Chapter 5 - THE WOMAN WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD
Mave watched the surveillance footage seventeen times.
Each time she expected the woman to become someone else.
She didn't.
Kathleen Donovan walked with a slight limp Mave remembered from childhood.
She pushed her hair behind her ear with two fingers.
Mave remembered that too.
At the end of the clip, Kathleen turned toward a security camera for less than a second.
Her face was older.
Thinner.
Terrified.
But alive.
“My mother is alive.”
Rafe stood beside her in the hospital waiting room.
“Yes.”
Mave looked at him with fury.
It surprised him.
“She let me bury her.”
“Mave—”
“I stood beside a coffin.”
“I know.”
“I was sixteen.”
Her voice broke.
“Finn was a baby. My father was drinking. I quit school because someone had to keep the lights on. I worked mornings at a laundromat and nights washing dishes. I thought she was dead.”
Rafe said nothing.
There were moments when words were an insult.
“She was alive.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
Mave wiped her face.
“You always say that when the answer is awful.”
“Because sometimes the truth takes longer.”
She laughed bitterly.
“You sound like a fortune cookie for criminals.”
“That may be the meanest thing anyone has ever said to me.”
Mave looked at him.
Despite everything, a broken laugh escaped her.
Rafe smiled slightly.
Then Nico entered.
“We identified the vehicle.”
Mave turned.
“Where did she go?”
“Car was abandoned near South Station.”
“Then she could be anywhere.”
“Yes.”
“Find her.”
Nico looked toward Rafe.
Mave stepped between them.
“Don't look at him. I said find her.”
Something like approval crossed Nico's face.
“Yes, ma'am.”
Rafe waited until he left.
“You realize you just ordered around my head of security.”
“He listened.”
“That worries me.”
Mave moved toward Finn's room.
Her little brother had woken after surgery and immediately complained that hospital gelatin should be illegal.
Dr. Park considered this an excellent sign.
Finn's color looked better already.
When Mave entered, he was watching cartoons with Lucia.
Rafe stayed near the doorway.
Finn glanced up.
“You were crying.”
“No.”
“Your face is red.”
“Allergies.”
“To what?”
“Nosy children.”
Finn rolled his eyes.
Mave sat carefully.
“How do you feel?”
“Like someone cut open my chest.”
Her smile disappeared.
“Sorry.”
He looked at her.
“Hey.”
“What?”
“I'm okay.”
The reversal almost destroyed her.
She had spent years telling him those words.
Now he was giving them back.
Mave kissed his forehead.
“I know.”
Finn glanced toward Rafe.
“Did rich scary guy pay for it?”
Mave closed her eyes.
“Finn.”
“What? I heard the nurses.”
Rafe stepped forward.
“It's a loan.”
Finn nodded seriously.
“I can contribute twelve dollars.”
“Generous.”
“And a Batman card worth maybe eight.”
“Keep Batman.”
Finn leaned back.
“Deal.”
Lucia grinned.
For thirty minutes, they looked almost normal.
Then a nurse brought Mave a sealed envelope.
“This was left at reception.”
“By who?”
“Woman in a gray coat.”
Mave froze.
Rafe stood instantly.
“When?”
“Five minutes ago.”
Nico was already moving before Rafe spoke.
“Lock entrances.”
The nurse backed away, alarmed.
Mave stared at the envelope.
Her name was written across the front.
Not printed.
Handwritten.
She knew those letters.
Mave.
Exactly the way Kathleen had written it on lunch bags.
Her fingers trembled as she opened the envelope.
Inside was a single piece of paper.
My brave girl,
I have watched you from farther away than any mother should ever stand. I know you hate me already, and you have every right.
Mave stopped reading.
Finn's eyes widened.
“What is it?”
She folded the paper.
“Nothing.”
Rafe held out his hand.
“Mave.”
She glared at him.
“Don't.”
“This could be dangerous.”
“It's from my mother.”
Finn went still.
“Our mother?”
Mave closed her eyes.
She hadn't planned to tell him like this.
Finn looked between them.
“Mave.”
She sat beside him again.
“There's something we found out.”
His face changed.
Nine years old was old enough to recognize adults hiding earthquakes.
“Mom might not have died when we thought she did.”
Finn stared.
“What?”
“She may still be alive.”
Silence.
Then:
“Where?”
“We don't know.”
“Why didn't she come home?”
“I don't know.”
Finn looked at Rafe.
“You know everything scary. Do you know?”
Rafe wished he did.
“No.”
Finn looked away.
Mave unfolded the letter.
“I'll read it.”
She continued.
I did not leave because I stopped loving you. I left because men were looking for something I had helped hide, and if they believed I was dead, they might leave you alive.
Mave's breathing changed.
Your father did not know the truth. I made sure of that. Patrick made mistakes, but loving you was never one of them.
Rafe's gaze sharpened.
Finn was never supposed to be part of this. Eleanor trusted me with him because she believed she would be killed. She was right.
Mave stopped.
Finn whispered, “Who is Eleanor?”
Rafe answered softly.
“Someone who knew my family.”
Mave kept reading.
Finn is your brother in every way that matters, but Patrick Donovan was not his biological father. Eleanor Price was his mother.
Finn stared at her.
“No.”
Mave reached for him.
He pulled back.
“Keep reading.”
