Chapter 2 - The Woman Behind the Door
The door opened slowly.
Isabella Falcone stepped inside.
Gabriel’s younger sister looked as if she had dressed for a charity dinner rather than a medical emergency. Her dark hair was pinned neatly behind her head. A cream-colored coat rested over her shoulders.
She saw Roman’s hand beneath his jacket.
Then she saw Sadi beside Gabriel’s bed.
Her eyes narrowed.
“What is she doing here?”
Gabriel did not answer.
“Close the door.”
Isabella obeyed.
“What happened?”
“Where were you Tuesday night?”
The question landed hard.
Isabella’s expression barely changed.
“At home.”
“You are home.”
“At my apartment.”
“What time did you leave here?”
She looked at Roman.
“Is this an interrogation?”
Gabriel’s voice remained quiet.
“What time?”
“Nine. Maybe nine-thirty.”
Roman said, “Your security credential accessed the west corridor at 1:14 a.m.”
Isabella stared at him.
“That’s impossible.”
Gabriel watched her face.
“Is it?”
“Yes.”
“Your credential also disabled a camera.”
She looked genuinely confused.
“I didn’t come back.”
Roman stepped forward.
“Where’s your access card?”
“In my purse.”
“Show me.”
Isabella’s jaw tightened.
“Gabriel, seriously?”
“Show him.”
She opened her leather handbag.
Her hand moved through it.
Once.
Twice.
Then stopped.
“It’s not here.”
Nobody spoke.
Isabella looked at Gabriel.
“You don’t actually think I poisoned you.”
Sadi’s eyes flicked toward her.
Isabella noticed.
“What?”
Sadi lowered her gaze.
“Nothing, ma’am.”
“You looked at me.”
Gabriel intervened.
“Leave her alone.”
Isabella gave a stunned laugh.
“The maid?”
“The woman who saved my arm.”
That silenced her.
Mercer explained the poisoned stitch.
With every sentence, Isabella’s face became paler.
When he finished, she sat in the nearest chair.
“Whoever did that wanted you to suffer.”
Gabriel studied her.
“How do you know?”
“Because if they only wanted you dead, there are easier ways.”
Sadi looked up.
It was almost exactly what she had thought.
Isabella noticed again.
This time she looked less irritated.
More unsettled.
Roman’s phone buzzed.
He stepped outside.
Gabriel leaned toward his sister.
“Who had access to your card?”
“No one.”
“Think.”
“I keep it in my bag.”
“All day?”
“Usually.”
“Who touches the bag?”
“My assistant sometimes. Drivers. Security if I enter a courthouse.”
Mercer interrupted.
“What happened Tuesday?”
Isabella frowned.
“Tuesday?”
“The night your brother was recovering.”
“I visited him.”
“What time?”
“Seven.”
“Who else was here?”
She started listing names.
Family accountant.
Chef.
Two guards.
Nurse.
Housekeeper.
Priest.
Gabriel interrupted.
“Priest?”
“Father Brennan.”
“You called Brennan?”
“No. Aunt Cecilia did.”
Gabriel closed his eyes.
“Of course she did.”
For the first time since Sadi had worked in the mansion, she saw something almost ordinary in him.
Annoyance with family.
Even mafia bosses had relatives who summoned priests when they sneezed.
Roman returned.
“We checked Isabella’s apartment security.”
Gabriel looked at him.
“And?”
“She arrived there at 10:06 p.m. She never left.”
Isabella crossed her arms.
“Thank you.”
Roman continued.
“But your assistant entered your apartment at 12:22.”
Isabella frowned.
“Lena?”
“She left thirteen minutes later.”
“With what?”
“We’re checking.”
Gabriel looked at Roman.
“Bring her here.”
Isabella rose.
“Gabriel, she’s worked for me for eight years.”
“So have people who stole from me.”
“Lena has been with me since college.”
Gabriel’s expression hardened.
“Then she should be easy to find.”
She wasn’t.
Lena Price’s apartment was empty.
Her phone had been switched off.
Her car had been abandoned near Penn Station.
And according to building footage, she had left carrying a small black envelope.
By 2:00 a.m., Gabriel’s fever began falling.
The poisoned thread had been removed, but Mercer insisted the danger remained.
“You absorbed enough toxin to cause cardiac instability for at least another twenty-four hours.”
Gabriel tried to stand.
His knees buckled.
Sadi moved before anyone else.
She caught his left arm.
Roman caught the other side.
Gabriel glared at both of them.
“I’m fine.”
“No,” Mercer said. “You are extremely rich, extremely stubborn, and currently extremely sick.”
Sadi looked down to hide a smile.
Gabriel noticed.
“You find something funny?”
“No.”
“You’re lying.”
“Yes.”
For half a second, his mouth twitched.
Then the pain returned.
They helped him onto the bed.
Mercer adjusted the medication.
Sadi started toward the door.
Gabriel looked at her.
“Where are you going?”
“To finish downstairs.”
“It’s two in the morning.”
“I know.”
“You worked all day?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
She seemed surprised.
“Because you pay me.”
“How much?”
Sadi hesitated.
