Chapter 7 - THE MOTHER WHO HAD BEEN DEAD FOR FIFTEEN YEARS
Leo’s mother, Isabella Castiglion, had died fifteen years earlier.
Officially.
Cancer.
A private clinic in Switzerland.
Closed casket.
Leo had missed the final three weeks because his father’s death had thrown the organization into chaos.
He had carried two coffins in thirteen months.
Now Carmine stood inside a motel room telling him one might have been empty.
“No.”
Carmine looked exhausted.
“My father says Isabella ordered Luca’s bombing.”
“No.”
“Leo—”
“No.”
Mave stood beside him.
She did not touch him.
Not yet.
“What proof?”
Carmine handed over his phone.
Raffaele had sent an audio file.
Leo pressed play.
A woman’s voice.
Older than he remembered.
But unmistakable.
His mother.
You were supposed to destroy the ledger, Raffaele. Not chase Evelyn’s daughter through the city like an amateur.
Leo sat down.
Mave’s hand finally found his shoulder.
The recording continued.
Renato found too much. Luca found too much. I will not lose everything because men in this family suddenly discovered consciences.
Carmine whispered, “Timestamp is yesterday.”
Leo stared.
His mother was alive.
Mave felt him go completely still.
“Where is she?”
“Raffaele says he’ll tell us if we meet.”
“That is a trap.”
“Yes.”
“We go anyway.”
Mave immediately said, “No.”
Leo turned.
She crossed her arms.
“Look at you learning from me.”
“I’m going.”
“You’re sleep-deprived, emotionally compromised, and your dead mother just called from beyond the grave.”
“She is not dead.”
“Exactly my point.”
Carmine raised one hand.
“For what it’s worth, I agree with Mave.”
Leo stared.
“Does everyone?”
Giani’s voice came from the doorway.
“Yes.”
They turned.
His arm was in a sling.
His face was pale.
“You escaped the hospital.”
“I checked myself out.”
Mave glared.
“That’s irresponsible.”
Giani looked at Leo.
“She’s frightening.”
“I know.”
The meeting location was an abandoned amusement park near the river.
Mave stared at the rusted Ferris wheel.
“Does your family deliberately choose dramatic locations?”
Carmine said, “Sometimes we use restaurants.”
“Progress.”
Federal agents surrounded the perimeter.
Leo, Carmine, and Giani entered.
Mave was ordered to remain in the command van.
She lasted four minutes.
Then she followed.
Leo found Raffaele inside an old carousel building.
The man looked older than Tessa described.
Burn scar.
Gray beard.
Carmine’s eyes fixed on him.
For twelve years, he had mourned this man.
Raffaele smiled.
“Son.”
Carmine punched him.
Raffaele hit the floor.
Mave, watching from behind a support beam, whispered, “Fair.”
Leo stepped forward.
“Is my mother alive?”
Raffaele wiped blood from his mouth.
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Safe.”
“From whom?”
“You.”
Leo laughed once.
“Interesting.”
Raffaele stood slowly.
“Your mother believes you will destroy everything she preserved.”
“She trafficked people.”
“She built an empire.”
“On people.”
“Every empire is built on bodies.”
Leo’s face hardened.
“Not mine.”
Raffaele smiled.
“Are you sure?”
That struck.
Exactly as intended.
Mave saw it.
She stepped out.
“Don’t.”
Everyone turned.
Leo’s expression flashed from shock to anger.
“What are you doing here?”
“Making terrible employment decisions.”
Raffaele looked at her.
“Evelyn’s girl.”
Mave’s skin crawled.
“You killed my mother?”
“No.”
She stopped.
“What?”
“Cancer killed Evelyn.”
“Did you threaten her?”
“Yes.”
“Did you ruin her life?”
Raffaele shrugged.
Mave wanted to hit him.
Leo saw it.
“You can.”
“What?”
“Hit him.”
Raffaele frowned.
Mave punched him.
Poorly.
Her wrist hurt immediately.
She shook it.
“Ow.”
Carmine nodded approvingly.
“Needs work.”
The absurdity nearly broke the tension.
Then Raffaele laughed.
“Your mother had the same temper.”
Mave stepped forward.
“Where is Isabella?”
Raffaele looked at Leo.
“She owns half the port through proxies. She has for years.”
“Why fake her death?”
“Because federal investigators were closing in.”
“And my father?”
