Chapter 4 - Someone Inside the Falcone Empire Wanted Her Gone
Renata’s old apartment had been empty for nearly three years.
The wallpaper was yellowed.
Dust covered the windowsills.
But the bedroom looked almost exactly as Dileia remembered.
Adriano stood in the doorway.
For the first time since Dileia had met him, he looked uncertain.
“This was it?”
“Yes.”
“She died here?”
Dileia nodded.
Adriano said nothing.
Dileia moved toward the bed.
“She asked me not to call an ambulance that night.”
His eyes snapped toward her.
“Why?”
“She said hospitals asked questions.”
“What questions?”
“She wouldn’t tell me.”
Dileia knelt.
There were no books beneath the bed.
“Gone.”
Adriano crouched beside her.
“Calder probably removed them.”
“Maybe.”
She ran her hand underneath the wooden frame.
Then stopped.
“What?”
“There used to be tape here.”
She looked around.
Renata had hated crime novels.
But she loved old romance books.
Especially one with a ridiculous red cover Dileia teased her about constantly.
“The stories you hated.”
Adriano said, “Detective novels.”
Dileia shook her head.
“No.”
She stood.
“She meant the stories I hated hearing.”
Adriano frowned.
“What stories?”
“Family stories.”
His expression changed.
“About me?”
“About your father.”
Dileia crossed to an old radiator.
Renata used to sit beside it and talk about childhood.
About the Falcone family.
About hiding letters inside the loose brick behind the radiator because her father searched bedrooms but never touched heating pipes.
Dileia pulled at the brick.
It moved.
Behind it sat a plastic envelope.
Adriano stared.
Inside were photocopied financial ledgers.
Bank transfers.
Property purchases.
Insurance records.
And one flash drive.
Adriano read the first page.
His face slowly changed.
“What is it?”
“Money.”
“How much?”
“Thirty-two million.”
Dileia stared.
“Stolen?”
“Moved.”
“By Calder?”
“Through companies he convinced me to acquire.”
Adriano flipped pages.
Then stopped.
A signature appeared at the bottom.
His.
Dileia looked at him.
“Did you sign that?”
“No.”
“It looks identical.”
“That’s the point.”
A floorboard creaked outside.
Adriano stood instantly.
“Behind me.”
Dileia hated the command.
But then the bedroom door moved.
A man stepped into the apartment.
Another appeared behind him.
Neither drew a weapon.
They did not need to.
Their expressions were enough.
The first man looked at Adriano.
“Mr. Falcone.”
Adriano remained calm.
“Who sent you?”
“No one.”
“Wrong answer.”
“We were told to retrieve company property.”
Dileia clutched the envelope.
Adriano looked at the man.
“By Calder?”
Silence.
That was answer enough.
Adriano smiled without warmth.
“Tell Vincent he made a mistake.”
The man’s gaze shifted toward Dileia.
“We only need the documents.”
Adriano stepped directly into his line of sight.
“You looked at her.”
“Excuse me?”
“When you said documents, you looked at Dileia.”
The man said nothing.
Adriano’s voice dropped.
“So she’s the target.”
Footsteps thundered up the hallway.
Marco and two Falcone security men entered.
The strangers backed away immediately.
Adriano spoke to Marco.
“Take their phones. Let them leave.”
Marco frowned.
“Boss?”
“I want Calder to know they failed.”
The two men disappeared.
Dileia stared at Adriano.
“You let them go?”
“They’ll lead us somewhere.”
“That seems reckless.”
“It’s controlled.”
“You say that like reckless people everywhere.”
He looked at her.
“You’re not wrong.”
Back outside, Marco connected the flash drive to an isolated laptop.
Files filled the screen.
One folder was labeled:
R.F.
Renata Falcone.
Adriano opened it.
Medical payments.
Travel records.
Apartment expenses.
Then surveillance photographs.
Renata entering clinics.
Renata buying groceries.
Renata meeting Dileia.
Hundreds of photographs.
Dileia covered her mouth.
“They watched us.”
Adriano said nothing.
Marco opened another folder.
FOSTER.
Dileia’s heart stopped.
Photographs of Toby walking to school.
Her apartment.
Her jobs.
Her father’s funeral.
Her working at restaurants.
Her serving at the gala.
One document contained a plan.
Marco read silently.
Then looked at Adriano.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“This gala wasn’t coincidence.”
Dileia stepped closer.
Marco turned the screen.
The file outlined Calder’s strategy.
Bring Dileia into financial desperation.
Increase pressure through her father’s debt.
Force her into contact with Adriano.
Then make it appear Adriano had paid forty thousand dollars to silence the woman who cared for Renata.
Attached were forged bank transfers.
Fake photographs.
Draft newspaper headlines.
FALCONE BOSS BOUGHT SILENCE OF DEAD SISTER’S CARETAKER
Dileia whispered:
“He wanted me destroyed.”
Adriano shook his head.
“No.”
She looked at him.
“He wanted you desperate.”
“Why?”
“So you’d accept money from me.”
“And then?”
“He would make the world believe I paid you because you knew something about Renata’s death.”
Dileia stared at the surveillance photographs.
“So this was never about my father’s debt.”
“It became about it.”
“Why me?”
Adriano looked at Renata’s file.
“Because my sister trusted you.”
Marco suddenly went quiet.
“What?”
Marco stared at the laptop.
“There’s another file.”
Adriano stepped closer.
The title contained only one word.
CAUSE.
Marco opened it.
A medical report appeared.
Renata’s diagnosis.
Medication.
Treatment.
Then a note signed by a private physician.
Dileia read it.
Her face drained.
“That’s wrong.”
Adriano looked at her.
“What?”
“Renata never took this medication.”
“It says she did.”
“She didn’t.”
“You’re sure?”
“I organized every pill she had.”
Adriano’s voice became very quiet.
“Then somebody altered her medical records.”
Dileia looked at him.
“Why?”
Adriano stared at Calder’s name across the files.
May you like
“To hide what really made my sister sick.”
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