Chapter 18 - THE MOTHER WHO WAS HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT| Adriano had believed his mother died when he was twenty-two.
The family had told him she suffered a sudden medical emergency while traveling abroad. Her body had been returned in a sealed casket, and Anthony had insisted that the details of her final illness remain private.
Now Martha was telling him that his mother might still be alive.
"My mother?" he whispered.
Martha nodded.
"Your father hid her after she learned the truth about the trust. He said she was too ill to remain in public, but I never believed him."
"Where is she?"
"I don't know."
Adriano turned toward Marcus.
"Find the original hospital records. The physician who signed her death certificate must be identified."
Marcus nodded.
Nina sat beside Martha.
"Did Mrs. Castellano know about the glass?"
Martha smiled sadly.
"Yes. She was the one who first used the mark to warn someone not to drink."
Nina looked at Adriano.
"Then maybe someone is still trying to help you."
He knelt beside her.
"Perhaps."
She studied his face.
"Are you afraid?"
Adriano considered lying, then shook his head.
"Yes."
Nina nodded as though that answer made perfect sense.
"That's okay. My dad used to say brave people are scared too. They just try to do the right thing anyway."
Adriano rested a hand briefly on her shoulder.
"Your father sounds like a wise man."
"He was."
Rosa entered the room, having been called back to the estate after Martha's arrival. When she heard the latest revelation, she looked overwhelmed.
"Sir, I don't understand. How can your mother be alive if everyone attended her funeral?"
Adriano had no answer.
Marcus located the physician who had signed the death certificate. The man had died five years earlier, but his office records contained a sealed correspondence file addressed to Anthony Castellano.
One letter described a patient who had survived a serious illness and was being moved to a private care facility under a confidential identity.
The patient was listed as M. Castellano.
The transfer had been authorized by Simone Bellini.
Adriano's missing assistant had been maintaining the secret for years.
The last recorded address led to a small residence outside Milwaukee, where an elderly woman lived with a private caregiver.
Marcus called the local authorities and arranged a welfare check. They found no evidence of immediate danger, but the residence was empty.
A cup sat on the kitchen table.
A coat hung beside the door.
And a small handwritten note lay beneath a glass tumbler with a gold band.
The note contained a single sentence.
Tell Adriano that the real danger is already inside his home.
Adriano looked at the photograph Marcus sent.
The scratch on the glass faced the window.
Below the note was a second line, written in his mother's handwriting.
Ask Nina who entered the office after midnight.
Nina went pale.
"I didn't see anyone."
Adriano crouched beside her.
"Think carefully. Did you hear anything?"
She nodded slowly.
"Last night, when Mommy was taking the laundry downstairs, I heard footsteps in the hall. I thought it was Mr. Marcus."
Marcus shook his head.
"I was at the front gate."
Nina opened her notebook.
"I wrote it down."
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She turned to a page dated the previous evening.
12:14 a.m. Someone opened the office door. I heard a glass touch the desk. Then a woman whispered, 'Not yet.'