Gabriel looked at Roman.
“How much do we pay the house staff?”
Roman had no idea.
That seemed to irritate Gabriel more than the poison.
Sadi answered.
“Sixteen fifty.”
Gabriel stared at her.
“An hour?”
“Yes.”
He looked around his mansion library.
The Persian rug alone had cost more than her annual salary.
Something unreadable crossed his face.
“Go home.”
“I take the bus.”
“At two in the morning?”
“It still runs.”
“No.”
She stiffened.
“No?”
“Roman will have someone drive you.”
“I don’t need—”
“That wasn’t a question.”
Sadi looked directly at him.
“That’s probably why people are scared to answer you honestly.”
The room froze.
Roman closed his eyes briefly as though preparing for an explosion.
Gabriel stared.
Then he laughed.
It hurt his shoulder.
He winced.
Sadi immediately regretted making him laugh.
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be.”
He settled back.
“What does your mother do now?”
The question surprised her.
“She died.”
Gabriel’s amusement disappeared.
“I’m sorry.”
“It was three years ago.”
“Hospital?”
“Cancer.”
He nodded once.
Nothing performative.
Nothing sentimental.
Sadi appreciated that.
A guard appeared at the doorway.
“Sir.”
Gabriel looked over.
“What?”
“We found Lena Price.”
Isabella stood.
“Where?”
The guard hesitated.
“Not alive.”
Silence filled the room.
Gabriel’s expression hardened.
“Where?”
“Inside a rental car near the river.”
Isabella covered her mouth.
Roman stepped closer.
“Cause?”
“Looks like overdose.”
Gabriel looked at him.
“Looks like?”
Roman understood.
“Medical examiner is coming.”
Isabella sat slowly.
“She didn’t use drugs.”
Gabriel stared at the floor.
Neither did people who were supposed to disappear conveniently.
The poisoned stitch had created a trail.
Now the trail had its first body.
Sadi suddenly remembered something.
“Mr. Falcone.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“The night after your surgery…”
“Yes?”
“I saw Ms. Price.”
Isabella turned sharply.
“Where?”
“In the laundry hallway.”
“What time?”
“Late. Maybe one.”
Roman moved closer.
“Why were you here at one?”
“Someone spilled wine in the west dining room.”
“What was Lena doing?”
Sadi closed her eyes, reconstructing the moment.
Lena had been wearing a long coat.
She had looked nervous.
She carried something.
A small silver medical case.
Sadi’s eyes opened.
“She had a box.”
“What kind?”
“Metal. About this big.”
She showed the size with her hands.
Mercer looked at Gabriel.
“A surgical kit?”
Sadi shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
Roman pulled out his phone.
“Can you describe it?”
“Yes.”
While Roman spoke to security, Gabriel watched Sadi.
“You remember everyone?”
“No.”
“Then why remember Lena?”
Sadi’s expression tightened.
“Because she asked me a strange question.”
Isabella leaned forward.
“What question?”
“She asked if the cameras in the staff corridors recorded audio.”
Nobody spoke.
Sadi continued.
“I told her I didn’t know.”
“Then?”
“She gave me fifty dollars.”
“For what?”
“To forget I saw her.”
Roman swore under his breath.
Gabriel’s voice went cold.
“And did you?”
“No.”
“Why didn’t you tell anyone?”
Sadi looked around at the armed guards.
“Tell who?”
That answer landed harder than any accusation.
Because everyone in the room understood.
Sadi worked inside a mansion controlled by one of the most feared men in New York.
She had no power.
No protection.
No reason to believe speaking would help her.
Gabriel looked away.
Roman returned after several minutes.
“We found the metal case.”
“Where?”
“Maintenance closet.”
Mercer stood.
“Bring it.”
“No,” Roman said. “You need to see it where it is.”
Gabriel immediately pushed himself upright.
Mercer protested.
Gabriel ignored him.
Eventually they compromised with a wheelchair.
Sadi stayed behind until Gabriel pointed toward the door.
“You saw Lena.”
He paused.
“You’re coming.”
The maintenance corridor was beneath the main staircase.
Roman led them to a narrow closet.
A guard opened the door.
Cleaning products lined the shelves.
Vacuum hoses hung from hooks.
On the floor sat a small silver medical case.
Exactly as Sadi had described.
But the case was open.
Inside were sterile needles, surgical thread, gloves, and three glass vials.
One vial was empty.
Mercer crouched.
“Don’t touch anything.”
Sadi leaned slightly closer.
There was something beneath the case.
A folded piece of paper.
Roman used gloves to lift it.
He opened it.
His face changed instantly.
Gabriel saw.
“What?”
Roman did not answer.
“Roman.”
Slowly, he handed Gabriel the paper.
It was a photograph.
Gabriel stared at it.
Then looked at Sadi.
For the first time all night, genuine shock broke through his expression.
Sadi stepped closer.
“What is it?”
Gabriel turned the photograph around.
It showed Sadi leaving the mansion three nights earlier.
A red circle had been drawn around her face.
May you like
On the back were five handwritten words.
THE MAID SAW TOO MUCH.
