Chapter 6 - Blood Beneath the Altar
Rafe reached the church in less than ninety seconds.
It felt like ninety years.
The front doors were chained from inside.
Nico kicked once near the lock.
Wood splintered.
Rafe entered with a handgun low against his thigh.
“Mave!”
Silence.
Then:
“Here!”
He ran toward the altar.
Emergency lights flickered dimly along the walls.
Mave knelt behind a pew.
Kathleen lay beside her, clutching her upper arm.
Blood soaked her sleeve.
Rafe dropped beside them.
“Where's the shooter?”
“Gone,” Mave said. “Side door.”
Nico and two men moved immediately.
Rafe checked Kathleen's wound.
“Through and through.”
Kathleen stared at him.
She looked like she had seen a ghost.
“You have Sofia's eyes.”
Rafe's expression hardened.
“You were talking about my father.”
Mave snapped, “She's bleeding.”
“I know.”
“Then help her first.”
Rafe ripped a strip from an altar cloth and wrapped Kathleen's arm.
She winced.
“You always were impatient.”
He looked at her.
“You knew me?”
“When you were little.”
“Then explain.”
“Not here.”
A shot cracked outside.
Everyone froze.
Nico's voice came through Rafe's earpiece.
“Suspect vehicle heading south. We lost him.”
“Plate?”
“Covered.”
Rafe helped Kathleen stand.
“We move now.”
They took her to a private medical suite controlled by a physician Rafe trusted.
Mave refused to leave Kathleen's side.
Rafe waited exactly seventeen minutes before asking again.
“Who was Vittorio Colazo?”
Kathleen looked at him from the bed.
Mave sat nearby.
Nico guarded the door.
Kathleen sighed.
“The man who raised you.”
Rafe's jaw tightened.
“He was my father.”
“He loved you like one.”
“That isn't an answer.”
Kathleen looked toward Mave.
Then back.
“Sofia was pregnant when she met Vittorio.”
The room went silent.
“By who?”
Kathleen's face hardened.
“Harlan Vane.”
Rafe did not move.
Mave whispered, “The cop?”
“Yes.”
Rafe laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“You're telling me the man who murdered my father was my biological father.”
“Yes.”
The word broke something invisible.
Rafe walked toward the window.
For years he had imagined killing Dominic Ressa.
Then Bellandis.
Then anyone connected to the old war.
He had built an identity around Vittorio's name.
Now Kathleen was telling him his blood belonged to the man who had murdered Vittorio.
“Why?”
“Sofia was eighteen. Vane was twenty-eight and already a police officer. He was charming when he wanted to be. Violent when he didn't.”
Rafe's hands curled.
“She tried to leave him.”
Kathleen nodded.
“Vittorio helped.”
Mave listened quietly.
“He married her knowing she was pregnant. Gave you his name. Protected both of you.”
“Did Vane know?”
“Yes.”
“And he let it happen?”
“He couldn't stop it without exposing the relationship. Years later, when Vittorio discovered Vane's criminal network, everything came back.”
Kathleen closed her eyes.
“Vittorio planned to turn evidence over to federal investigators.”
“He was a criminal.”
“He was.”
Rafe looked at her.
Kathleen didn't flinch.
“But he had lines. Vane had none.”
“What happened?”
“Vane learned about the evidence. He arranged Vittorio's murder and framed Ressa.”
“And the blue bear?”
“Gabriel had it the night Vittorio died.”
Rafe's face changed.
“Gabriel?”
“He heard something.”
Kathleen's voice softened.
“He was a child. Nobody realized what he had heard. He repeated a conversation to Sofia. She understood that Vane was responsible.”
Rafe sat slowly.
“My mother knew?”
“Yes.”
“For twenty-two years?”
“Yes.”
Rage replaced shock.
“She let me believe Bellandi killed him.”
“She was protecting you.”
“From my own father?”
“From the man who would have killed you if he knew Vittorio had hidden proof with Sofia.”
Rafe stood again.
“Where is my mother?”
Kathleen froze.
Mave looked between them.
Rafe's voice changed.
“You know where she is.”
Kathleen looked down.
“Rafe—”
“My mother disappeared three years ago.”
“She didn't disappear.”
His blood turned cold.
“What?”
“She went into hiding.”
“With you?”
“Sometimes.”
“Why didn't she tell me?”
“Because Vane found out Vittorio's evidence still existed.”
Rafe stepped closer.
“Where is she?”
Kathleen began crying.
“I'm sorry.”
“Where is she?”
“I can't tell you.”
Rafe's voice became terrifyingly calm.
“You don't know me well enough to understand how bad an answer that is.”
Mave stood between them.
“Back up.”
He looked at her.
“Move.”
“No.”
“Mave.”
“She got shot an hour ago.”
“And my mother may be alive.”
“I heard her.”
“You don't understand.”
“Yes, I do.”
Her voice rose.
“I understand exactly what it's like to discover your dead mother isn't dead.”
That stopped him.
Mave's expression softened.
