Chapter 19 - The final balance
"Clara," Julian said smoothly, rising to his feet and offering an elegant bow that reeked of mockery. "You have your mother's eyes. Beautiful. Arrogant. And entirely blind to how the real world works."
"Keep her name out of your filthy mouth," Clara said, stepping forward without trembling. "You murdered her for money, and now you hide in my home like a rat."
Julian chuckled softly, swirling the amber liquid in his glass. "Murdered her? Is that the bedtime story Arthur fed you all these years?" He looked over at Roman, shaking his head with theatrical pity. "Tell her, Roman. Tell your lovely little wife what really happened the night of the harbor fire."
Clara glanced sideways at Roman. For the first time since she had met him, Roman Raines looked stricken. A shadow of profound agony crossed his chiseled face.
"Roman?" Clara breathed, the air suddenly turning thick in her lungs. "What is he talking about?"
"Roman didn't stab me ten years ago because of your mother, Clara," Julian purred, stepping around the massive desk. "He stabbed me because he was my protégé. Roman was the one who set the harbor warehouse on fire under my orders. He didn't know your mother was locked in the basement vault until the flames reached the roof."
The room seemed to tilt on its axis. The air left Clara's chest in a sharp gasp.
She turned to Roman, her eyes searching his face, pleading with him to deny it, to call Julian a liar, to dismiss it as mob deceit.
May you like
Roman did not deny it. His head dipped slightly, the shame and guilt burning like acid behind his closed eyes. "I didn't know she was there, Clara," Roman whispered, his deep voice cracking for the first time. "I was twenty years old. A soldier following a monster. When I heard her screams, I fought through the fire, but the vault was sealed. I broke Julian’s jaw and drove a knife into his chest that very night to avenge her... but I couldn't save her."
Clara felt the floor slip beneath her feet. The man who had saved her, the man who had wrapped his coat around her shredded dress, the man who had elevated her above the city... was the boy who lit the fire that took her mother from the world.
