Chapter 7 - The Fourth Falcone
Marco stared at the photograph.
"That's not me."
Maeve believed him.
Not because she knew him well enough.
Because the man in the image had something Marco didn't.
A scar near his left ear.
Luca zoomed in.
Dante whispered, "No."
Marco turned.
"What?"
Dante backed away from the screen.
"I've seen him."
"Where?"
"When we were kids."
Luca's face changed.
Marco stared between them.
"Explain."
Dante looked at Kathleen.
She had gone pale.
Maeve noticed.
"You know."
Kathleen sat slowly.
"Antonio had another son."
Silence.
Marco laughed once.
"No."
"Before your mother."
Luca whispered, "Our father had a fourth child?"
Kathleen nodded.
"Gabriel."
Dante closed his eyes.
Maeve understood the basement message.
THE THIRD BROTHER DOESN'T KNOW.
Dante had seen Gabriel.
But didn't understand who he was.
"When?" Marco demanded.
Kathleen answered.
"Gabriel was twelve when you were born. His mother died. Antonio tried to bring him into the family."
"Why didn't he?"
"Your mother refused."
Luca looked angry.
"Our mother knew?"
"Yes."
Marco paced.
"And Gabriel?"
"Sent away."
Dante said, "I remember a man visiting Dad. He called him son."
Marco looked at him.
"You never told us."
"I was seven. I thought I imagined it."
Maeve studied the photograph.
Gabriel resembled Marco closely enough to fool cameras at a glance.
Older.
Similar build.
Same eyes.
"He's the inside man."
Luca nodded.
"He wouldn't need staff access if he knew the house."
Kathleen said, "He knew every hidden passage."
Marco looked at her sharply.
"How?"
"Antonio brought him here secretly."
Dante sat.
"So Vittorio didn't just infiltrate staff."
"He infiltrated our family," Luca said.
Maeve remembered Marco's key card being used.
Photos.
Security.
The person who knew the house intimately.
Gabriel.
"Why would he work for Vittorio?"
Kathleen answered.
"Because he hated Antonio."
Marco's expression hardened.
"And us."
The archive contained more.
Payments to Gabriel.
Properties.
Travel records.
Years of surveillance.
The Falcone brothers hadn't been randomly isolated.
Gabriel had been helping Vittorio dismantle their trust one employee at a time.
Maeve looked at Marco.
"This wasn't about business."
"No."
"It was revenge."
Marco nodded.
"For being the sons who stayed."
Maeve felt sympathy she hadn't expected.
Marco noticed.
"Don't."
"What?"
"Feel sorry for me."
"I wasn't."
"You were."
"Maybe a little."
He almost smiled.
Dante discovered Gabriel had used a company apartment downtown.
Luca wanted to raid it.
Marco insisted on going.
Maeve stood.
"So am I."
Three brothers said, "No," simultaneously.
Maeve stared.
"That's disturbing."
Marco pointed at her.
"You were kidnapped by proxy twice in two days."
"Technically my mother was."
"Not helping."
Kathleen touched Maeve's arm.
"Stay with me."
Maeve looked at her mother.
There were years of questions between them.
For once, chasing danger could wait.
"Fine."
The brothers left.
Kathleen and Maeve sat in the kitchen.
For a long time, neither spoke.
Finally Maeve asked, "Did Dad love me?"
Kathleen's face crumpled.
"More than anything."
"Why don't I remember him?"
"You were little."
"Did he know he was going to die?"
Kathleen nodded.
"He knew he was in danger."
"Why didn't you leave?"
"We tried."
Maeve looked down.
"Did Antonio love you?"
Kathleen smiled sadly.
"No. Not that way."
"But people believed—"
"He let them."
"To protect me."
"Yes."
Maeve's anger toward Antonio softened despite herself.
"Why did you fake your death?"
"Because Vittorio found me."
Kathleen told her everything.
After Patrick disappeared, she and Elena continued gathering evidence.
Antonio helped.
Then Antonio died suddenly.
Officially, heart failure.
Kathleen believed poison.
With Antonio gone, Vittorio took control.
Elena entered the manor years later searching for hidden proof.
Kathleen remained underground.
When Vittorio found Kathleen's location eleven years ago, she staged the fatal crash with help from a police officer loyal to Antonio.
"What body did I bury?"
Kathleen's voice shook.
"A Jane Doe. The identification was falsified."
Maeve closed her eyes.
Morally ugly.
But survival rarely looked clean.
"You should've found another way."
"I know."
"You should've trusted me eventually."
"I was scared."
Maeve looked at her.
For the first time, she saw not just her mother.
A frightened woman who had lost her husband and lived eleven years hunted.
Maeve reached across the table.
Kathleen took her hand.
Not forgiveness.
Not yet.
But beginning.
Her phone rang.
Marco.
Maeve answered.
"Hello?"
Static.
Then Marco's voice.
"We found the apartment."
"Gabriel?"
"No."
A pause.
"Something else."
"What?"
"We found Elena."
Maeve stood.
"What do you mean?"
"She's alive."
Kathleen dropped her cup.
Maeve put the phone on speaker.
Marco continued.
"She's injured but alive. Gabriel kept her hidden for years."
Kathleen covered her mouth.
"Where are you?"
"Hospital."
Maeve and Kathleen rushed there.
Elena looked older.
Frail.
But alive.
When Kathleen entered, Elena began crying.
The two women embraced without words.
Maeve stood near the doorway.
Elena looked at her.
"You grew up."
Maeve cried too.
"Apparently everyone I buried is alive."
Elena laughed weakly.
It was the first light moment in days.
Marco stood beside Maeve.
Their shoulders touched.
Neither moved away.
Elena told them Gabriel had saved her from Vittorio years ago.
Not out of kindness.
He wanted information.
When she refused, he held her secretly.
"But he changed," Elena said.
Marco frowned.
"Changed how?"
"He started helping me."
"Helping?"
"He hated Vittorio too."
Maeve said, "Then why is he still working with him?"
Elena looked toward Marco.
"Because Gabriel believes Vittorio killed Antonio."
Luca said, "So do we."
"No."
Elena shook her head.
"Gabriel has proof."
Marco went still.
"Proof of what?"
Elena's eyes filled with fear.
"Vittorio didn't kill your father."
Silence.
Dante whispered, "Who did?"
Elena looked at all three brothers.
"Your mother."
Nobody moved.
Marco's face emptied.
Luca shook his head.
"She died ten years ago."
"That doesn't change what she did."
Marco stepped back.
"Why?"
"Antonio planned to bring Gabriel home publicly. He intended to divide the inheritance four ways."
Dante looked sick.
Elena continued.
"Your mother poisoned him."
Marco turned away.
Maeve wanted to reach for him.
Didn't.
Elena whispered, "Gabriel knows."
Luca asked, "Why hasn't he exposed it?"
"Because he wanted you to learn the truth from her."
Marco turned.
"Our mother is dead."
Elena stared.
"No."
Another impossible word.
"She isn't."
Dante's face went white.
"Where is she?"
Elena opened her mouth.
Before she could answer, the hospital lights flickered.
A nurse shouted in the hall.
Then the fire alarm started.
Marco moved toward the door.
Smoke appeared under it.
Maeve heard footsteps outside.
A man's voice called calmly through the smoke.
"Brothers."
Marco stopped.
The door opened.
A scarred man stood there.
He looked almost exactly like Marco.
May you like
And Gabriel Falcone smiled.
"Mother is waiting."
