Chapter 2 - MAEVE’S FATHER HAD LOST EVERYTHINGPatrick Callahan never became rich.
He did honest work.
Commercial cleaning.
Building maintenance.
Floor restoration.
The kind of contracts wealthy people notice only when something goes wrong.
For fourteen years, Callahan Facilities serviced several Bellanova properties.
Patrick employed thirty-two people at his peak.
Then, two years before his death, things changed.
Invoices went unpaid.
Contracts disappeared.
A large insurance claim was denied.
Someone accused Patrick’s company of overbilling Bellanova Hospitality by nearly $400,000.
Patrick denied it.
He showed Maeve spreadsheets at their kitchen table.
“These numbers aren’t mine.”
She believed him.
The dispute destroyed his credit.
Payroll bounced.
Employees left.
He sold equipment.
Then his house.
A year later, he suffered a heart attack.
No cinematic conspiracy.
No poisoning.
No secret hit.
Stress may have contributed.
Doctors could not say how much.
Maeve would never pretend otherwise.
But Patrick died believing his reputation had been ruined by fraud he did not commit.
Now his dead company appeared in Bellanova records.
Receiving money.
Maeve looked at Rocco.
“I want copies.”
Dominic snapped:
“You’re not entitled to company files.”
Rocco looked at him.
“She may be entitled to evidence involving her father’s identity.”
Then he turned toward company counsel, who had just arrived.
“Preserve everything.”
Not give Maeve confidential files casually.
Preserve.
Investigate.
Properly.
Maeve noticed the distinction.
Good.
May you like
Rocco may have made one terrible judgment with the wheelchair disguise.
At least he understood evidence.
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