Chapter 8 - CLAUDIA’S SIN
Alessio returned to the estate angry enough to make everyone move quietly.
Claudia was waiting in the garden.
She saw his face.
“You found something.”
“Yes.”
“Gabriel?”
“No.”
He stopped in front of her.
“Thomas worked for the Gardener.”
Claudia’s eyes changed.
“How do you know?”
“Benedict Price.”
She looked away.
“You knew.”
“I suspected.”
“Same disease.”
“What?”
“Everyone around me knows half a truth and calls silence protection.”
Claudia flinched.
Alessio stepped closer.
“Did Serena survive the crash?”
Claudia stared at him.
That was answer enough.
He seized the planting bench and flipped it aside.
Ruby was not nearby.
Evelyn was inside.
Only adults witnessed the anger.
“You knew.”
Claudia’s voice broke.
“Not immediately.”
“When?”
“Two days later.”
Alessio stared at her.
“I buried my wife.”
“I know.”
“You stood beside me.”
“I know.”
“You held Ruby while they lowered the coffin.”
Claudia started crying.
“I know.”
“Where was Serena?”
“I don’t know.”
“Again.”
“I swear!”
Her voice cracked.
“Gabriel called me.”
Alessio stopped.
“What did he say?”
“He said Serena survived the impact but was badly hurt.”
“Where?”
“He wouldn’t tell me.”
“Why call you?”
“Because Serena wanted Ruby protected.”
Alessio closed his eyes.
Everything came back to Ruby.
“What happened after?”
“Gabriel said someone was following him. He couldn’t bring Serena home.”
“How long did she live?”
Claudia’s silence became unbearable.
“Claudia.”
“Four days.”
Alessio opened his eyes.
His wife had been alive for four days after he believed she died.
“Did you speak to her?”
Once.
Claudia whispered it so softly he barely heard.
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
“She asked whether you were safe.”
Alessio looked away.
That hurt more than any betrayal.
“What else?”
“She said the Gardener knew Gabriel survived.”
“And?”
“She said…”
Claudia pressed a hand to her mouth.
“She said someone inside your house had betrayed her.”
“Name.”
“She never said.”
“Why?”
“The call ended.”
“What happened on the fourth day?”
“Gabriel called again.”
Claudia’s eyes filled.
“Serena was dead.”
Alessio felt nothing for several seconds.
Then too much.
“Did Gabriel kill her?”
“He said no.”
“You believed him?”
“I didn’t know what to believe.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Claudia looked toward the house where Evelyn was.
“The same night, someone left Thomas’s wedding ring on Evelyn’s pillow.”
Alessio understood.
Threat.
Not to Claudia.
To a child.
“You chose Evelyn.”
“Yes.”
“And left me inside a lie.”
“Yes.”
No excuse.
Alessio respected that more than tears.
Not enough to forgive.
Enough to hear the rest.
“Why destroy the garden now?”
“The black rose came back.”
“I know.”
“No.”
Claudia shook her head.
“You don’t.”
She reached inside her coat.
Alessio’s hand moved.
Claudia slowly removed a small object.
A child’s gardening glove.
Ruby’s.
Alessio’s face changed.
“I found it beside Evelyn’s bed yesterday morning.”
Ruby had not been to Claudia’s house in months.
The glove came from Serena’s greenhouse.
Someone had carried it from this estate.
Into Evelyn’s bedroom.
Then returned the message through Claudia.
The Gardener could reach both children.
Alessio stared at the tiny glove.
“He wanted you to destroy Serena’s clues.”
“Yes.”
“And you obeyed.”
“Yes.”
“Why not tell me?”
“Because every time someone tells you a person threatened your family, men disappear.”
Alessio said nothing.
Claudia’s voice became hard.
“You call it protection. Serena called it predictability.”
That word stopped him.
Predictable.
Exactly what an enemy wanted.
Alessio had built a reputation so consistent that people could steer him with it.
Threaten family.
Receive violence.
Use violence to hide the next move.
Serena had learned to think around that.
Alessio had not.
Claudia looked at him.
“She loved you.”
“I know.”
“No.”
Claudia shook her head.
“She loved you enough to know your worst weakness was not rage.”
“What was it?”
“You always need someone to punish.”
The words landed cleanly.
Alessio turned toward Serena’s flowers.
Eleven months of imagined revenge had kept him from asking the right questions.
He had blamed the driver.
Then the weather.
Then himself.
Now Gabriel.
But Serena had spent her final days trying to prevent exactly that.
A simple enemy.
A quick answer.
Alessio took Ruby’s glove from Claudia.
“What did Thomas’s ring look like?”
“Gold. Black stone.”
“Any mark?”
Claudia frowned.
“One.”
“What?”
“A tiny letter D.”
Alessio became still.
Claudia noticed.
“You know it.”
He did.
Damian Vale wore a family signet ring.
Black stone.
Gold band.
May you like
And hidden beneath the setting was one engraved letter.
D.
