Chapter 12 - The Woman in the River
The bullet struck Mave below the ribs.
She fell backward against the pier railing as Gerald lunged for her weapon.
Mave fired once.
The bullet struck his cane, splintering the wood.
He crashed onto the wet boards.
Vincent approached through the fog.
“You have caused an extraordinary amount of inconvenience,” he said.
Mave pressed one hand against the blood spreading through her coat.
The world tilted.
“You shot me.”
“I noticed.”
“You’re less charming in person.”
Vincent almost smiled.
Behind him, the live camera continued broadcasting.
Mave had known the stream existed from the moment Gerald mentioned it. She had also known Rafe’s people would be watching.
She only needed to remain alive long enough for them to arrive.
Vincent noticed her glance.
He turned and fired into the camera.
The feed went black.
At the hospital, Sofia screamed.
Nico had traced the broadcast seconds earlier.
Rafe saw the final image from inside the detention center’s legal consultation room.
Mave falling.
Blood across her coat.
Vincent standing behind her.
Rafe rose.
The federal agent beside him blocked the door.
“You are not leaving.”
Rafe looked at his attorney.
The attorney placed a phone on the table.
It contained the newly obtained paternity test confirming Gabriel as Finn’s father, Gabriel’s testimony, Patrick’s recording, and live evidence showing Vincent shooting Mave.
“Your detention order was challenged fifteen minutes ago,” the attorney said. “The judge signed your conditional release.”
The agent checked his earpiece.
Then stepped aside.
Rafe was already moving.
At Pier 17, Vincent took Mave’s pistol.
“Where is Gabriel?”
She laughed weakly.
“You think I came here to tell you?”
He crouched beside her.
“Finn’s transplant does not make him safe. Children reject organs every day.”
Mave’s fear sharpened into rage.
“You go near him and—”
“You will what?”
She pulled her blood-covered hand away from the wound and struck him across the face.
Vincent stared at her.
Then he shoved her through the broken railing.
Mave fell into the harbor.
The cold swallowed her.
Pain disappeared beneath shock.
Dark water closed above her head.
For a moment, she could not tell which direction led upward.
Her injured shoulder refused to move. The coat dragged her deeper.
Mave thought of Finn waking after surgery.
Of Declan returning from the dead.
Of Sofia laughing in the hospital room.
Of Rafe kneeling on the marble floor and looking at her as though the entire world had narrowed to one breath.
She fought.
Her hand reached the surface once.
Then slipped under.
A body entered the water beside her.
Strong arms wrapped around her waist.
Rafe pulled her upward.
They broke through the surface together.
Mave coughed against his shoulder.
“I told you not to save me,” he said.
Her teeth chattered.
“You’re confusing us.”
Gunfire erupted on the pier.
Nico’s men surrounded Gerald while Declan pursued Vincent toward the shipping yard.
Rafe carried Mave to a rescue boat.
A medic cut open her coat.
“The bullet passed through. We have major blood loss.”
Mave caught Rafe’s sleeve.
“Names.”
“What?”
“Vincent has the witness list.”
“We’ll find it.”
“He’ll kill them.”
“Declan is after him.”
Her eyes began closing.
Rafe held her face.
“No. Look at me.”
She forced one eye open.
“You’re the dangerous man.”
The same words she had spoken at the Salt Line.
His voice broke.
“Yes.”
“Good.”
“Why?”
“Be dangerous for them.”
Then she lost consciousness.
Declan chased Vincent between stacked containers.
Rain turned the pavement slick.
Vincent reached a waiting vehicle, but Gabriel stepped from behind it holding a gun.
For the first time, Vincent looked afraid.
“You survived,” he said.
Gabriel’s expression remained empty.
“You killed Antonio.”
“He would have destroyed the family.”
“You destroyed it.”
Vincent glanced behind him.
Declan approached from the opposite direction.
“You both believe Rafe will forgive your claims to his power?”
Gabriel lowered the weapon slightly.
“Finn is a child. He claims nothing.”
“Others will claim it for him.”
“You cannot imagine a world where power is not the only thing people want.”
Vincent smiled.
“That is why you always lost.”
A siren sounded nearby.
Vincent threw a small device beneath the vehicle.
Smoke exploded across the lane.
When it cleared, he was gone.
But the witness list remained inside the car.
Declan found something else in the back seat.
A phone connected to a scheduled release system.
If Vincent failed to enter a code every twelve hours, the names would be sent to dozens of criminal contacts.
Nico examined it.
“We need the password.”
Gabriel looked toward the harbor.
“Antonio’s birthday.”
They entered the date.
The screen rejected it.
“Rafe’s birthday,” Declan tried.
Rejected.
“Vincent’s mother?”
Rejected.
Only one attempt remained.
Gabriel looked at the black crow symbol on the screen.
“He never loved family.”
Declan understood.
“What did he love?”
“Control.”
Declan entered the date Antonio Colazo died.
The phone unlocked.
The scheduled release was canceled.
At the hospital, surgeons fought to stop Mave’s bleeding.
Rafe waited outside, soaked in harbor water and covered in her blood.
Finn was wheeled into the corridor despite the nurses’ objections.
His face remained pale after the transplant.
“Is she going to die?” he asked.
Rafe crouched in front of him.
“No.”
“You don’t know.”
“No.”
“Then why say it?”
Rafe looked through the operating-room window.
“Because she has spent your entire life telling you everything would be fine even when she was afraid.”
Finn lowered his eyes.
“She lies about that a lot.”
“Yes.”
“Are you lying too?”
Rafe swallowed.
“I am promising to do everything I can.”
Finn placed Captain in his hands.
“She needs him more.”
Rafe held the worn bear.
Hours later, the surgeon emerged.
Mave had survived.
But the bullet and cold-water exposure had caused complications.
“She may not wake soon,” the surgeon said.
“How long?” Rafe asked.
“Days. Weeks. We cannot know.”
Rafe entered her room alone.
He placed Captain beside her hand.
Then he sat and told her the one thing he had been too afraid to say while she could hear him.
“I do not know what this is,” he whispered. “But the world changed when you stepped in front of that weapon.”
Mave remained still.
Rafe lowered his head beside her hand.
Outside the hospital, Vincent watched the building from a stolen vehicle.
He had lost the witness list.
He had lost Gabriel.
He had lost control of the public story.
Only one weapon remained.
He called a number inside the hospital.
A nurse answered.
May you like
Vincent gave a simple instruction.
“Disconnect the boy’s anti-rejection medication.”
