Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN WHO DISAPPEARED FROM THE MANOR
My mother had never mentioned Falcone Manor.
Not once.
She told stories about hotel kitchens, bad managers, rich guests, and the years she raised my sister and me alone.
But she had never mentioned three identical boys.
Never mentioned their mother.
Never mentioned working inside a mafia estate overlooking the Atlantic.
I held the photograph so tightly the edges bent.
“When was this?”
“Fourteen years ago,” Roman said.
I looked at him.
“I was ten.”
“Yes.”
“Where was I?”
“Nora kept you away from the manor.”
“Why?”
No answer.
I looked at Gabriel.
He seemed like the one most likely to say something reckless.
It worked.
“Because someone tried to kill our mother.”
Roman shot him a look.
Gabriel shrugged.
“She deserves the truth.”
Declan leaned against the counter.
“Our mother’s name was Elena Falcone.”
I remembered that name vaguely.
Newspapers.
A society photograph.
A charity gala.
Then a death.
“She drowned.”
“That’s what the papers said,” Roman replied.
“What really happened?”
“We don’t know.”
I stared.
“Our mother disappeared during a storm. Her car was found near the cliffs. Blood inside. Her coat in the water.”
“No body?”
Gabriel shook his head.
“Never.”
“And my mother?”
Declan answered.
“Nora vanished the same night.”
I nearly dropped the photograph.
“No.”
Roman nodded.
“She left the estate at 11:18 p.m. Security footage shows her carrying a leather folder.”
“She came home.”
Roman’s eyes sharpened.
“When?”
“That night.”
All three brothers went still.
I remembered pieces.
Mom waking me.
Rain on the windows.
Her hands shaking while she packed a small suitcase.
We left our apartment before sunrise.
I thought it was because the landlord raised rent.
“Where did she take you?” Roman asked.
“Philadelphia first. Then Baltimore.”
Gabriel whispered, “She was running.”
I hated how much sense it made.
Mom changed jobs constantly for years.
Never stayed in one neighborhood too long.
Never allowed our names in local newspapers.
I thought she was private.
Maybe she was afraid.
“Why did she leave?”
Roman looked at the photograph.
“Nora discovered something about our family.”
“What?”
“We don’t know.”
“Then how do you know she discovered anything?”
Declan walked out.
Returned with a locked metal box.
He placed it on the table.
“We found this in our mother’s room after she vanished.”
On the lid was one handwritten word.
NORA.
My breathing changed.
“Did you open it?”
“We couldn’t.”
Roman pointed to the lock.
“Biometric.”
My pulse quickened.
“Whose?”
May you like
He looked directly at me.
“Her daughter’s.”
