Chapter 7 - THE LITTLE WOODEN HORSE
I didn't sleep that night.
Neither did Alessandro.
We drove to my mother's house before sunrise.
The little wooden horse had been in a box beneath my childhood bed for twenty years.
I had kept it because it was the first gift I remembered receiving from someone outside my family.
I had never known who gave it to me.
Alessandro stood in my old bedroom while I searched through the boxes.
“This is ridiculous,” I whispered.
“What?”
“Twenty years ago, I thought this was just a toy.”
Alessandro watched me.
“Sometimes the things we ignore are the things people spend their lives searching for.”
I found the box.
Inside were old birthday cards.
A faded pink sweater.
A photograph of my mother holding me.
And the wooden horse.
I picked it up.
Nothing happened.
I turned it over.
A tiny crack ran along the bottom.
Alessandro noticed.
“Give it to me.”
He carefully pressed the wood.
A panel opened.
Inside was a small metal cylinder.
My hands went cold.
Victor stepped closer.
“What is it?”
Alessandro opened it.
A strip of paper came out.
Only six words.
ASK THE BOY WHAT HE REMEMBERS.
I stared at Alessandro.
“You.”
He shook his head.
“I don't remember.”
“Try.”
He closed his eyes.
Then frowned.
“A room.”
“What room?”
“A church.”
“What else?”
“A woman crying.”
“My mother?”
“I think so.”
He rubbed his forehead.
“And my father was angry.”
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
He looked at the horse.
“There was a man there.”
“Thomas?”
“No.”
“Who?”
He opened his eyes.
“Your father.”
My heart stopped.
“Daniel?”
“Yes.”
“But Reed said—”
“I know.”
Alessandro looked confused.
“Maybe Daniel wasn't your biological father.”
I sat on the bed.
“But he was there.”
“Maybe he was.”
“Why?”
Alessandro looked at the paper.
“Because he was protecting you.”
Then someone knocked on the front door.
Not dramatic.
Three ordinary knocks.
Victor opened it.
Marcus Reed stood outside.
“We need to leave.”
Alessandro's face hardened.
“Why?”
“Thomas knows where you are.”
“How?”
Reed looked at the horse.
“Because someone told him.”
My eyes went to Lily.
She wasn't there.
I felt betrayed all over again.
“Lily.”
Reed nodded.
“She gave him the location.”
I couldn't speak.
Alessandro touched my shoulder.
“Claire.”
I stepped away.
“Don't.”
He stopped.
“I trusted her.”
“So did I.”
“Why would she do it?”
Reed answered.
“Because Thomas has her brother.”
The anger inside me faltered.
“What?”
“Her younger brother disappeared six months ago.”
I stared.
“She told me he moved.”
“He didn't.”
Reed lowered his voice.
“Thomas took him.”
I closed my eyes.
Suddenly Lily's lies looked different.
Not innocent.
But desperate.
Alessandro said quietly, “We need to find her.”
Reed shook his head.
“No.”
“Why?”
“She wants you to.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
“She left a location.”
He handed me a photograph.
A train station.
Abandoned.
On the back:
COME ALONE IF YOU WANT THE TRUTH.
Alessandro immediately said, “I'm coming.”
I looked at him.
“You can't.”
“I'm not letting you walk into that alone.”
“This isn't your decision.”
He stepped closer.
“No.”
His voice softened.
“It isn't.”
He paused.
“But I can still choose to stand beside you.”
That was the first time he had ever said something that wasn't an order.
We went together.
The station was empty except for Lily.
She stood beneath the old clock.
Her face was swollen from crying.
“Claire.”
I stopped several feet away.
“You gave Thomas our location.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“My brother.”
I nodded.
“I know.”
She looked relieved.
Then she whispered—
“He's alive.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
She wiped her face.
“But Thomas promised.”
Alessandro stepped forward.
“Thomas doesn't keep promises.”
Lily looked at him.
“You don't understand him.”
“No.”
He looked at her.
“But I understand men who use fear.”
Lily looked down.
“He told me if I didn't cooperate, my brother would disappear.”
I believed her.
That didn't erase what she had done.
“Why did you bring us here?”
She looked at me.
“Because I found out what your mother hid.”
She held out a small envelope.
Inside was a drawing.
A child's drawing.
A house.
Three people.
And a black circle behind them.
I stared.
“I drew this.”
Lily nodded.
“When you were six.”
I remembered.
My mother had kept it.
I had drawn the house from memory.
But beneath the house was something I had forgotten.
A name.
THOMAS.
Lily whispered—
“You saw him that night.”
I looked at Alessandro.
He understood.
“The church.”
I nodded.
“My mother took me there because she knew Thomas was coming.”
Lily continued.
“You didn't remember his face.”
“But I remembered his name.”
“Yes.”
I looked at the drawing.
“Why would my mother keep this?”
“Because she wanted you to remember without understanding.”
A train whistle sounded in the distance.
Then headlights appeared.
Lily stepped back.
“That's him.”
Alessandro moved in front of me.
A black sedan stopped beside the platform.
Thomas Grant stepped out.
Older.
Elegant.
Calm.
No weapon visible.
He looked at me.
Then smiled.
“Claire.”
My stomach turned.
He looked at Alessandro.
“Your father would be disappointed in you.”
Alessandro's voice was cold.
“Get to the point.”
Thomas looked at the wooden horse in my hand.
His smile disappeared.
“There it is.”
He had never seen the horse before.
Yet he knew exactly what it was.
And suddenly I understood.
The toy wasn't evidence of my father's identity.
It was proof of something much bigger.
May you like
Thomas had spent twenty-two years searching for the one thing that could destroy him.
And I had carried it in my bedroom since I was a child.
