CHAPTER 5
Chapter 5: The Girl With My Eyes
I do not remember deciding to run.
One moment I was at the window.
The next I was in the hallway, flying down the marble stairs with Mrs. Gable shouting my name behind me.
“Clara!”
I didn’t stop.
I had spent my whole childhood being told to hide.
Hide from Clara.
Hide from Julian.
Hide from lawyers.
Hide from cameras.
Hide from the Syndicate.
But Sophie was standing in the snow, and someone was reaching for her.
So I ran.
By the time I burst through the front doors, the courtyard was chaos.
Teachers were trying to pull students inside. Guards were shouting into radios. Detective Miller was already halfway across the snow, one hand inside his coat.
The man in the long coat had Sophie by the wrist.
She was not screaming anymore.
That was worse.
She looked like I had looked when Arthur shouted.
Small.
Still.
Trained by fear to become quiet.
“Let her go!” I screamed.
The man turned.
For a second, he looked startled.
Then he smiled.
Not kindly.
“Clara Sterling,” he said. “You’ve grown.”
I stopped several feet away.
“How do you know me?”
He kept Sophie’s wrist in his gloved hand.
“Everyone knows the girl with the pink phone.”
Sophie looked at me.
Her eyes widened.
“You’re Clara?”
My heart broke.
She knew my name.
I did not know hers until ten minutes ago.
The man pulled Sophie closer.
Detective Miller aimed his weapon.
“Release the child.”
The man laughed softly.
“This is Switzerland, detective. You have no authority here.”
Dr. Voss appeared behind me, breathless.
“No,” she said sharply. “But I do.”
The academy guards moved in from both sides.
The man’s smile faded slightly.
Mrs. Gable reached me and gripped my shoulder.
“Clara, step back.”
I didn’t.
The man looked at Mrs. Gable.
“Eleanor Gable. Arthur’s loyal watchdog.”
Mrs. Gable’s face hardened.
“And you are?”
He gave a small bow.
“Sebastian Vale.”
Dr. Voss went completely still.
So did Mrs. Gable.
I felt the change in the air.
“Vale,” I said.
That was the name my mother had used.
Eleanor Vale.
The man smiled at me.
“Your mother always had a talent for stealing names that did not belong to her.”
Sophie whispered, “He said he knows Mama.”
My chest tightened.
“Where is she?”
Sebastian looked down at Sophie.
Then at me.
“Alive, for now.”
The words hit the courtyard like ice.
Mrs. Gable stepped forward.
“What do you want?”
Sebastian’s eyes went to me.
“The key.”
I almost laughed.
Adults always wanted the same things.
Money.
Control.
Access.
Me.
“You’re late,” I said. “The vault was burned.”
His smile returned.
“You truly believe Arthur Sterling destroyed the only access point to an empire worth billions?”
I looked at Mrs. Gable.
She did not look at me.
That was answer enough.
The anger rose so fast I could barely breathe.
“There’s another vault?”
Sebastian said, “There is always another vault.”
Sophie whimpered as his fingers tightened around her wrist.
I stared at his hand.
Then I did something stupid.
Or brave.
At eleven, those two things often felt the same.
I pulled the pink toy phone from my coat pocket and held it up.
Sebastian’s eyes sharpened.
Around us, the courtyard became still.
“You want the key?” I said. “Let her go.”
Mrs. Gable whispered, “Clara, no.”
I pressed the button on the toy phone.
A tiny red light blinked.
Sebastian noticed.
So did Detective Miller.
So did Dr. Voss.
Sebastian’s expression changed.
“You’re recording.”
“I’m always recording.”
That was not entirely true.
But fear makes liars out of children, and sometimes lying keeps children alive.
Sebastian slowly released Sophie’s wrist.
She stumbled back.
I ran to her.
She collided with me so hard I nearly fell. Her arms wrapped around my waist, and she buried her face in my coat.
“You’re real,” she whispered.
“So are you,” I said.
Behind us, guards moved closer.
Sebastian lifted both hands, calm again.
“I did not come to harm her.”
Detective Miller snapped, “You abducted her in a school courtyard.”
“I came to deliver a message.”
“Then deliver it from a cell.”
Sebastian looked past him to me.
“Your mother has forty-eight hours.”
Sophie tightened her arms around me.
I went cold.
“Forty-eight hours until what?”
“Until the people holding her realize you will not come willingly.”
Mrs. Gable’s voice shook with controlled fury.
“Who has Evelyn?”
Sebastian looked at her.
“The same people who bought your silence once.”
Mrs. Gable recoiled as if struck.
I turned to her slowly.
“What does he mean?”
“No,” Mrs. Gable whispered.
Sebastian smiled.
“Oh, she never told you that part?”
Detective Miller moved toward him, but Sebastian kept speaking.
“Arthur paid Mrs. Gable a fortune to disappear after Evelyn vanished. She stayed away for years. Then guilt brought her back to you dressed as loyalty.”
My ears rang.
Mrs. Gable’s hand fell from my shoulder.
“Clara, listen to me.”
I stepped away from her.
Not far.
Just enough for her to feel it.
Her face collapsed.
Sebastian watched us with satisfaction.
That was when Dr. Voss struck.
Not with a weapon.
With a command.
“Now.”
The academy guards seized Sebastian from both sides. Detective Miller moved in fast, taking his phone, wallet, and passport before he could react.
Sebastian did not fight.
He only looked at me as they restrained him.
“Ask her about the night Evelyn begged for help,” he said. “Ask why no one came.”
Mrs. Gable was crying now.
I had never seen her cry like that.
Not even after court.
Not even after the birthday raid.
Sophie looked between us, confused and terrified.
I held her closer because she was the only person in that courtyard more frightened than I was.
Detective Miller pulled Sebastian toward the building.
But before they reached the door, Sebastian turned his head one final time.
“Your mother is in the place where the Syndicate buries women who betray them.”
I forced myself to speak.
“Where?”
His smile vanished.
“The Saint Aurelia basement.”
The courtyard froze.
Dr. Voss turned white.
May you like
Mrs. Gable whispered, “Impossible.”
Then from beneath the academy, deep under the snow-covered stone, an alarm began to scream.
