Chapter 11 - THE FATHER THE TRIPLETS WORSHIPPED
Roman did not want to open the envelope.
Declan did.
Gabriel looked sick.
Their father, Michael Falcone, had been dead seven years.
To them, he was complicated but loyal.
Strict but protective.
The man who raised three sons after their mother vanished.
The man who taught them never to trust outsiders.
Maybe there had been a reason for that lesson.
Roman finally opened the letter.
Nora’s handwriting.
Michael did not order Elena’s disappearance.
All three brothers exhaled.
Then:
But he knew Victor took her.
Silence.
Declan punched the wall.
I flinched.
He immediately looked at me.
“Sorry.”
Progress, apparently.
Roman kept reading.
Michael discovered the truth six months after Elena vanished.
Victor threatened the triplets.
If Michael exposed him, one son would die.
Michael chose silence.
Gabriel laughed bitterly.
“Of course.”
Roman stared at the paper.
“He let us believe she was dead.”
Declan’s anger broke.
“He had fourteen years!”
“No,” Gabriel said.
“Seven.”
Declan turned.
“As if that helps.”
It didn’t.
Mom’s letter continued.
Michael secretly funded Adrian’s hiding places.
He also paid for investigators searching for Elena.
But publicly, he protected Victor.
Why?
Because Victor possessed evidence tying Michael to earlier organized crime.
If exposed, Michael believed the entire Falcone business structure would collapse and his sons would become targets.
He chose family power over truth.
Roman looked devastated.
I understood why.
He had spent years doing smaller versions of the same thing.
Maintaining control.
Protecting structure.
Testing people instead of trusting them.
Then the final page.
Roman will become most like Michael if no one stops him.
Roman closed his eyes.
Declan will turn anger into loyalty.
Declan stared.
Gabriel will run before power owns him.
Gabriel swallowed.
Mom had understood them as teenagers.
Maeve, if you ever meet them, do not let them make you grateful for basic decency.
A laugh escaped me through tears.
That was absolutely my mother.
Roman looked at me.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“The wall.”
“The money.”
“The tests.”
“The forty-eight-hour nonsense.”
Declan added, “The glass.”
“Yes, especially the glass.”
Gabriel raised a hand.
“I only investigated your finances.”
“That sentence is not helping.”
For the first time, all three laughed.
Then Elena spoke from the doorway.
She had insisted on leaving her room in a wheelchair.
“There is one more secret about Michael.”
The brothers turned.
Their mother looked at Roman.
“Your father did eventually decide to testify.”
Roman froze.
“When?”
“The night he died.”
Their father’s death had been reported as a heart attack.
May you like
Elena shook her head.
“Victor poisoned him.”
