Chapter 20 - The Unopened Letter
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Clara set her coffee mug down on the patio table, a faint frown creasing her forehead. She wasn't expecting any packages, and her friends usually texted before stopping by.
She walked through the house, checking the security monitor mounted by the front door. The porch was empty. There was no delivery truck in the driveway, no unfamiliar cars parked on the street.
Cautiously, Clara unlocked the deadbolt and pulled the heavy wooden door open.
Resting on the welcome mat was a single, plain white envelope. There was no stamp, no return address, and no postal markings. It had been hand-delivered.
Clara picked it up, her heart beginning to beat a slightly faster rhythm. Her name, Clara Linwood, was written across the front in sharp, elegant, unfamiliar handwriting.
She stepped back inside, locking the door securely behind her. She walked into the kitchen, grabbing a letter opener from the junk drawer, and sliced the top of the envelope open.
Inside was a single piece of thick, expensive cardstock.
Clara unfolded it. There was no letter, no lengthy explanation or threat.
There was only a printed photograph and a single sentence written in black ink.
The photograph was old, slightly faded at the edges. It showed Gabriel, looking much younger, standing with his arm around a beautiful woman with dark hair. It wasn't Samantha Drake. And it wasn't Clara.
It was Sarah. Violet’s biological mother. The woman who had supposedly died in a tragic, unavoidable car accident five years ago, leaving behind the massive trust fund Gabriel had eventually stolen.
But it wasn't the picture that made the blood run completely cold in Clara’s veins. It was the sentence written beneath it, penned by someone who clearly knew all of Gabriel’s darkest, most deeply buried secrets.
He didn't just try to poison you, Clara. Ask him what really happened to the brakes on her car.
Clara stared at the letter, her hands trembling violently. The nightmare with Gabriel was supposed to be over. He was locked away for the rest of his life.
May you like
But as she looked out the window at Violet playing happily in the yard, Clara realized with absolute, horrifying certainty that the story hadn't ended. The web of Gabriel’s lies was deeper and far more lethal than anyone had ever realized.
And someone out there wanted Clara to dig up the final body.
