Chapter 3 - The Woman Everyone Thought Was HarmlessThe bullet had been fired from across the street.
Security found no shooter.
Only a shell casing.
Maggie picked it up wearing gloves.
“9mm.”
Sebastian stared.
“How do you know?”
“I catalog weapons records.”
He frowned.
“You catalog weapons?”
“Historical records.”
“Right.”
She handed it back.
“This ammunition is old.”
“How old?”
“About twenty years.”
Theo looked at Sebastian.
“That's impossible.”
Maggie shook her head.
“No.”
She pointed toward the metal.
“It was manufactured for a specific private contractor.”
“Which one?”
“Rinaldi Security.”
Sebastian's expression darkened.
His own family's former security company.
A company dissolved twenty-one years ago.
Maggie looked at him.
“The shell was probably planted.”
“Why?”
“To make you suspect someone from your own family.”
Sebastian stared.
“How did you become this good?”
Maggie smiled sadly.
“Being underestimated gives you time to notice things.”
That sentence stayed with him.
Over the next two days, Maggie became essential to the investigation.
She recognized old codes.
She identified forged signatures.
She found inconsistencies in financial records.
And every time someone dismissed her because of her glasses and quiet voice, Sebastian watched her calmly dismantle their argument.
At a meeting with three attorneys, one man interrupted her.
“Mrs. Rinaldi, perhaps you should leave the legal matters to professionals.”
Maggie looked at him.
“I was asked to identify the altered document.”
“Yes.”
“I have.”
“And?”
“You forged it.”
The room froze.
The attorney laughed.
“You're accusing me?”
Maggie slid a paper across the table.
“You used modern chemical ink on a document dated 1987.”
The attorney's smile vanished.
“You couldn't possibly know that.”
“I restore paper.”
Sebastian looked at the man.
“She's right.”
The attorney resigned that evening.
Afterward, Sebastian walked with Maggie through the hallway.
“You enjoyed that.”
“No.”
“You smiled.”
“I smile when nervous.”
He laughed.
She looked at him.
“You're laughing.”
“I like seeing you scare people.”
“I wasn't trying to.”
“That makes it better.”
For the first time, they were beginning to act like a real couple.
Then Selena Veseri came to the house.
She arrived alone.
Maggie was in the garden.
Selena stood at the gate.
“You've ruined everything.”
Maggie looked at her.
“I don't know what you're talking about.”
“You do.”
“Then tell me.”
Selena lowered her voice.
“My father is going to kill you.”
Maggie's expression didn't change.
“Why?”
“Because you know about the archive.”
“What archive?”
Selena laughed bitterly.
“The one your father used.”
Maggie froze.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
“What did he use it for?”
Selena hesitated.
“To hide ownership.”
“Of what?”
“All the properties.”
Maggie stared.
“Why?”
Selena looked away.
“Because the Morettis weren't criminals.”
Maggie felt the ground shift.
“What?”
“They were witnesses.”
“To what?”
Selena whispered:
“Your father's death.”
Maggie's breath stopped.
“My father is dead?”
Selena nodded.
“He was killed.”
“When?”
“Three days before the fire.”
“Then who burned the house?”
Selena didn't answer.
Maggie stepped closer.
“Who?”
“Your uncle.”
“My uncle?”
“Thomas Moretti.”
Maggie's face went pale.
“He survived too?”
Selena nodded.
“He built an entire network under another name.”
“Where is he?”
Selena looked toward the house.
“He is closer than you think.”
The garden door opened.
Sebastian stepped outside.
Selena immediately backed away.
“What are you doing here?”
“I came to warn her.”
Sebastian stared.
“Then warn me too.”
Selena looked at him.
“You're not safe either.”
“What does that mean?”
“Your family killed mine.”
Sebastian's eyes hardened.
“Not all of them.”
“No.”
Selena looked at Maggie.
“Not all.”
Then she walked away.
Sebastian turned to his wife.
“What did she tell you?”
Maggie hesitated.
Then:
“She says my father was murdered.”
“And your uncle is alive.”
“Yes.”
“Do you believe her?”
Maggie looked at the house.
“I don't know.”
Sebastian took her hand.
“Then we'll find out.”
That night, they found a hidden room beneath the library.
Inside were boxes.
Photographs.
Ledgers.
Old passports.
And one photograph of two young men.
Sebastian's father.
Adrian Moretti.
Standing together.
Smiling.
Like brothers.
Sebastian stared.
“My father and yours were friends.”
Maggie nodded.
“Then why did they become enemies?”
At the bottom of the box was a letter.
The handwriting belonged to Adrian.
It contained seven words:
The person you trust is not who you think.
Maggie looked at Sebastian.
“Your father wrote this.”
“Yes.”
“To whom?”
Sebastian turned the letter over.
There was a name.
May you like
Clara Moretti.
Maggie's dead mother.
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