“But shouting at mine won't bring yours into this room faster.”
Rafe looked at Kathleen.
Then stepped back.
Kathleen whispered, “Sofia wanted to contact you.”
“Then why didn't she?”
“Because she found out Vane had someone close to you.”
Rafe went still.
“Who?”
“We don't know.”
“Security?”
“Possibly.”
“Family?”
“Possibly.”
“Lucia?”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Sofia would never have allowed Lucia near you if she suspected her.”
Rafe stared.
Someone close to him.
Someone Vane controlled.
The possibilities multiplied.
Nico looked uncomfortable.
Rafe noticed.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Say it.”
“If Vane had someone in your organization for years, he could've known Lucia's route to the Salt Line.”
Mave looked toward him.
“And Finn's medical records.”
“Yes.”
Kathleen's face changed.
“What happened at the Salt Line?”
Mave told her.
The attacker.
Moss.
The baton.
Kathleen went pale.
“Moss wasn't trying to kill Lucia.”
Rafe looked at her.
“What?”
“He was supposed to frighten her.”
“Why?”
“To force you to tighten security.”
“That makes no sense.”
“Yes, it does.”
Kathleen stared at Nico.
“If Vane believed Sofia or I might try to contact Rafe, he needed Rafe surrounded by people he controlled.”
Nico understood first.
“He wanted security protocols changed.”
Kathleen nodded.
“More guards. Fewer unknown faces. Controlled routes.”
Rafe's expression darkened.
“The attack was designed to make me lock myself inside my own cage.”
“And Mave ruined it,” Kathleen said.
Mave frowned.
“How?”
“You weren't supposed to notice Anton.”
“And when I did?”
“Moss panicked.”
Rafe thought back.
Moss giving Anton the access card.
Then Mave running toward Lucia.
An uncontrolled variable.
Someone Vane had never planned for.
Kathleen looked at her daughter.
“That's why they accessed Finn's records.”
“To threaten me?”
“They needed leverage.”
Mave's face went white.
“They knew who Finn was.”
Kathleen nodded slowly.
“They may not know everything.”
“Everything meaning his father?”
Kathleen hesitated.
Mave's eyes narrowed.
“You said Eleanor was his mother.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
Kathleen looked at Rafe.
“Finn's father was Gabriel.”
Rafe stared.
“No.”
“Gabriel died at eleven,” Mave said.
Kathleen shook her head.
“Not that Gabriel.”
The room went silent.
Rafe frowned.
“My brother?”
“No.”
Kathleen took a breath.
“Vittorio had another son.”
Rafe looked like he had been struck.
“Older than you. Born before he met Sofia. His name was Gabriel Moretti. Vittorio kept him away from the family business.”
“Where is he?”
“Dead.”
“When?”
“Nine years ago.”
Finn's age.
Mave sat slowly.
“Eleanor and Gabriel had a child.”
“Yes.”
“Finn.”
“Yes.”
Rafe stared at the floor.
Finn was his half-brother through Vittorio after all—except Vittorio had been his adoptive father, not biological one.
Blood said one thing.
Love said another.
The relationships twisted until labels became useless.
Kathleen reached for Mave.
“Eleanor knew Vane wanted every branch of Vittorio's family controlled. She asked me to hide Finn.”
“Why me?”
“Because you were already mine.”
Mave's eyes filled.
“I wasn't asking why you loved him.”
Kathleen broke.
“I know.”
For the first time, Mave touched her mother's hand.
Not forgiveness.
Not yet.
But contact.
A phone rang.
Nico answered.
Listened.
Then looked at Rafe.
“Lucia's gone.”
Rafe turned.
“What?”
“Her hospital guard says she left with one of our drivers fifteen minutes ago.”
“Which driver?”
“Martin Keene.”
Rafe's face changed.
Martin had worked for him eight years.
“Call him.”
“No answer.”
“Track the vehicle.”
Nico typed.
Then froze.
“Tracker disabled.”
Kathleen sat upright.
“Keene?”
“You know him?”
“No.”
“But Sofia did.”
Rafe grabbed his jacket.
Kathleen called after him.
“Rafe!”
He turned.
“If Vane has Lucia, don't do what he expects.”
“What does he expect?”
Kathleen's voice trembled.
“For you to become Vittorio.”
Rafe stepped closer.
“What does that mean?”
“He'll make you choose revenge over family.”
Rafe's phone buzzed.
An unknown number.
A photograph appeared.
Lucia sat tied to a chair inside what looked like an abandoned industrial building.
Blood marked her lip.
Beneath the photograph was one message.
BRING THE KEY TO BOX 317. COME ALONE.
A second message arrived.
OR YOUR SISTER LEARNS WHAT BREAKING BONE SOUNDS LIKE.
Rafe stared at the screen.
Mave saw the change in him.
Cold.
Absolute.
The man Boston feared had returned.
Then a third message appeared.
This one contained an address.
And four words.
May you like
ASK YOUR FATHER WHY.
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