Chapter 7 - THE MAN MY MOTHER SAID WAS DEAD
I had imagined my father my entire life.
Sometimes he looked like the faded photograph Mom kept.
Sometimes he had no face at all.
Now he was sitting inside an abandoned marina office beside my sister.
Alive.
Twenty-two years of lies collapsed in one image.
“Why didn’t he find me?”
Nobody answered.
I turned toward Roman.
“Why?”
“We don’t know.”
“Stop saying that.”
My voice cracked.
“You people know everything about everyone. You knew my debt. My sister’s diagnosis. My employment history. But nobody knows why my father stayed away?”
Roman absorbed the anger.
Didn’t fight it.
“I understand.”
“No, you don’t.”
“No.”
That stopped me.
He continued.
“But I can help you ask him.”
Federal negotiators contacted the marina.
Victor answered.
He wanted Nora’s original box.
And the silver key.
In exchange, Lily and Adrian would be released.
Roman refused a direct trade until law enforcement controlled the perimeter.
Victor laughed over speakerphone.
“You always were Michael’s cautious son.”
Roman’s face hardened.
Then Adrian’s voice came through.
“Maeve?”
My entire body went still.
He knew my name.
“Dad?”
Silence.
Then a broken sound.
“Yes.”
I started crying before I could stop myself.
“Where were you?”
“I’m sorry.”
“That is not an answer.”
“I know.”
“Where were you?”
Victor cut in.
“Family therapy later.”
I hated him instantly.
Adrian shouted:
“Maeve, don’t bring the key!”
A sound followed.
Someone hit him.
I screamed.
Roman grabbed the table but did not interfere.
Adrian coughed.
Then forced out:
“The key opens Elena’s safe.”
Victor disconnected.
The triplets looked at one another.
Their mother’s safe.
Not a bank account.
Not a deposit box.
Something else.
Roman pulled up the original architectural plans of Falcone Manor.
Elena had commissioned renovations months before she disappeared.
Room seventeen.
A private writing room.
Later sealed.
Gabriel whispered, “E.F. seventeen.”
The silver key.
We went upstairs.
Room seventeen had been hidden behind a paneled wall for fourteen years.
The key fit.
Inside was dust.
An antique desk.
A portrait of Elena.
And a recording device.
Roman pressed play.
Their mother’s voice filled the room.
“If my sons are hearing this, Victor finally made his move.”
Declan’s face tightened.
Elena continued:
“Nora knows where Adrian is.”
I stared.
Mom knew Dad was alive.
All those years.
She had known.
Then Elena said:
“But Maeve must never be told until Victor is gone.”
My heart broke.
Why?
May you like
The answer came seconds later.
“Because Maeve is the only person who can legally take everything from him.”
Related Stories
