Chapter 14 - THE THRONE TREMBLES
By morning, every important person in Chicago’s underworld knew Elias Marchetti could walk.
The official explanation was miraculous recovery.
No one believed it.
Rivals interpreted the deception differently.
Some called it strategy.
Others called it weakness.
One man saw opportunity.
Victor Sanz had spent eight years waiting for Elias to make a mistake.
By noon, he had the photograph.
By evening, he had the rumor.
Elias had pretended paralysis to test his fiancée.
The real fiancée had disappeared.
Another woman had married him under her identity.
The Marchetti house had become a scandal.
Scandals created fractures.
Victor intended to widen them.
Salvatore threw a newspaper onto Elias’s desk.
“This is what happens when a private test becomes public theater.”
Elias looked at the headline.
MARCHEtti MIRACLE?
He did not care about the article.
He cared about the photograph beneath it.
Maeve stood behind him in the hospital hallway.
Her face exhausted.
Finn’s room number visible.
“Move the boy.”
Gabriel nodded.
“Already arranging it.”
“To where?”
“Private rehabilitation wing at St. Catherine’s.”
“No.”
Elias stood.
“Too visible.”
Salvatore watched him.
“Your enemies know about Maeve now.”
“I know.”
“And they know she matters.”
Elias looked toward him.
“That is the problem.”
Across town, Sienna sat in Margaret’s townhouse staring at the same photograph.
“He can walk.”
Margaret said nothing.
“He could always walk.”
“Sienna.”
“He humiliated me.”
Margaret’s face tightened.
“You abandoned him.”
“Because I thought he was crippled.”
Margaret’s eyes flashed.
“Do you hear yourself?”
Sienna stood.
“He tested me.”
“Yes.”
“And Maeve passed.”
Margaret went silent.
Sienna laughed bitterly.
“That’s what this is.”
She pointed at the newspaper.
“He replaced me with a servant because she played saint for three months.”
Margaret’s expression became worried.
“What are you planning?”
“I want my name back.”
“You still have your name.”
“No.”
Sienna looked at the photograph.
“Everyone who matters now thinks Maeve Donnelly was good enough to become Sienna Ashford and Sienna Ashford wasn’t good enough to become Mrs. Marchetti.”
Margaret stood.
“This is pride.”
“It is my life.”
“You chose.”
Sienna turned slowly.
“So did you.”
Margaret froze.
“You created this.”
The accusation struck.
“You found Maeve.”
“You threatened her brother.”
“You dressed her.”
“You sent her into that house.”
Margaret’s lips parted.
Sienna picked up her coat.
“If I am ruined, I’m not going alone.”
That night, Finn was transferred under security.
Maeve sat beside him in the ambulance.
A second vehicle followed.
She noticed it halfway to St. Catherine’s.
Black SUV.
No hospital markings.
She called Gabriel.
“Is the SUV behind us yours?”
“No.”
Her blood went cold.
Gabriel’s voice changed instantly.
“Tell the driver not to stop.”
Maeve looked through the rear window.
The SUV accelerated.
“Gabriel.”
“I see it.”
Another Marchetti vehicle appeared from a side street.
Then another.
The black SUV fell back.
Maeve gripped Finn’s hand.
He woke weakly.
“What’s happening?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re terrible at lying.”
Maeve almost laughed.
“You have no idea.”
The ambulance reached the rehabilitation center safely.
But when Maeve stepped out, Gabriel was waiting.
His expression told her everything.
“This wasn’t Sienna.”
Maeve asked.
“No.”
“Who?”
“Victor Sanz.”
“Why does he care about me?”
Gabriel looked toward the hospital entrance.
“Because Elias does.”
Maeve’s stomach tightened.
Gabriel continued.
“And Victor believes hurting what Elias cares about will make him choose between you and his organization.”
Maeve stared at him.
“What organization?”
Gabriel said nothing.
He did not need to.
Maeve finally understood the title newspapers never printed.
May you like
Crime boss was not rumor.
And loving Elias Marchetti, even accidentally, had just become dangerous.
