Chapter 6 - The Brother Who Came Back Dead
For nine years, Mave had imagined what she would say if Declan returned.
She had imagined screaming at him.
Hitting him.
Holding him so tightly he could never disappear again.
Instead, she sat frozen in a wheelchair while her brother bled across the polished bank floor.
Declan looked older than twenty-six.
A scar ran from his temple to the edge of his mouth. His dark hair had been cut close to his skull, and one of his hands was covered in old burn marks.
But his eyes were the same.
Blue-gray.
Restless.
Always watching the nearest exit.
“Mave,” he whispered again.
She reached for him.
Rafe caught her wrist.
“Wait.”
“He’s my brother.”
“He is carrying the same symbol as the attackers.”
Declan lifted his burned hand.
The black crow ring reflected the emergency lights.
“This isn’t loyalty,” he said weakly. “It’s camouflage.”
Nico searched him and found a pistol, two knives, and a small electronic device connected to the bank’s security system.
“You triggered the alarm,” Nico said.
“To get you out before Vincent’s men sealed the vault.”
Gunfire continued in the corridor.
Rafe crouched beside Declan.
“You knew we would come.”
“I’ve watched the box for years.”
“Why not take the ledger yourself?”
“Only Mave could open it without alerting Vincent.”
Mave stared at him.
“You knew where I was all this time?”
Declan looked away.
“You watched me raise Finn alone?”
“I watched from far enough away to keep you alive.”
“You let me believe you were dead.”
“I was supposed to be dead.”
“That didn’t answer me.”
An explosion shook dust from the ceiling.
Rafe pulled Declan upright.
“We discuss family trauma after we survive.”
Nico opened a maintenance panel behind the viewing room. The bank manager had revealed an emergency passage used during fire evacuations.
Rafe lifted Mave from the wheelchair.
Pain tore through her shoulder.
“I can walk.”
“No, you cannot.”
He carried her into the narrow tunnel while Nico and two guards supported Declan.
The passage led beneath an adjoining office building.
They emerged inside a parking structure where another Colazo vehicle waited.
As soon as the doors closed, Mave turned toward Declan.
“Talk.”
A medic cut open his shirt.
The bullet had passed through his side without striking an organ.
Declan clenched his teeth as the wound was packed.
“Vincent’s trafficking network did not disappear after Antonio died,” he said. “It became more careful. He used restaurants, clinics, shelters, and temporary employment agencies to identify women no one would search for quickly.”
Mave thought of Gerald’s contempt.
The way he learned who had children.
Who lived alone.
Who needed money.
“How did you survive?”
“Vincent took me to a warehouse near the Mystic River. Dad had given him my location.”
Mave closed her eyes.
The letter had been true.
“Why?”
“Dad thought Vincent would frighten me and let me go. Instead, Vincent ordered Elias Crowe to kill me.”
“The man with the baton?”
Declan nodded.
“Elias was seventeen too. Vincent had raised him inside the network. But he couldn’t do it. He pushed me into the river and fired into the water so the others would think I was dead.”
“And then?”
“I ran.”
“For nine years?”
“I gathered proof.”
“You already had proof in the bank.”
“Names are not enough. Vincent owns police officers and judges. I needed financial records, testimony, locations, living victims.”
Rafe’s voice became cold.
“You could have brought it to me.”
Declan laughed bitterly.
“You spent eleven years believing the Morettis killed your father. Vincent raised you into the perfect weapon and pointed you at his enemies. Why would I trust you?”
Rafe did not answer.
Because the accusation was true.
Declan looked at Mave.
“Three weeks ago, Vincent found out Finn existed.”
“How?”
“Gerald Moss submitted a photograph from Finn’s hospital fundraiser. Vincent recognized Gabriel in his face.”
Mave pressed a hand against her mouth.
“Gabriel Colazo was Finn’s father?”
“Our mother met him while working nights at a hotel. They planned to leave Boston together. Gabriel disappeared before she could tell him she was pregnant.”
Rafe stared out the window.
He remembered Gabriel as reckless, warm, and stubborn enough to challenge Vincent publicly.
Rafe had been thirteen when Gabriel first took him sailing.
Twenty-two when Gabriel vanished.
“Vincent killed him,” Rafe said.
Declan nodded.
“Gabriel learned the truth about Antonio’s murder.”
Mave’s eyes filled.
“Finn cannot know any of this yet.”
“He may already know something,” Declan said.
“What does that mean?”
“Vincent has someone inside the hospital.”
Rafe immediately called Sofia.
No answer.
He called Finn’s security detail.
A guard answered after three rings.
“Sir, there’s a problem.”
Rafe’s voice changed. “What problem?”
“Dr. Halpern authorized Finn for imaging twenty minutes ago. We followed the transport team to the cardiac floor.”
“And?”
“There is no Dr. Halpern at St. Catherine’s.”
Mave grabbed the phone.
“Where is Finn?”
“We’re searching.”
“Put Sofia on.”
The guard went silent.
Rafe took the phone back.
“Where is my sister?”
“She went with him.”
The vehicle turned sharply toward the hospital.
Mave’s body shook.
Declan forced himself upright despite the wound.
“They’re not taking Finn to Vincent’s main property.”
“How do you know?” Rafe asked.
“Because Vincent needs the boy alive until the paternity test is complete.”
“And Sofia?”
Declan’s expression darkened.
“She is insurance against you.”
Nico received an incoming security image and placed it on the screen.
A traffic camera showed a white medical van leaving the hospital.
Sofia sat in the front passenger seat with a gun against her ribs.
Finn lay visible through the rear window.
Written in dirt across the glass with one finger were three numbers.
617.
Mave stared at them.
“That’s not a phone number.”
Declan understood first.
“It’s a warehouse district.”
Rafe looked at him.
May you like
“Which warehouse?”
“The one where Vincent killed your father.”
