collapsed from exhaustion."
Clara looked around.
The bedroom alone was larger than her entire apartment.
"This isn't necessary."
"No."
A familiar voice answered from the doorway.
"It isn't."
Leo stood there holding two coffee cups.
"It's mandatory."
"I don't need protection."
"You do."
"I'm not part of your world."
"You became part of it the moment your blood entered my body."
The words hung heavily between them.
Clara crossed her arms.
"I'm leaving."
"You can."
Leo placed an envelope on the table.
Inside...
Photographs.
Someone had taken pictures of Owen leaving school.
Another showed their apartment.
Another...
Showed Clara inside the diner weeks earlier.
She felt sick.
"They've been watching us..."
Leo nodded.
"For months."
"They weren't looking for you."
"They were looking..."
He stopped.
"...for that."
He pointed toward the silver locket around her neck.
Instinctively Clara grabbed it.
"My mother's necklace."
"Where did she get it?"
"I don't know."
"My parents died when I was eleven."
"My aunt gave it back after the funeral."
Leo slowly walked closer.
"May I see it?"
She hesitated.
Then unclasped it.
Leo carefully opened the tiny silver pendant.
Inside...
Wasn't a photograph.
It was a tiny folded piece of yellowed paper.
Neither of them had ever noticed.
Leo unfolded it carefully.
One sentence.
One address.
One date.
Marco looked over his shoulder.
His eyes widened.
"My God..."
Leo whispered,
"The address..."
"...was my childhood home."
Clara stared at him.
"That's impossible."
Leo looked directly into her eyes.
"Unless..."
Before he finished...
A gunshot shattered the penthouse window.
Glass exploded everywhere.
Leo tackled Clara to the floor.
May you like
A second bullet ripped through the room.
The sniper had found them.
