Chapter 2: The Vanishing Silhouette**
Elena surged to her feet, knocking her chair backward against the cobblestones. The clatter echoed across the courtyard, drawing startled murmurs from neighboring patrons, but Elena heard nothing except the deafening roar of blood rushing in her ears.
"Clara!" Elena choked out the name like a prayer and a curse.
She bolted past the marble tables, heedless of her heels clicking frantically against the stone. But by the time she rounded the ivy-covered hedge where the woman in white had stood just seconds before, the corridor was completely empty. A single white gardenia lay on the pavement, fresh dew clinging to its petals, crushed slightly beneath an elegant heel.
"Where is she?!" Elena spun around, her chest heaving violently.
"She told me not to follow her," a gentle, raspy voice spoke from behind her knees.
Elena looked down. The little boy had trotted after her, clutching the crystal barrette against his chest like a holy relic. He looked up at her with no trace of fear—only boundless, heartbreaking trust.
"What is your name?" Elena whispered, sinking onto one knee right in the dirt, careless of her designer dress.
"Leo," he answered proudly. "My name is Leo Vance."
Hearing that surname—*their* surname—shattered the last fragile wall Elena had built around her grief. Seven years of cold nights, seven years of looking at old family portraits and drowning in the memory of their final, venomous argument about family inheritance and unspoken jealousies.
"Leo..." Elena’s trembling fingers reached out, gently wiping a streak of black soot from his soft cheek. Beneath the grime, his features were unmistakable. The slight arch of his brow, the delicate cleft in his chin—it was like gazing into the reflection of the sister she had abandoned to fate. "Where did your mother take you? Where do you live?"
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Leo pulled a damp, folded piece of paper from his waistband and held it out with both hands. "Mom said when you saw the clip, I had to give you this. She said you are the only one who can save us."
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