Chapter 21 - The Twin in the Mirror
The ceiling gave way with a sound like tearing sheet metal.
Thousands of jagged glass shards rained down from the dome, catching the cold moonlight as they plummeted toward the marble floor.
Arthur lunged across the tiles, throwing his entire body over Lily.
A heavy iron support beam crashed down just inches from his boots, shattering the stone planter into pulverized dust.
"Daddy!" Lily screamed, burying her face into Arthur’s torn jacket.
"I’ve got you, baby," Arthur shouted over the deafening roar of collapsing architecture. "Don't look! Just keep your eyes shut!"
Across the smoking floor, Julian was dragging his shattered knee toward the broken terrace door, leaving a smear of dark crimson behind him.
He was wheezing, his fingers clawing at the loose debris.
Clara stood untouched in the center of the devastation, her white silk gown billowing in the sudden gale blowing in from the sea.
She held the detonator loosely by her side, watching the chaos with terrifying detachment.
"You really never saw it, did you, Arthur?" she called out, her voice cutting through the noise with chilling clarity.
Arthur turned his head, his ribs burning with white-hot agony as he kept Lily shielded beneath his torso.
"Where is she?" Arthur demanded, his voice raw. "Where is Eleanor?"
Clara’s lips curved into a sharp, bitter crescent.
"I told you," she said softly, stepping over a fallen beam with effortless grace. "She's at the bottom of Blackwood Lake. Right where Julian put her."
Julian paused in his crawl, turning his bloodied face toward her.
"You're lying, you crazy bitch!" Julian spat, coughing up crimson foam. "Eleanor ran away! She took the money and vanished!"
"She trusted you," Clara whispered, stepping directly in front of Julian’s trembling frame.
She raised her right foot and brought the heel of her designer shoe down squarely onto Julian’s shattered kneecap.
Julian unleashed a scream that tore through the stormy night air.
Arthur pulled Lily to her feet, his instincts screaming at him to run before the remaining structural pillars gave out.
"Lily, hold onto my neck," Arthur whispered urgently. "Wrap your legs around my waist and do not let go."
The little girl obeyed instantly, her small arms locking around his throat with desperate strength.
Arthur stood up, his vision swimming with flashes of black and red from his injuries.
He looked back at Clara, whose gaze had now shifted back to him.
"You built that rose wall for her wedding, Arthur," Clara said, her eyes flashing in the gloom. "She was supposed to marry you. But Julian took that life away from both of us."
"You used me," Arthur said, the realization settling into his chest like frozen lead. "You used my daughter to find him."
"Lily was the only one who saw through the plaster," Clara murmured, stepping backward toward the sheer cliff edge where a rope ladder hung down into the dark surf below.
A second concussive blast echoed from the lower wine cellar beneath them.
The floor beneath Arthur’s boots tilted violently toward the sea.
"Wait!" Arthur shouted. "If you loved Eleanor, why destroy everything she loved?"
Clara looked down at the dark water churning against the rocks hundreds of feet below.
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"Because love didn't save her, Arthur," she said.
Without another word, Clara stepped off the edge of the terrace and vanished into the darkness.
