Chapter 47
Chapter 47: The Silent Choice
The library went completely cold, the ticking of the grandfather clock sounding like the countdown on an explosive device. Enzo turned his head slowly, his eyes locking onto Harper, who stood frozen in the center of the room.
The notebook in her hand felt suddenly heavy, like a block of lead.
"Harper," Enzo whispered, his voice cracking, the gravelly authority entirely gone. "What is he talking about?"
Harper didn't look at Leo; she looked at the fire, her eyes wide and vacant, the architecture of her memory shifting one final time to reveal the truth she had spent two years running from.
"It wasn't my father," she said, her voice a hollow, haunting whisper that barely carried across the room. "The night Nathan was killed... my father was at a charity dinner in Gold Coast. He had an alibi. I remember... I remember sitting in the study. The phone rang. It was the private line—the one my father never let anyone touch."
She closed her eyes, a single, heavy tear tracking down her pale cheek. "I picked it up. A man’s voice told me that Nathan DeLuca was coming to take me away that night. He told me that if Nathan took me, the family would be ruined, and my father would kill my mother. He told me to call the number on the pad and give them the address of the shipping warehouse where Nathan was waiting for me."
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She opened her eyes, looking at Enzo with an expression of absolute, devastating agony. "I was sixteen years old, Enzo. I thought I was saving my mother. I didn't know who the men in the alley were. I didn't know they were going to kill him. I gave them his location. I killed your brother, Enzo. I pulled the trigger."
Leo DeLuca smiled—a pristine, fatherly expression that crinkled the corners of his old eyes. "The covenant always collects its debts, nephew. You married the woman who set the trap for your brother. Now, what are you going to do with your weapon?"