Her voice shook.
His father's identity was hidden because it could have gotten him killed before he learned to walk. The proof is inside Box 317, along with records that could destroy the men who murdered Vittorio Colazo and Eleanor.
Rafe's entire body hardened.
Gerald Moss was once one of them. He found me two months ago. That is why I came back.
Mave continued.
Do not trust the police officer named Harlan Vane. Do not trust anyone who tells you the Bellandis started the war. And whatever happens, do not let them discover who Finn's father was.
The letter ended with an address.
A closed church in Dorchester.
And a time.
Midnight.
Below it:
Come alone, Mave. If Rafe follows you, I will disappear forever.
Mave folded the letter.
“No.”
Rafe spoke immediately.
“You aren't going alone.”
“Yes, I am.”
“Mave.”
“She is my mother.”
“And possibly bait.”
“She knows about Box 317.”
“So does whoever murdered Moss.”
“She says she'll disappear.”
“Then let her.”
Mave stared at him.
Rafe regretted the words instantly.
“That's not what I meant.”
“Yes, it is.”
“I mean your safety matters more than a meeting.”
“You got to have your mother.”
Rafe went silent.
Mave's eyes were wet.
“I didn't. I thought mine was dead for eleven years.”
She pointed to the letter.
“If there is even a chance I can stand in front of her and ask why she left me, I am going.”
Rafe stepped closer.
“And if the person waiting there isn't Kathleen?”
“Then I'll deal with it.”
“With one functioning arm?”
“I'll improvise.”
“This isn't a joke.”
“I know.”
They stood inches apart.
Finn watched them.
Lucia quietly took his hand.
Finally, Rafe said, “I'll stay outside.”
“No.”
“Across the street.”
“No.”
“Two blocks.”
“She'll see your men.”
“You want me to let you walk alone into an abandoned church at midnight?”
“Yes.”
“That is the worst plan I've heard this year.”
“And I work in restaurants. I've heard management meetings.”
Rafe stared at her.
She stared back.
He knew he was going to lose.
Not because Mave was stronger.
Because she had spent her entire life having choices taken from her.
He would not become another man doing it.
“Fine.”
She blinked.
“But you wear a transmitter.”
“Rafe.”
“That's the compromise.”
“And if she sees it?”
“She won't.”
“You're very confident.”
“I have good people.”
“Your good people missed a man with a steel baton.”
That landed.
Rafe exhaled through his nose.
“Fair.”
At eleven fifty-five, Mave stood outside St. Brendan's Church in Dorchester.
The building had been closed for renovation after storm damage. Plywood covered two windows. Streetlamps flickered along the sidewalk.
Rafe's men were nowhere visible.
Which meant they were everywhere.
Mave entered.
The church smelled of dust and old wood.
“Mom?”
Nothing.
She walked between pews.
“Mom?”
A figure stepped from beside the altar.
Mave stopped breathing.
Kathleen Donovan was fifty now.
Silver touched her dark hair.
A scar ran from her temple toward her ear.
But she had the same brown eyes.
Mave's eyes.
For several seconds, neither moved.
Then Kathleen whispered,
“My baby.”
Mave slapped her.
The sound echoed through the empty church.
Kathleen stumbled.
Mave's face collapsed immediately.
“I buried you.”
“I know.”
“I buried you!”
Kathleen started crying.
“I know.”
Mave hit her chest with her good hand.
“You left me!”
“I had to.”
“You didn't have to leave me for eleven years!”
“If I'd come back, they would've killed you.”
“Who?”
Kathleen looked toward the entrance.
“Harlan Vane.”
“Who is he?”
“He was a detective when Vittorio Colazo died.”
“Rafe says a Bellandi gunman killed him.”
“No.”
Kathleen shook her head.
“Vane killed him.”
Mave went still.
“Why?”
“Because Vittorio discovered Vane was using both families. Drugs moved through police evidence rooms. Guns disappeared. Informants were sold to whichever side paid more.”
“Why would Mom—why would you know?”
“I cleaned the Colazo house.”
Rafe listened from an unmarked van two blocks away.
Every word came through Mave's transmitter.
Kathleen continued.
“Sofia trusted me. Eleanor trusted me. We found documents Vittorio had hidden.”
“The box?”
“Yes.”
“And Finn?”
Kathleen closed her eyes.
“Finn was Eleanor's son.”
“Who was his father?”
“Mave—”
“Who?”
Kathleen's voice dropped.
“Vittorio Colazo.”
In the van, Rafe went completely still.
Nico turned toward him.
Mave stared at her mother.
“You're telling me Finn is Rafe's brother?”
“Half brother.”
The words seemed impossible.
Finn.
Nine years old.
Rafe's father had been dead twenty-two years.
Mave's eyes narrowed.
“That doesn't make sense.”
Kathleen shook her head.
“No. Not Rafe's father.”
Mave's confusion deepened.
“You just said Vittorio Colazo.”
Kathleen looked terrified.
“Rafe was lied to about who Vittorio was to him.”
In the van, Rafe leaned toward the receiver.
Kathleen whispered the sentence that shattered the past a second time.
“Vittorio Colazo wasn't Rafe's father.”
Then the church lights went out.
Mave heard the door slam.
Kathleen screamed.
A gunshot exploded through the darkness.
May you like
And Rafe was already running.
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