Chapter 11 - LUCIA’S OTHER LIFE
Salvatore went to Lucia’s grave alone.
Not because he expected answers from stone.
Because he needed to stand somewhere that had not yet lied to him.
Rain had started.
Soft.
Cold.
He looked at her name.
LUCIA CARUSO.
WIFE.
MOTHER.
Those words were true.
They were simply incomplete.
He had spent years believing he knew the woman he buried.
Now he understood she had carried an entire hidden life beside him.
He felt betrayed.
Then ashamed for feeling betrayed by a dead woman who may have been trying to protect children from the same system that now threatened Clara.
“Still angry at people who can’t answer?”
The voice came from behind.
Salvatore turned.
A man stood beneath an umbrella.
Early fifties.
Gray hair.
Scar near his eyebrow.
The man from Clara’s kitchen.
The false Graham.
Gabriel.
Or not.
Salvatore’s hand went inside his coat.
The man smiled.
“If I wanted you dead, Lucia would have been disappointed in both of us.”
“Name.”
“Daniel Vale.”
Anthony’s surname.
Salvatore’s expression hardened.
“Relation?”
“Older brother.”
Salvatore stared.
Anthony had never mentioned him.
Daniel smiled faintly.
“He told you I died.”
“Did you?”
“For a while.”
The answer fit this family too well.
Salvatore lowered his weapon slightly.
“You knew Lucia.”
“I loved her.”
The words hit.
Salvatore almost laughed.
Of course.
Another secret.
“Did she love you?”
Daniel looked at the grave.
“Yes.”
Salvatore’s hand tightened.
“Careful.”
“You asked.”
“No. I asked your name.”
Daniel looked at him.
“She loved you more.”
The answer did not comfort Salvatore.
It made everything sadder.
Daniel continued.
“She came to the House before your wedding because she learned what happened to Gabriel.”
“Who was Gabriel?”
“A child taken from Vittorio’s first wife.”
Salvatore frowned.
“My father was married before my mother?”
“Yes.”
No surprise anymore.
Only exhaustion.
Daniel continued.
“The first wife had a son. Vittorio surrendered him to the House.”
“Gabriel.”
“That was the role they gave him.”
“Real name?”
“Michael.”
Salvatore absorbed it.
“Where is he?”
Daniel looked at him.
“Dead.”
“You saw the body?”
“Yes.”
For once, certainty.
“How?”
“Luca killed him.”
Salvatore went still.
“Why?”
“Because Michael became Keeper.”
The House had taken a child and turned him into the man who took children.
A perfect machine.
Cruelty reproducing itself.
“Luca tried to leave,” Daniel said. “Michael wouldn’t let him.”
“So Luca killed him.”
“Yes.”
“And then?”
“The House chose another Gabriel.”
Salvatore’s eyes narrowed.
“Who?”
Daniel looked toward the grave.
“Me.”
Silence.
Salvatore stared.
“You?”
“I was thirteen.”
“The V.C. carving?”
“Victor was Anthony.”
Salvatore felt the floor of reality shift again.
Anthony had been House.
Not as an adult member.
As a child.
Daniel continued.
“Anthony was taken younger. He escaped.”
“And told me nothing.”
“He barely remembers.”
Salvatore thought of the V.C. carved under the chapel.
Victor Child?
No.
Roles.
Anthony had hidden more than Salvatore imagined.
“What was I?” Salvatore asked.
Daniel’s expression softened.
“You were never taken.”
“But the tape said—”
“Your father made the tape to confuse anyone who found it.”
“Why?”
“Because by then he was afraid of the House.”
Vittorio had participated.
Then feared what he created.
Same pattern.
Same men.
“Lucia chose you,” Daniel said.
Salvatore looked at him.
“What does that mean?”
“She helped me escape. I wanted her to come with me.”
Salvatore felt something tighten in his chest.
“She didn’t.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“She said you were still capable of becoming better than Vittorio.”
Daniel smiled sadly.
“I disagreed.”
Salvatore almost did too.
“But she stayed,” Daniel said. “Then she married you.”
“Why didn’t she tell me?”
“Because I asked her not to.”
Another man deciding.
Salvatore’s expression hardened.
Daniel saw it.
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
“I do now.”
Rain struck the umbrella.
Salvatore looked at Lucia’s grave.
“What does this have to do with Clara?”
Daniel’s face changed.
“The House never died.”
“I know.”
“No.”
His voice lowered.
“You know people are using its symbols.”
“Difference?”
“The real House is smaller now.”
“Who leads it?”
Daniel looked at him.
“Your daughter’s husband.”
Salvatore’s hand moved toward his weapon.
Daniel held up one hand.
“Not Sebastian.”
Salvatore stopped.
“Then what are you saying?”
“Clara married Sebastian Hale.”
“Yes.”
“But Sebastian Hale was not the child Eleanor gave birth to.”
Silence.
Salvatore stared.
Daniel continued.
“The baby was switched.”
The rain suddenly sounded louder.
“When?”
“At birth.”
“By who?”
“The Keeper.”
“Why?”
“To hide Luca’s son.”
Salvatore understood before he wanted to.
If Eleanor’s biological child might have been Luca’s, the House would have considered him valuable.
So they removed him.
Placed another child in his place.
“Then Sebastian is not Eleanor’s son.”
“No.”
“Who is?”
Daniel looked away.
“I don’t know.”
“Convenient.”
“I know where he was sent.”
“Where?”
“To a Caruso household.”
Salvatore’s blood went cold.
“Which one?”
May you like
Daniel looked directly at him.
“Yours.”
