Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 21 - Chapitre 30

The recording ended, but my mother's voice remained in my head.Your father is alive.I stood completely still, staring at the phone in Ethan's hand.Alive.The word should have brought relief. Instead, it made me feel strangely empty.For eighteen years, I had never wondered much about my father. My mother had raised me alone for as long as I could remember, and whenever I asked about him, she had simply told me that some things were better left in the past.I had accepted that answer because I trusted her.Now I didn't know what to believe.“Claire.”Ethan's voice pulled me back.I looked at him.“Your father isn't Victor.”“I know.”“He's alive.”“I heard her.”Ethan lowered the phone.“We need to find out who he is.”I laughed softly, but there was no humor in it.“How?”“We have the recording.”“That tells us nothing.”“It tells us your mother knew where he was.”“She didn't say his name.”“No.”“She didn't tell me where to find him.”“No.”I looked at the phone.“And she knew Vi

I had spent eighteen years wondering why my mother never talked about my father.Now I knew the answer.She had been trying to keep him alive.The words from Adrian’s letter stayed in my head as Ethan drove through the dark streets. I could still hear them as clearly as if he were sitting beside me.I never stopped loving your mother. And I never stopped loving you.My fingers tightened around the edge of the envelope.Adrian Vale was my father.He was alive.And someone had taken him.Ethan drove with both hands on the steering wheel, his expression hard and focused. He had barely spoken since we left the house, but I could tell he was thinking through every possibility.“Ethan.”“Yeah?”“What if we’re too late?”His jaw tightened.“We won’t be.”“You don't know that.”“No, I don't.” He glanced at me briefly. “But I'm not going to sit here and imagine the worst while your father is being held somewhere. We're going to find him.”I looked down at the photograph of Adrian that I had ta

I stared at the man standing in the doorway.For a few seconds, I couldn't breathe.He was older than Ethan, perhaps in his late forties, with dark hair beginning to gray at the temples and a thin scar running from beneath his left ear toward his jaw. His clothes were simple, but there was something about the way he carried himself that told me he wasn't an ordinary man who had simply wandered into an abandoned building.His eyes were fixed on me.Not Ethan.Me.“You know my father?” I asked.The man looked at the photograph in his hand before slowly lowering it.“I knew Adrian Vale.”“Where is he?”Ethan stepped slightly in front of me. “Before you answer that, tell us who you are.”The man's attention shifted to Ethan.“Ethan Black.”There was no surprise in his voice.“You know me too?”“I know your family.”Ethan's expression hardened. “That's not an answer.”The man sighed and stepped farther into the room. “My name is Lucas Vale.”My stomach dropped.Lucas Vale.Richard Vale's s

“CLAIRE!”The scream came from upstairs.I froze.I knew that voice.I had heard it in memories I had spent years trying to forget. It was softer when I was a child, warmer when she used to sing to me, but there was no mistaking it now.My mother.I turned toward the stairs.“Mom?”Ethan grabbed my hand before I could move.“Wait.”Another gunshot rang through the house.Adrian pulled me farther against the wall.“She's here,” he whispered.My heart hammered.“You knew she was coming?”“No.”“Then how do you know it's her?”Adrian looked at me.“Because your mother never screamed unless she was afraid.”Another shot echoed from upstairs.Daniel suddenly moved toward the stairs.Ethan raised his weapon.“Don't.”Daniel stopped.“You want to know who's up there?”“I already know.”“No, you don't.”Daniel looked at me.“Your mother isn't the only person who came here tonight.”Before I could ask what he meant, someone appeared at the top of the stairs.A woman.She was dressed in black t

I didn't sleep that night.How could I?My mother was alive.My father was alive.Elizabeth was alive.Amelia was alive.And somehow, all of them had been connected to a secret that had survived eighteen years.Now we were going to Italy to find her.I sat beside Ethan in the back of the car while Elizabeth sat in the front with the driver.Neither of us spoke for several minutes.Finally, Ethan reached for my hand.“You okay?”“No.”He smiled faintly.“At least you're honest.”“I don't know what I'm supposed to feel.”“You don't have to know.”I leaned against his shoulder.“I found my father yesterday.”“I know.”“I found my mother tonight.”“I know.”“And now we're flying to another country to find a little girl who has been missing from my life since before I even knew she existed.”He kissed the top of my head.“You don't have to carry all of it tonight.”I closed my eyes.“I'm scared.”His hand tightened around mine.“So am I.”I looked up.“You are?”“Of course.”“You never loo