Chapter 9 - Maeve didn't sleep.Neither did Elias.
The wedding invitation sat between them on the study table.
Her mother's name was Elena.
Elena Vale.
A woman Maeve had never heard of.
“You said my father was Daniel Ashford,” Maeve whispered.
Margaret had once told her that.
Salvatore had said otherwise.
Elias looked at the invitation.
“Daniel was your guardian.”
“Not my father.”
“No.”
Maeve stared into the fireplace.
“Then why did Margaret raise me?”
“Because your mother was killed.”
“And my father?”
Elias hesitated.
“Unknown.”
She laughed bitterly.
“Apparently I have become the mystery of the month.”
Elias reached for her hand.
She didn't pull away.
“You are not a mystery.”
“What am I?”
“Someone they are terrified of.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“No.”
He lifted her hand.
“But it's the truth.”
Maeve looked at him.
“What happens now?”
“We find Elena's killer.”
“And Salvatore?”
“We find him too.”
“What about Sienna?”
Elias's jaw tightened.
“She chose her side.”
Maeve shook her head.
“She was afraid.”
“So was everyone.”
“But not everyone betrayed you.”
He looked at her.
“You didn't.”
Maeve lowered her eyes.
“I lied to you.”
“You lied because someone threatened your brother.”
“And you still trust me?”
“I trust what you do when no one is watching.”
Maeve looked up.
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because when the gunman fired at Margaret, you moved toward danger.”
“You did too.”
“I am used to danger.”
“I wasn't.”
Elias smiled faintly.
“And yet you moved.”
Silence.
Then Maeve asked:
“What was your father protecting?”
Elias looked toward the locked cabinet.
“The Marchetti foundation.”
“Charity?”
“That's what the public thinks.”
He opened the cabinet.
Inside was a file.
“The foundation was used to move money during the Cold War.”
“By your family?”
“By dozens of families.”
Maeve read the documents.
Then she stopped.
There were names.
Judges.
Police commissioners.
Senators.
Bankers.
And beside every name, the same black circle.
“It's bigger than Chicago.”
“Yes.”
“How big?”
Elias stared at the list.
“Big enough to erase people.”
Maeve's blood chilled.
“Like Elena.”
“Yes.”
“Like your father.”
“Yes.”
“And maybe Salvatore.”
Elias looked at her.
“Salvatore isn't a victim.”
“How do you know?”
“Because victims run.”
A voice came from the doorway.
“Not always.”
Gabriel stood there.
He had blood on his shirt.
Maeve immediately stood.
“What happened?”
“Someone attacked the convoy.”
“Salvatore?”
“No.”
Gabriel looked at Elias.
“Your mother.”
Elias's face went blank.
“What?”
“We found her.”
Maeve's breath caught.
“Alive?”
Gabriel shook his head.
“She died twenty-three years ago.”
Elias frowned.
“You just said you found her.”
“We found her body.”
Silence.
“Where?”
“In an underground vault beneath the old Marchetti warehouse.”
Maeve's knees weakened.
“Why would her body be there?”
Gabriel didn't answer.
Elias did.
“Because someone wanted me to find it.”
That night, they went to the warehouse.
A hidden elevator took them underground.
The chamber smelled of rust and old concrete.
In the center sat a glass case.
Inside was a skeleton wearing a pearl necklace.
Maeve stared.
“Those pearls.”
Elias whispered:
“My mother's.”
Beside the case was another box.
Inside were letters.
The first letter began:
MY DEAR ELIAS,
IF YOU ARE READING THIS, THEN I FAILED.
Elias's hands trembled.
He read.
“Your uncle is not the man you think he is.”
Another page.
“The black circle did not kill your father.”
Another.
“It was founded by your mother.”
Elias stopped.
Maeve stepped closer.
“Keep reading.”
The final letter contained a name.
Daniel Marchetti.
Elias's father.
And beneath it:
THE MAN YOU THINK IS DEAD IS ALIVE.
Maeve looked at him.
“What?”
Elias's face had lost all color.
A sound echoed through the chamber.
Footsteps.
Someone was walking toward them.
Slowly.
Calmly.
Elias drew his gun.
The footsteps stopped.
Then a man's voice came through the darkness.
“My son.”
Elias froze.
Maeve's eyes widened.
The voice came again.
“Turn around.”
Elias did.
Standing at the far end of the chamber was a man with gray hair.
Older.
Scarred.
Alive.
Elias dropped the gun.
“Dad?”
The man smiled.
“No.”
He stepped into the light.
“My name is not Daniel Marchetti.”
May you like
He looked at Maeve.
“And your mother is still alive.”
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