Chapter 8 - Salvatore Marchetti was missing.For six hours, Chicago had no idea.
For Elias, those six hours felt like an entire lifetime.
He had trusted his uncle more than anyone.
Now he had no idea whether every lesson, every warning, every sacrifice had been part of a carefully constructed lie.
Maeve watched him from across the study.
“You don't have to go.”
“I do.”
“They have Margaret and Sienna.”
“Yes.”
“They want me.”
“Yes.”
“Then you're walking into a trap.”
Elias looked at her.
“I know.”
“Why go?”
“Because if I don't, they die.”
Maeve stood.
“I'm coming.”
“No.”
“This is about me.”
“Exactly.”
“I won't stay behind while you risk your life for me.”
Elias approached her.
“You don't understand.”
“What?”
“You're the only person they have not been able to control.”
Maeve stared.
“Why?”
“Because they expected fear.”
“And instead?”
“You chose your brother.”
He touched her cheek.
It was the first time.
Maeve stopped breathing.
“You keep making choices that don't make sense to people like me.”
“What kind of people are you?”
“People who assume everyone has a price.”
“And what do you think I cost?”
Elias looked into her eyes.
“Too much.”
The moment was interrupted by a phone call.
Gabriel.
“They sent coordinates.”
Elias pulled away.
“Send them to my phone.”
Maeve knew.
This was the beginning.
The coordinates led to an abandoned theater downtown.
The place had been closed for twenty years.
Inside, the seats were covered in dust.
A single spotlight illuminated the stage.
Margaret and Sienna were tied to chairs.
Maeve gasped.
“MOM!”
She moved forward.
Elias held her back.
A voice echoed through the theater.
“Good.”
Salvatore stepped from the shadows.
Elias raised his weapon.
“You.”
Salvatore smiled.
“I was wondering when you'd stop believing your own myths.”
“You killed my father.”
“No.”
“You lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“You manipulated me.”
Salvatore nodded.
“But killing your father?”
He smiled.
“That was your mother.”
Margaret began crying.
Elias turned toward her.
“Is it true?”
She whispered:
“Yes.”
Sienna stared at her mother.
“What did you do?”
Margaret sobbed.
“I thought I was saving all of us.”
Salvatore laughed.
“She believed your father was going to expose the circle.”
“Was he?”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn't you stop him?”
“I tried.”
Elias took another step.
“Why me?”
Salvatore's smile disappeared.
“Because your father didn't have an heir.”
Elias frowned.
Salvatore pointed toward Maeve.
“He did.”
Maeve froze.
“What?”
Salvatore looked directly at her.
“You were never an Ashford servant.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
Salvatore continued.
“You were your father's daughter.”
Elias stared at Maeve.
Maeve shook her head.
“No.”
Salvatore smiled.
“You don't remember your real mother because Margaret erased her from your life.”
Margaret cried.
“I had no choice.”
Maeve backed away.
“You're lying.”
Salvatore took out a photograph.
He threw it onto the stage.
It showed a young woman holding a baby.
The baby had Maeve's eyes.
Maeve covered her mouth.
“Who is she?”
Salvatore whispered:
“Your mother.”
Elias looked at Margaret.
“She was dead.”
“No,” Margaret said.
Her voice broke.
“She was killed.”
“By whom?”
Margaret looked at Salvatore.
Then at Maeve.
“By the man who now wants you.”
Salvatore smiled.
“You still haven't understood.”
He looked at Elias.
“The girl was never meant to marry you.”
Elias went still.
“Then why bring her to me?”
Salvatore's eyes gleamed.
“Because she is the key.”
“To what?”
“The Marchetti fortune.”
He paused.
“And the secret your father died trying to protect.”
Maeve stared.
“What secret?”
Salvatore smiled.
“You'll find it soon.”
The theater lights went out.
Gunfire erupted.
Elias grabbed Maeve.
Gabriel returned fire.
When the lights came back, Salvatore was gone.
Margaret was dead.
Sienna was missing.
And on the stage floor lay one final message.
THE GIRL DOESN'T KNOW WHO SHE REALLY IS.
Elias looked at Maeve.
She was trembling.
He pulled her close.
“Tell me you trust me.”
She looked up.
“I don't know who I am.”
Elias held her tighter.
“Then we'll find out together.”
Behind them, Gabriel found something beneath Margaret's chair.
A wedding invitation.
Dated twenty-four years earlier.
The groom's name was Elias Marchetti.
May you like
The bride's name was not Margaret.
It was Maeve's real mother.
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