Chapter 10
Rachel woke that afternoon.
William went to her privately.
Emma stayed with Salvatore and Noah.
Rachel looked like Elena around the eyes.
That made the meeting harder.
“You look like her,” William said.
Rachel gave a weak laugh.
“So do you.”
For a moment, neither knew what to do with that.
Then Rachel reached beneath the blanket.
She removed a tiny brass key on a cord.
“Emma doesn’t know I had this.”
William took it.
“What does it open?”
“Elena’s locker.”
“Where?”
“Old train station storage.”
William frowned.
Elena had died nearly four years ago.
“You kept it active?”
“Every month.”
“Why?”
Rachel looked at him.
“Because she told me someday you would finally learn the truth.”
William’s jaw tightened.
“Why not come to me?”
“Because Vincent was alive.”
“He’s been dead eighteen months.”
“And Thomas wasn’t.”
Fair.
William looked away.
Rachel continued.
“Elena trusted you.”
“Then why hide?”
“Because she didn’t trust the people around you.”
That hurt because it was true.
Victor had been inside Laurent’s.
Thomas sat beside William at family dinners.
Both men had spent years close enough to touch his shoulder.
Elena had understood the danger better than he had.
“What’s in the locker?”
Rachel looked toward the door.
“The ledger.”
William went still.
“And something else.”
“What?”
“Elena’s recording.”
His chest tightened.
“Of what?”
“The night Vincent told Thomas what to do with her.”
William’s face changed.
Rachel continued.
“She knew they would come eventually. She hid everything before she disappeared.”
“Disappeared?”
Rachel closed her eyes.
William leaned forward.
“You said she died.”
“She did.”
“But not when I think.”
Rachel looked at him.
“Elena was alive for almost two years after everyone told you she was dead.”
William stared.
The room seemed to tilt.
Two years.
His sister had been alive.
Hidden.
May you like
Running.
And someone had made sure William mourned her while she was still breathing.
