Chapter 6 - The Advisor's Shadow
While Dominic was completely captivated by the miraculous breakthrough with his daughter, Claire's sharp peripheral vision remained hyper-focused on the other side of the white-clothed table.
Sitting in the dim, warm candlelight was Silas, Dominic's most trusted, highly paid syndicate advisor. He was the man who had been acting overly friendly all night. As Claire translated for the little girl, Silas’s fake, grandfatherly smile completely vanished. His face turned pale, his eyes narrowing into cold, dangerous slits as he realized that the deaf girl suddenly had a voice.
Silas slowly reached his hand toward the inside of his gray suit jacket, his movements tense and calculated. As he reached across the table, the cuff of his expensive silk shirt pulled back slightly.
Claire’s eyes darted to his wrist. Etched deeply into the skin of Silas’s arm were distinct, unmistakable, and highly unusual pink burn scars—the kind of scars left behind by severe, close-range exposure to an extreme chemical fire.
Close-up: Audrey saw the advisor move out of the corner of her eye. The little girl completely panicked.
She lunged forward in her chair, gripping the sleeve of Claire’s crisp white button-down shirt with a sudden, desperate, and incredibly urgent ferocity. Audrey’s small fingers began flying across the air, signing with a frantic, terrified speed that made Claire's blood run completely cold.
Audrey wasn't talking about the spilled water. She was finally, desperately telling the terrifying truth about the night her world burned down.
May you like
"Bad man," Audrey signed frantically, her small hands shaking violently as she pointed a single, trembling finger directly across the table at the trusted advisor. "Bad man. He hurt Mommy. He started the fire."
👉 Read Part 7 to witness the terrifying dilemma the waitress faces.
