CHAPTER 6 — The Missing Night
CHAPTER 6 — The Missing Night
Clara woke screaming.
Not loudly.
Not at first.
It was a broken sound caught somewhere between a gasp and a cry.
Julian was beside her before she fully opened her eyes.
"Clara."
She jerked backward.
Her hands flew toward her throat.
"No."
Julian stopped.
He didn't touch her.
"I'm here."
She looked around.
The hotel room.
The curtains.
The lamp.
Julian.
Safe.
But her breathing refused to slow.
"I remembered something."
Julian sat beside the bed.
"What?"
Clara stared at the darkness beyond the window.
"The night I disappeared."
For four years, that night had existed inside her mind like a locked room.
She remembered fragments.
Rain.
A black car.
Victoria's hand around her wrist.
A voice.
A door closing.
Then nothing.
Every time she tried to reach beyond that darkness, pain stopped her.
But now the memories were returning.
One piece at a time.
Clara closed her eyes.
"I was at the Bellmont."
Julian nodded.
"We have the security footage."
"No."
She shook her head.
"The footage doesn't show everything."
"What happened before?"
"I met someone."
"Who?"
Clara pressed her fingers against her temple.
"I don't know."
"Try."
She breathed slowly.
"I remember leaving the restaurant."
Rain had been falling.
She had carried a black umbrella.
Her phone had been at nine percent.
She remembered calling you."
Julian's eyes softened.
"Yes."
"You answered."
"I remember."
"You told me you'd call me back."
"I had a meeting."
Clara smiled sadly.
"You said it would only take ten minutes."
Julian lowered his eyes.
"I wish I'd stayed on the phone."
Clara reached for his hand.
"That isn't your fault."
Then her expression changed.
"Someone was waiting for me."
The memory returned.
Four years earlier.
Clara stepped outside the restaurant.
She looked at her phone.
Julian's message was still open.
Call you in ten. Love you.
She smiled.
Then a voice came from behind her.
"Clara?"
She turned.
A woman stood beneath the awning.
Not Victoria.
Not Evelyn.
Someone else.
Clara couldn't see her face clearly.
But she recognized the voice.
"Do you know me?"
The woman smiled.
"I know your husband."
Clara's smile disappeared.
"Who are you?"
"I have something you need to see."
The woman handed her an envelope.
Clara hesitated.
Then took it.
Inside was a photograph.
Victor.
Alive.
Standing beside Evelyn.
And a man Clara had never seen before.
The same man appeared in another photograph.
Holding a newborn child.
Clara's child.
Her heart stopped.
"Where did you get this?"
The woman whispered:
"Your husband isn't the person you think he is."
Clara immediately became defensive.
"Don't talk about Julian."
"You love him."
"Yes."
"Then you'll want to know the truth."
Clara looked at the photograph again.
"Who is that baby?"
The woman didn't answer.
Instead, she said:
"Ask Julian about Alexander Sterling."
Clara froze.
She had heard the name.
Alexander Sterling.
Victoria's father.
A powerful businessman who had supposedly died before Julian married Clara.
"What does he have to do with Julian?"
The woman looked toward the street.
"Everything."
Then headlights appeared.
A black sedan.
The woman stepped backward.
"Don't trust anyone from the Vance estate."
"Wait."
But she was already leaving.
Clara watched her disappear into the rain.
Then someone grabbed her wrist.
Victoria.
Clara opened her eyes.
Julian was staring at her.
"Victoria wasn't the first person you met."
"No."
"Who was?"
"I don't know."
"Can you describe her?"
Clara shook her head.
"Not yet."
Then another memory struck.
The envelope.
She had taken it home.
She hadn't given it to Victoria.
She had hidden it.
Inside the lining of her handbag.
Julian looked at her.
"Where's the bag?"
"I don't know."
"Victoria took it."
Clara suddenly remembered.
"No."
"What?"
"The bag wasn't with me when they took me."
"Where was it?"
"In your office."
Julian stood immediately.
"My office."
They returned to the Vance estate before dawn.
Security had searched the property after Clara's rescue.
But Julian knew there were places no one else would think to examine.
His old office.
He opened the storage cabinet.
Nothing.
Then he remembered something.
Four years earlier, Clara had given him a spare key.
She had joked that she needed "emergency access to her husband's secrets."
He opened the lowest drawer.
Behind a stack of old contracts was a small leather bag.
Clara gasped.
"My bag."
Julian opened it.
Inside were cosmetics.
Receipts.
A photograph.
And an envelope.
Clara grabbed it.
Her hands trembled.
The seal had never been opened.
She looked at Julian.
"I never gave this to Victoria."
He nodded.
"Open it."
She did.
Inside was a letter.
Not from the mysterious woman.
From Victor.
Clara read the first line.
Then stopped.
"What's wrong?"
She handed it to Julian.
He read.
Clara, if you're reading this, you are already in danger.
His expression hardened.
The next paragraph was worse.
The woman who approached you tonight is not your enemy. She is the only person who can lead you to your child.
Clara covered her mouth.
Julian continued reading.
But she cannot protect you from Evelyn.
He stopped.
Clara looked at him.
"Who is she?"
At the bottom of the letter was a name.
NORA VALE.
Julian searched the name.
Nothing.
No public records.
No business records.
No address.
No photographs.
Almost as if she didn't exist.
Then Clara remembered another detail.
"The woman had a scar."
"Where?"
"Her left hand."
"Anything else?"
Clara closed her eyes.