“He planned to expose her.”
Leo’s expression went blank.
“My mother was running the trafficking.”
“At first with August. Later without him.”
“And you worked for her.”
“Yes.”
“Why betray her now?”
Raffaele smiled sadly.
“Because she ordered my son killed.”
Carmine stopped.
“What?”
“You weren’t supposed to survive the drive here yesterday.”
Carmine stared.
Raffaele continued.
“Isabella knows you’re helping Leo. She ordered a crash.”
Carmine looked toward Leo.
“That black sedan.”
Leo remembered a sedan running Carmine’s vehicle off the highway that morning.
They had assumed random pursuit.
Raffaele’s expression changed.
“I have done terrible things.”
Mave said, “Understatement.”
He accepted it.
“But I will not let her kill my son.”
Carmine laughed bitterly.
“You let me think you were dead.”
“I thought distance protected you.”
“There’s that word again,” Mave muttered.
Raffaele handed Leo an address.
“Isabella is there tonight.”
Leo looked.
A private estate on Lake George.
“She expects me?”
“Yes.”
“What does she want?”
“You.”
“Why?”
“You are still the legal owner of Castiglion Maritime.”
Leo understood.
“Signatures.”
“She needs you to authorize the sale of six port properties.”
“To whom?”
“Foreign holding companies.”
“Why now?”
“Because the ledger exists.”
She was preparing to flee.
Leo looked toward the federal agents entering behind them.
“Then we go tonight.”
Raffaele nodded.
“But there’s something you should know.”
Leo waited.
“Isabella has a contingency.”
“What?”
“If she is arrested, every file connected to the old trafficking operation gets released.”
Mave frowned.
“That sounds good.”
“No.”
Raffaele looked at Leo.
“The files have been altered.”
Leo understood.
His name.
False contracts.
False signatures.
Evidence designed to make him look like the inheritor of the entire network.
“She’ll destroy him.”
“Yes.”
Mave shook her head.
“No.”
Everyone turned.
“She won’t.”
Leo looked at her.
“How?”
Mave’s eyes sharpened.
“My mother kept records because she trusted paper more than powerful men.”
She pointed toward the hidden list.
“And if Isabella spent sixteen years changing digital files, then Evelyn’s originals are the one thing she couldn’t alter.”
Leo’s expression changed.
The ledger was not merely evidence.
It was his defense.
Mave continued.
“But we still need proof connecting Isabella to the falsified records.”
Giani spoke.
“There may be one person who has it.”
“Who?”
He looked at Raffaele.
“Renato.”
Leo frowned.
“You said he was dead.”
Raffaele’s expression shifted.
“He is.”
“Then how can he help us?”
Raffaele took out a second key.
“Because before Isabella killed him, Renato mailed me everything he had.”
He looked at Mave.
“To your apartment.”
Mave froze.
“My apartment?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because nobody watches the housekeeper’s mail.”
Leo and Mave looked at each other.
Then Leo remembered Mave’s apartment in the Narrows.
Fourth-floor walk-up.
Currently empty.
Unsecured.
Mave whispered, “Leo.”
He was already moving.
They reached the apartment forty minutes later.
The door was open.
Inside, drawers had been emptied.
Mattress cut.
Books thrown everywhere.
Mave’s face drained.
“My mother’s things.”
Leo moved through the wreckage.
“Stay behind me.”
They reached the kitchen.
An envelope sat on the table.
Not Renato’s package.
A note.
Leo opened it.
Too late.
Then they heard a sound from the bedroom closet.
Leo raised his gun.
The door opened slowly.
Tessa stumbled out.
Mave gasped.
“Tessa?”
Her friend had blood on her forehead.
“Tessa, what happened?”
“They came back.”
“Who?”
Tessa looked at Leo.
“A woman.”
Mave froze.
“What woman?”
“She said her name was Isabella.”
Leo stopped breathing.
Tessa continued.
“She took the package.”
“Where did she go?”
“I don’t know.”
Then Tessa looked at Mave.
“But before she left, she told me to give you a message.”
“What?”
Tessa swallowed.
“She said, ‘Tell my son the maid is the only reason he’s still alive.’”
Leo stared.
Mave whispered, “Why would she say that?”
Tessa’s answer changed everything.
“Because Isabella said she could have killed Leo three years ago.”
May you like
Silence.
“But you were already living in his house.”
