Chapter 6 - The Secret Beneath the FloorboardsMrs. Hess had lived at Falcone Manor for fourteen years.
That was longer than most employees survived fourteen days.
Maeve searched her old office.
Nothing.
Roman searched the personnel files.
Nothing.
Gabriel searched her apartment again.
Nothing.
Declan wanted to tear the manor apart.
Maeve stopped him.
“The key says home.”
“This was her home.”
“No.”
Maeve looked around.
“She worked here. That isn't the same thing.”
Then she remembered something.
Mrs. Hess had once mentioned a cottage.
A place behind the northern orchard where the original estate caretaker had lived.
Nobody used it anymore.
They found it after sunset.
A small stone building hidden behind dead apple trees.
The brass key opened the door.
Dust covered everything.
Maeve entered first.
Roman hated that.
He allowed it.
Progress.
The cottage contained almost nothing.
A table.
A chair.
A fireplace.
Old shelves.
Maeve searched slowly.
Not like a criminal.
Like a housekeeper.
She looked for disturbances.
Dust told stories.
One floorboard near the fireplace was cleaner than the others.
“Declan.”
He pried it up.
Inside was a metal box.
Roman opened it.
Files.
Photographs.
Bank statements.
And a ledger.
Gabriel whistled.
“Mrs. Hess had hobbies.”
Maeve picked up a photograph.
It showed a younger Mrs. Hess standing beside a man Maeve recognized.
Lorenzo.
Twenty years younger.
They were smiling.
Declan went still.
Roman’s face changed.
“Impossible.”
Maeve looked at him.
“You know something.”
Roman took the photograph.
“Lorenzo recommended Hess to my father.”
“When?”
“After our mother died.”
Gabriel’s expression darkened.
Mrs. Hess had not merely managed the house.
She had known the Falcones since they were boys.
Maeve opened the ledger.
Dates.
Payments.
Initials.
One appeared repeatedly.
L.M.
Lorenzo Moretti.
Declan’s voice became dangerous.
“I’ll kill him.”
“No,” Maeve said.
He looked at her.
“Not yet.”
Roman stared at the ledger.
“Maeve.”
“If Lorenzo is involved, confronting him tells him we know.”
Gabriel nodded slowly.
“She’s right.”
Roman hated hearing those words when they contradicted his instincts.
Maeve continued.
“We watch him.”
Declan paced.
“He helped raise us.”
“So did Mrs. Hess.”
That stopped him.
Maeve softened.
“And she died trying to tell us something.”
They returned to the manor before dawn.
For three days, they behaved normally.
Lorenzo attended meetings.
He ate lunch with Roman.
He joked with Gabriel.
He trained with Declan.
Maeve watched.
The hardest betrayals did not come from enemies.
Enemies were simple.
Betrayal required proximity.
Trust.
History.
On the fourth day, Lorenzo approached Maeve in the pantry.
Alone.
“You’ve changed them.”
Maeve continued counting flour bags.
“They needed changing.”
He smiled.
“You know, their mother used to say something similar.”
Maeve looked up.
“You knew her?”
“Very well.”
Lorenzo leaned against the shelf.
“They were different boys.”
Maeve waited.
“Roman used to read constantly. Gabriel played piano. Declan cried whenever he saw injured animals.”
Maeve almost laughed.
“Declan?”
“Don’t tell him.”
“I absolutely will.”
Lorenzo smiled.
Then the smile disappeared.
“You should leave.”
Maeve became still.
“Excuse me?”
“You’ve done good here.”
His voice was quiet.
“More than anyone expected. But there are things you don’t understand.”
Maeve looked directly at him.
“Explain them.”
“I can’t.”
“Then don’t tell me what I understand.”
Lorenzo sighed.
“They love you.”
Maeve’s pulse jumped.
He said it without romance.
Without teasing.
As a fact.
“That makes you dangerous.”
“To whom?”
Lorenzo’s eyes were sad.
“To everyone.”
He walked away.
Maeve stood in the pantry for a long time.
That evening, she told Roman.
He immediately wanted Lorenzo detained.
Maeve refused.
“We need proof.”
“We have proof.”
“We have initials.”
“We have a warning.”
“We have suspicion.”
Roman slammed his hand against the desk.
Maeve did not flinch.
“Do not ask me to gamble your life.”
“Then don’t.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means trust me.”
Roman stared.
Maeve stepped closer.
“You keep saying I’m part of this family.”
“You are.”
“Then trust me like family.”
That silenced him.
The next morning, Maeve deliberately leaked false information.
She told Lorenzo that Chloe would be transported to a private clinic Friday morning.
She told nobody else.
Friday arrived.
The convoy left.
Chloe was not inside.
Declan drove the lead SUV.
Gabriel followed.
Roman waited at the manor with Maeve.
At 9:17, the convoy was ambushed.
Roman received the call.
His face became empty.
Maeve knew.
Lorenzo had betrayed them.
Roman sat slowly.
For several seconds, he was not a crime lord.
He was a boy learning that someone he trusted had lied.
Maeve sat beside him.
Roman whispered:
“He taught me to drive.”
Maeve said nothing.
“He stood beside us at our father’s funeral.”
Silence.
“He killed Hess.”
“We don’t know that yet.”
Roman looked at her.
“We know enough.”
They arrested Lorenzo that afternoon.
He did not resist.
Declan wanted blood.
Gabriel wanted answers.
Roman wanted neither.
He simply stared.
“Why?”
Lorenzo sat in the library chair.
His hands were bound.
He looked exhausted.
“Because your father destroyed everything.”
Roman’s face hardened.
“My father has been dead eighteen years.”
“And his empire survived.”
Lorenzo looked at all three brothers.
“You inherited his money. His enemies. His sins.”
Then his eyes found Maeve.
“And then she arrived.”
Maeve felt the room change.
Lorenzo smiled sadly.
“You boys started changing.”
“Why does that matter?” Gabriel asked.
“Because men who build legitimate lives start opening books.”
Roman understood.
“The accounts.”
Lorenzo nodded.
“Your father did things none of you knew.”
Maeve opened the ledger from Mrs. Hess’s box.
“What things?”
Lorenzo looked at it.
“Hess discovered them first.”
His expression broke.
“She came to me.”
Declan stepped forward.
“You killed her.”
“No.”
Lorenzo’s voice cracked.
“I loved her.”
The room went silent.
“She was my wife.”
Maeve stared.
Secretly.
For twenty-two years.
Mrs. Hess had kept her maiden name to protect them both.
Lorenzo closed his eyes.
“She found evidence that your father had hidden millions in offshore accounts belonging to politicians, judges, police chiefs.”
Roman went still.
“A blackmail archive.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
Lorenzo laughed bitterly.
“That is what this entire war is about.”
Maeve understood.
Marco had never been the real threat.
The mercenaries had not attacked merely to overthrow the Falcones.
Someone wanted something inside the estate.
Something Mrs. Hess had discovered.
“Who?” Roman asked.
Lorenzo looked at him.
“A man your father trusted more than anyone.”
“Name.”
Lorenzo hesitated.
Then the manor alarms began screaming.
Gabriel looked toward the windows.
Declan drew his gun.
Roman stood.
Maeve’s phone rang.
Chloe.
Maeve answered.
“Chloe?”
A man’s voice replied.
“Hello, Maeve.”
Her blood turned cold.
Behind him, Chloe was crying.
May you like
The man continued.
“Now that everyone is finally paying attention, perhaps we can discuss what I came for.”