"She wore a silver ring."
"What kind?"
"An old signet."
Julian suddenly recognized it.
He had seen that ring before.
In his father's photographs.
On the hand of a woman standing beside Victor.
"Nora Vale."
Clara looked at him.
"You know her?"
"I think my father did."
Julian searched his father's private archives.
After several minutes, he found an old photograph.
Victor.
Evelyn.
Alexander Sterling.
And Nora Vale.
Four people standing together.
Behind them was the Vance estate.
But something was strange.
Nora wasn't smiling.
And Victor's hand was resting protectively on her shoulder.
Julian turned the photograph over.
A date.
Twenty-five years earlier.
And one sentence:
The four of us made a promise.
Julian stared.
"What promise?"
Clara pointed toward Nora.
"She was the woman who found me."
Julian nodded.
"Then she may be the only person who knows what happened that night."
They found Nora's first trace in an old bank record.
A safety-deposit box.
The account had been opened twenty-six years earlier.
The beneficiary was Clara.
Clara stared at the document.
"Me?"
Julian nodded.
"The box was opened before you met me."
"Why would Nora leave something for me?"
"Maybe she didn't."
He looked at the date.
"Maybe my father did."
They drove to the bank.
But the box had already been emptied.
Three months earlier.
By someone using Julian's identity.
Julian's face hardened.
"Someone knew we'd find this."
The bank manager apologized.
"I can provide the security footage."
Julian nodded.
"Do it."
The footage showed a woman entering.
Black coat.
Dark glasses.
Silver ring.
Clara stood.
"Nora."
The woman removed her glasses.
It was her.
But there was someone else beside her.
A child.
A little boy.
About four years old.
Clara's heart stopped.
She stepped toward the screen.
"That's him."
Julian stared.
"Are you sure?"
Clara began crying.
"A mother knows."
The boy looked toward the camera.
His face was partially visible.
But there was one unmistakable feature.
A small crescent-shaped birthmark beneath his left eye.
Clara had seen it once.
At birth.
Before they took him away.
"That's our son."
Julian closed his eyes.
Four years.
His son had been alive.
And now they finally had a face.
But the video revealed something else.
Nora wasn't alone.
The person who followed her into the bank appeared in the final seconds.
Julian zoomed in.
His blood ran cold.
It was Arthur Kane.
The man supposedly dead.
Again.
Always Arthur.
Always one step ahead.
Then the video froze.
A second figure appeared in the reflection of the glass.
Julian stared.
It was a woman.
Older.
Silver hair.
Evelyn.
Clara whispered:
"She followed them."
Julian nodded.
And suddenly the missing night became clear.
Nora had tried to help Clara.
Victoria had intercepted her.
Evelyn had orchestrated the disappearance.
Arthur had carried it out.
And Victor had known.
But there was one question left.
Why had Nora shown Clara the photograph of the baby?
What was she trying to tell her?
That evening, Julian found another hidden recording.
It was dated the night Clara disappeared.
The audio was damaged.
But three voices could be heard.
Victoria.
Evelyn.
And Nora.
Victoria:
"She knows."
Evelyn:
"Then she cannot leave."
Nora:
"You don't understand what you're doing."
Evelyn:
"I understand perfectly."
Nora:
"That child belongs with his mother."
Evelyn:
"The child belongs where the trust requires him."
Nora:
"You're insane."
Evelyn:
"Maybe."
Then Victor's voice appeared.
"Enough."
Silence.
Victor spoke again.
"If you take Clara, I will destroy everything."
Evelyn laughed.
"You won't."
Victor:
"Why?"
Evelyn:
"Because Julian is your weakness."
Then the recording ended.
Clara sat motionless.
Julian stared at the floor.
"My father tried to stop them."
Clara whispered:
"Then why didn't he save me?"
Julian didn't know.
Maybe Victor had been afraid.
Maybe he had failed.
Maybe he had made a deal.
But one thing was certain.
The man Julian had spent twelve years mourning had been alive throughout the night his wife disappeared.
And he had known where she was.
At midnight, Julian's phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
"Hello?"
A woman's voice.
Nora.
"Julian Vance."
"Where are you?"
"Not far."
"Where is my son?"
Silence.
Then:
"He's alive."
Clara grabbed Julian's hand.
"Put it on speaker."
He did.
Nora continued.
"But you need to understand something."
"What?"
"Your son isn't being hidden because of the inheritance."
Julian frowned.
"Then why?"
"Because he is the only person who can prove who your biological father really was."
Julian froze.
Nora's voice dropped.
"And there is someone who will kill to keep that secret buried."
"Who?"
Before Nora could answer, the line went dead.
Clara looked at Julian.
"Who?"
Julian stared at the phone.
"I don't know."
Then he noticed something on the desk.
A photograph.
It hadn't been there before.
The picture showed Julian as a newborn.
Victor was holding him.
Evelyn stood beside them.
And behind them stood Alexander Sterling.
On the back of the photograph was a handwritten sentence:
The child was never Victor's.
Julian turned the photograph over again.
A second line appeared beneath it.
But neither was the name Julian.
Clara stared.
"What does that mean?"
Julian had no answer.
Not yet.
But somewhere in the city, a four-year-old boy was waiting for his mother.
And somewhere else, the person who had controlled their lives for four years was preparing to erase the last piece of evidence.
The search for Clara was over.
Now the search for the truth had begun.
May you like
And this time, Julian wasn't going to stop until every lie was destroyed.
To be continued.
