Chapter 8 - The Hidden Truth
Claire stared directly down the dark, deadly barrel of Lucia’s weapon.
Her heart pounded so violently she thought her ribs might actually crack.
“Lucia, please,” Claire begged softly, her hands raised in absolute surrender.
“I saved you from that terrible fire, I carried you out of the smoke.”
Lucia’s beautiful face twisted in genuine, agonizing pain, but her hand remained perfectly steady.
“I know you did, Claire, and I will hate myself forever for doing this.”
“Then put the gun down!”
“I can't!” Lucia screamed, tears streaming down her pale cheeks.
Lucia aggressively wiped her eyes with the back of her free hand.
“Vanessa’s father does not want to kill you, Claire.”
Claire frowned in pure confusion.
“Then why did Vanessa try to shoot me?”
“Because Vanessa is an unstable idiot who doesn't understand her own father's actual plans.”
Lucia reached into her leather jacket and pulled out a heavily worn, yellowed manila folder.
She tossed it onto Claire’s lap with her free hand.
“Open it,” Lucia commanded, her voice trembling slightly.
Claire slowly lowered one hand and flipped open the ancient folder.
Inside was a collection of severely damaged police reports from the 1999 Chicago apartment fire.
There was also a high-resolution photograph of the bakery where Claire had worked as a teenager.
“What is this?” Claire asked.
“The Caldwell family didn't start that fire to silence my mother,” Lucia explained darkly.
“They started the fire because they were desperately hunting for the bakery's true owner.”
Claire stared at the photograph of the sweet, elderly man who had hired her.
His name was Arthur Bennett, the man who had officially adopted Claire when she was five years old.
“My adoptive father was just a simple baker,” Claire whispered, defending the only family she had ever known.
Lucia let out a harsh, utterly humorless laugh.
“Your father was the most ruthless mafia accountant in the entire Chicago syndicate.”
Claire felt all the oxygen completely drain from the small car.
“Arthur Bennett stole forty million dollars from the Caldwell family before he mysteriously died,” Lucia revealed.
Lucia pressed the cold metal barrel of the gun slightly closer to Claire.
“They believe he secretly left the stolen money to you, his only living heir.”
Claire shook her head frantically.
“I don't have any money, I have been cleaning floors for twenty years!”
“They don't care, Claire, they will torture you until you give them the hidden account numbers.”
Lucia took a deep, shaky breath, her finger tightening dangerously on the heavy trigger.
“If I hand you over to them right now, they will immediately back off Vincent's supply lines.”
Claire finally understood the terrifying reality of her situation.
She was not just a random plus-size maid caught in a jealous billionaire's crossfire.
She was the highly valuable key to a massive, missing mafia fortune.
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Before Lucia could pull the deadly trigger, the driver’s side window violently exploded entirely inward.
Shards of safety glass rained heavily over both women as a massive armored truck rammed their small sedan.
