Three weeks later, Clara was back at the estate in Brookline. But she was not in the servant's quarters. She was in a guest suite on the second floor, sunlight pouring through the tall windows.

Raphael came to visit her every afternoon. They sat by the window, drinking tea. The house, once silent and empty, now echoed with the sound of Noel's laughter as she ran down the halls, chased by a surprisingly nimble Mrs. Dora.

One afternoon, as the first snow of winter began to fall outside, Raphael looked at Clara's leg, resting on an ottoman.

"The doctors asked me about your limp when you were admitted," Raphael said quietly. "They said it was an old injury. A severe fracture that never healed right."

Clara looked down at her hands. "It happened when I was nineteen. I was crossing a street in the rain. A car came out of nowhere, speeding around the corner. It hit the curb, clipped me, and kept going. I couldn't afford a good doctor."

Raphael froze. The teacup in his hand rattled against the Nextcer.

"When you were nineteen," Raphael repeated, the blood rushing in his ears. "In the rain. Fifteen years ago. Clara... where did it happen?"

"Near St. Leonard’s," she whispered.

Raphael stared at her. The universe folded in on itself. The car that had killed his father, driven by Jimmy from Chelsea, had swerved around the corner and struck a teenage girl before speeding away.

Clara had paid the price for Lorenzo Moretti’s greed. Her body bore the scars of the exact same night that had scarred Raphael’s face and broken his soul. They had been standing on the same street, shattered by the same violent act.

Raphael stood up, moved to her chair, and knelt in front of her. He took both of her hands, pressing them to his forehead.

"I am so sorry," he whispered, a single tear escaping his eye and dropping onto her skin. "I am so sorry for what my world did to you."

Clara leaned down, resting her forehead against his. "Your world saved me, Raphael. You saved me."

He looked up at her, realizing that his mother’s dying words had finally come true. He had found someone who could look at him without seeing a gun. She just saw him.