Chapter 14 - By sunrise, Maeve Donnelly was Chicago's most wanted woman.The media called her a mastermind.
A conspirator.
A murderer.
Nobody mentioned that she had spent seven years cleaning the Ashford estate.
Nobody mentioned her brother.
Nobody mentioned the gunmen.
The city wanted a villain.
Salvatore had given them one.
Elias watched the television in silence.
Maeve stood beside him.
“You can't protect me forever.”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“We stop running.”
“How?”
“We make them tell the truth.”
“That sounds impossible.”
Elias smiled.
“Everything sounds impossible before someone does it.”
Gabriel entered.
“We found the commissioner.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“At a police station.”
Maeve frowned.
“What?”
Gabriel placed a tablet on the table.
The commissioner was sitting in a chair.
Hands tied.
The police officers around him were kneeling.
A masked man stood behind him.
The video played.
The masked man removed his mask.
Elias froze.
Maeve whispered:
“Daniel?”
Her brother looked into the camera.
“Elias.”
Elias stared.
Daniel continued.
“I am sorry.”
Maeve stepped closer.
“You're working for them?”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
“Then why are you doing this?”
“Because they have my kidney.”
Maeve froze.
“What?”
Daniel explained.
The surgery that was supposed to save him had been canceled years earlier.
The treatment he received had been part of an experimental program.
The circle had funded it.
In exchange, they had implanted something.
A tracking device.
A biochemical marker.
“They own my body.”
Maeve's eyes filled with tears.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I wanted you alive.”
Elias asked:
“What do they want?”
Daniel looked at the camera.
“You.”
The screen went black.
A countdown appeared.
10:00.
9:59.
9:58.
Elias's face became cold.
“They want me at the foundation.”
“What foundation?”
“The Marchetti Foundation.”
“But that's been closed for years.”
“Exactly.”
Maeve looked at him.
“It's a trap.”
“Yes.”
“Then why go?”
Elias looked at her.
“Because everyone I love is inside it.”
Maeve went still.
“Did you just say…”
“Yes.”
He stepped closer.
“I love you.”
For a second, everything stopped.
Then Maeve kissed him.
Not because the danger disappeared.
Because it didn't.
She pulled back.
“Then we're going together.”
They arrived at the foundation building thirty-five minutes before the countdown ended.
The doors opened automatically.
Inside stood dozens of people.
Judges.
Senators.
Police commanders.
Bank executives.
Politicians.
Every member of the black circle.
At the center stood Salvatore.
He applauded slowly.
“Finally.”
Elias walked forward.
“What do you want?”
Salvatore smiled.
“Your signature.”
A contract was placed on the table.
“What is it?”
“The transfer of every Marchetti asset.”
Elias laughed.
“You brought me here to rob me?”
“No.”
Salvatore looked at Maeve.
“To control her.”
Maeve stepped forward.
“Why?”
Salvatore's expression became almost tender.
“Because your mother made one mistake.”
“What?”
“She believed love could be stronger than blood.”
Elena appeared on the balcony.
Alive.
Maeve stared.
Her mother looked down.
“I am sorry.”
Salvatore raised his weapon.
“Choose.”
He pointed at Elias.
Then at Elena.
Then at Maeve.
“Your family ends tonight.”
The lights went out.
A gunshot.
Then another.
Screams.
When the emergency lights came on, Salvatore was gone.
Elena was bleeding.
Elias was standing.
Maeve was missing.
He spun around.
“Maeve!”
No answer.
He searched the room.
Nothing.
Then he saw blood on the floor.
Not enough for a dead body.
Enough for a message.
He followed the drops into the basement.
At the end of a corridor was a steel door.
He opened it.
Inside was an old chair.
A table.
And a wall covered with photographs.
Photographs of Maeve from age five to twenty-four.
Every moment of her life.
Elias stared.
Then he saw the final photograph.
It had been taken ten minutes earlier.
Maeve was unconscious.
A man's hand rested on her shoulder.
The photograph contained one sentence.
YOU WANTED TO FIND THE MAN WHO DESIGNED THE TEST.
YOU JUST FOUND HIM.
Elias looked closer.
The man's face was partially visible in the mirror.
He recognized him.
His own father.
Alive.
Elias's world stopped.
Then the phone rang.
A voice whispered:
“You were never the subject.”
May you like
Pause.
“You were the experiment.”
