Chapter 7 - THE VOICE I BURIED
For fourteen years, I had imagined hearing my mother's voice again.
In dreams.
In crowded stores.
In the quiet moments before sleep.
But when it finally happened, I couldn't speak.
“Nora?”
The voice trembled.
“Baby, please say something.”
I pressed the phone harder against my ear.
“Mom?”
A sob came through the line.
“Oh, sweetheart.”
My knees weakened.
Nico caught me before I fell.
He guided me toward a chair.
“Who is it?”
I looked at him.
“My mother.”
His expression changed.
He crouched beside me.
“Ask where she is.”
I swallowed.
“Where are you?”
A pause.
“I can't tell you yet.”
“Why?”
“Because the people who kept us apart are still watching.”
Tears blurred my vision.
“Are you really alive?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you come for me?”
Silence.
Then she whispered, “I tried.”
The words broke something inside me.
“I waited for you.”
“I know.”
“Every birthday.”
“I know, baby.”
“Every Christmas.”
She began crying.
“I know.”
I wiped my face angrily.
“You left me with him.”
“I didn't choose to.”
“Then tell me what happened.”
A faint noise sounded behind her.
A door opening.
She lowered her voice.
“Nora, listen carefully. Victor Ferrara isn't the Benefactor.”
Nico went still.
I looked at him.
“Then who is?”
“I can't say over the phone.”
“Mom—”
“There's something you need to know about your father.”
My stomach tightened.
“He killed Rebecca.”
“Yes.”
“He helped make you disappear.”
“Yes.”
“Then why is he still alive?”
My mother's answer came quietly.
“Because he's been useful to someone much more powerful.”
Nico leaned closer.
“Ask her about Salvatore.”
Before I could, my mother spoke again.
“Is Nico with you?”
I froze.
“How do you know?”
“Put him on.”
I handed Nico the phone.
“This is Nico Ferrara.”
A long silence.
Then his face changed.
“What did you just say?”
He stood.
“Who told you that?”
Another pause.
Then he looked at me.
“No. I won't do that.”
The line went dead.
I jumped up.
“What happened?”
Nico stared at the phone.
“She said the original evidence wasn't in the locker.”
“Then where?”
“She said you are the only person who can find it.”
I shook my head.
“That doesn't make sense.”
“She mentioned a song.”
My heart stopped.
“What song?”
Nico studied me.
“She said, 'Ask Nora what Caroline sang when the storms came.'”
I sank back into the chair.
My mother used to sing to me during thunderstorms.
An old lullaby.
Not one I had ever heard on the radio.
She claimed she'd invented it.
I remembered the melody immediately.
But the words were strange.
Seven little windows, four little doors.
One hidden river beneath the floors.
Follow the lantern, count to three.
The truth is waiting where no one can see.
Nico listened carefully.
“Was there more?”
I nodded.
When the clock forgets to chime,
Find the name that isn't mine.
He looked at me.
“Does that mean anything?”
“Not yet.”
Gabriel approached.
“Boss, Victor's still at the mansion.”
Nico made a decision.
“We're going back.”
I grabbed his arm.
“That's what he wants.”
“Then we'll find out why.”
The mansion was surrounded by Ferrara security when we arrived.
Victor sat in the library, calmly drinking espresso.
He was sixty-two, broad-shouldered, with silver hair and a face that had appeared in every family photograph Nico owned.
He smiled when we entered.
“Nico.”
Nico didn't return the greeting.
“Marco's awake.”
Victor's cup stopped halfway to his mouth.
Only for a fraction of a second.
Then he smiled.
“Wonderful news.”
“He remembers you.”
Victor slowly lowered the cup.
“Does he?”
“He remembers the gun.”
Victor looked toward me.
Then back at Nico.
“Your brother suffered a serious brain injury. Memories can be unreliable.”
Nico approached the desk.
“Tell me why you were in his car.”
Victor sighed.
“Because I was trying to save him.”
“From whom?”
“From himself.”
Nico's jaw tightened.
Victor leaned forward.
“Marco found documents he wasn't supposed to see.”
“What documents?”
“Proof that your father had another family.”
Silence.
I stared at Victor.
Nico didn't move.
“Another family?”
Victor nodded.
“Salvatore had a relationship with a woman named Caroline Mercer before she married Edmund Ashford.”
My heart began pounding.
My mother's maiden name.
Victor looked directly at me.
“I'm afraid your mother didn't tell you everything, Nora.”
Nico's voice was barely audible.
“Explain.”
Victor folded his hands.
“Caroline became pregnant during that relationship.”
I felt the room tilt.
“No.”
Victor continued calmly.
“She married Edmund shortly afterward. He raised the child as his own.”
Nico looked at me.
Then back at his uncle.
Victor's next words seemed to stop time.
“The child was you, Nora.”
May you like
He paused.
“And if the records are genuine, Salvatore Ferrara was your biological father.”
