CHAPTER ELEVEN
704 Words
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Clara couldn't sleep.
She lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling while the photograph remained on her desk.
Every time she closed her eyes, she saw it again.
Her parents.
The mysterious man.
And the boy.
Her nanny had known.
That was the part Clara couldn't get past.
She had spent years believing that her nanny was the one person who would never lie to her.
The woman who stayed when everyone else was gone.
The woman who raised her.
The woman Clara was now desperately trying to save.
But what if she had been wrong?
Clara sat up.
"No."
The word escaped her lips before she could stop it.
Her nanny couldn't have done anything to her parents.
She refused to believe it.
But then another thought followed.
Then why didn't she tell you the truth?
Clara got out of bed and began pacing.
Maybe her nanny hadn't caused the accident.
Maybe she had only witnessed something.
Maybe she had been protecting someone.
Or maybe—
Clara stopped.
She didn't want to finish that thought.
Her phone was still on the desk.
A notification from the competition appeared on the screen.
FINAL ROUND — PREPARATION BEGINS TOMORROW.
Clara stared at it.
A few weeks ago, that message would have made her heart race.
The one-million-dollar prize had been everything.
It was the reason she had created a fake identity.
The reason she had risked being exposed.
The reason she kept pushing herself even when she was exhausted.
Her nanny needed treatment.
That money could save her.
But now Clara couldn't concentrate.
What was the point of winning if the person she was fighting for had been hiding the truth from her?
She picked up her phone and opened the competition page.
Her finger hovered over the screen.
For the first time since entering, Clara considered quitting.
She immediately locked the phone.
"No."
She couldn't give up.
Not yet.
Whatever her nanny had hidden, Clara still loved her.
And whatever happened to her parents, Clara still needed answers.
She sat back down and pulled the photograph toward her.
Her mother's face looked different now.
Not because the photograph had changed.
Because Clara was looking at it differently.
She remembered something.
A voice.
A woman's voice.
Her mother's.
Don't let her know.
Clara's breathing stopped.
She closed her eyes.
The memory came again.
Rain.
A hallway.
Her mother's hand gripping hers.
And another voice.
Her father's.
If anything happens, ask her.
Ask her.
Who?
Her nanny?
Clara opened her eyes.
Her heart was pounding.
She couldn't remember anything else.
But the memory felt real.
She reached for her notebook and wrote down the words before she could forget them.
If anything happens, ask her.
She stared at the sentence.
Then slowly wrote another.
Ask Nanny what?
Nothing came.
Only silence.
Her phone suddenly buzzed.
Unknown Number.
Clara froze.
She opened the message.
You're finally asking the right questions.
Her stomach tightened.
Another message appeared.
But you're still protecting the wrong person.
Clara's fingers went cold.
She typed quickly.
Who are you?
The message showed as delivered.
No reply.
She waited.
Nothing.
Then another notification appeared.
This time, it wasn't a message.
It was a photograph.
Clara opened it.
Her face drained of color.
It was her parents.
But this time, they weren't standing beside the mysterious man.
They were standing beside her nanny.
And behind them was the same hospital.
St. Mary's.
Clara stared at the photograph for several seconds.
Then she noticed something in the corner.
A date.
The photograph had been taken three days after the accident that supposedly killed her parents.
Clara stopped breathing.
Three days.
After.
The accident.
Her hands began to shake.
That was impossible.
Unless the story she had been told was a lie.
A very carefully constructed lie.
Clara looked toward the door.
For the first time in her life, she was afraid to ask her nanny the truth.
Not because she feared the answer.
But because she was beginning to fear that she already knew it.
And suddenly, the competition didn't feel like the most important thing in her life anymore.
The truth was.
And Clara was willing to risk everything to find it.
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