Chapter 10 - The Lie Between Them
Finn’s transplant surgery lasted nine hours.
Mave sat in the waiting room with Captain in her lap and Rafe’s coat around her shoulders.
He had placed it over her before the federal agents led him away.
The coat still carried the scent of rain, smoke, and the faint cedar of his cologne.
Mave told herself she wore it because the waiting room was cold.
Sofia did not believe her.
“You care about him,” Sofia said.
Mave kept her eyes on the operating-room doors.
“I’ve known him for three days.”
“That was not an answer.”
“He is accused of running a trafficking network.”
“He didn’t.”
“You sound certain.”
“I know my brother.”
Mave looked at her.
“Did you know your uncle?”
Sofia’s expression changed.
The question hurt, but it was necessary.
“No,” Sofia admitted. “Not really.”
Mave stared at Captain.
“I thought I knew Declan. I thought I knew my father. Every man in my family decided lying was acceptable if they called it protection.”
“Rafe told you not to save him.”
“That might be the first stupid thing he’s done honestly.”
Declan entered carrying two coffees.
Patrick followed several steps behind.
Mave’s body stiffened.
Her father stopped.
“I can leave.”
“You usually do.”
Patrick accepted the blow.
Declan placed one coffee beside her.
“Dad has something we need.”
Patrick removed a small cassette tape from his coat.
“Evelyn recorded Vincent nine years ago.”
Mave stared.
“Mom?”
“She knew I had betrayed Declan. She confronted Vincent and recorded the conversation.”
“Where has it been?”
“With me.”
Declan turned on him.
“You had proof?”
“I had a damaged tape. The recording cuts out before he says Antonio’s name.”
“You could have given it to us.”
“I was afraid.”
Mave’s voice became quiet.
“You were always afraid.”
Patrick nodded.
“And every time I chose fear, one of you paid for it.”
He placed the tape on the table.
“I cannot change that. But I can testify.”
“Against Vincent?”
“Against myself too.”
Declan looked away.
Patrick had admitted to destroying evidence, obstructing a missing-person investigation, and providing Declan’s location to violent criminals.
Testifying could send him to prison.
“You think this fixes anything?” Mave asked.
“No.”
“Then why?”
“Because Finn should grow up knowing someone finally told the truth.”
Before Mave could answer, the surgeon entered.
Everyone stood.
“The transplant was successful.”
Mave stopped breathing.
“The new heart is functioning well. The next forty-eight hours are critical, but Finn did exceptionally well.”
A sound escaped her that was half laugh, half sob.
Declan embraced her carefully.
Sofia covered her face.
Even Patrick began crying.
Mave looked toward the empty chair where Rafe should have been.
“He needs to know.”
Nico appeared in the doorway.
“I’ll tell him.”
At the federal detention center, Rafe sat alone inside an interview room.
Two prosecutors had questioned him for six hours.
They displayed manifests bearing his signature, financial transfers from Colazo companies, and photographs of victims recovered from properties connected to his organization.
Rafe recognized none of the women.
That did not lessen the shame.
He had ruled through fear while suffering existed beneath his own name.
His attorney entered.
“Finn survived.”
Rafe closed his eyes briefly.
“Good.”
“The press conference shifted public opinion, but prosecutors still have enough to hold you.”
“The ledger?”
“Missing.”
“Declan’s testimony?”
“He spent nine years using false identities and working with smugglers. The government considers him unreliable.”
“And Patrick?”
“Potentially useful, but compromised.”
Rafe leaned back.
“Vincent planned this well.”
His attorney placed a document on the table.
“There is another problem.”
It was a marriage certificate.
Evelyn Donovan had apparently married a man named Michael Crane ten months before Finn’s birth.
“If this is valid,” the attorney said, “Michael Crane may be Finn’s legal father.”
“Who is he?”
“An employee of Vincent’s shipping company who died eight years ago.”
Rafe examined the signature.
Something looked wrong.
“Why are you showing me this?”
“An anonymous source sent it to three news organizations. They claim you manipulated Mave by allowing her to believe Finn was a Colazo heir.”
“I did not know this existed.”
“They say you did.”
The story appeared online within minutes.
MAFIA HEIR CLAIM QUESTIONED: DID RAFE COLAZO USE SICK CHILD TO GAIN PUBLIC SYMPATHY?
At the hospital, Mave read the article on Sofia’s phone.
Her relief vanished.
The report claimed Rafe’s attorneys had obtained the marriage certificate two days earlier.
Before the bank.
Before the warehouse.
Before Rafe spoke publicly about Finn’s possible connection to Gabriel.
Mave called his attorney.
“Did Rafe know?”
The attorney paused too long.
“We received an unverified document.”
“When?”
“Before his arrest.”
“Did he tell you not to show me?”
“I cannot discuss privileged communication.”
Mave ended the call.
Declan read the article.
“This came from Vincent.”
“That doesn’t mean the certificate is false.”
“No.”
“It means Rafe might have known Finn wasn’t family.”
“Mave—”
“He paid the bills. Moved Finn. Protected us. What if this was never about Finn? What if he needed us to help clear his name?”
Sofia shook her head.
“My brother is not Vincent.”
“Every person who lied to me said they were protecting someone.”
Mave removed Rafe’s coat.
She folded it carefully and placed it on the empty chair.
Nico entered.
“Rafe asked whether Finn woke.”
“Tell him Finn is stable.”
“I will.”
“And tell him not to contact me.”
Nico stared at her.
“Mave, the document—”
“I need time.”
That night, Finn opened his eyes.
Mave rushed to his bedside.
His voice was barely audible.
“Did I get it?”
“You got your new heart.”
He smiled weakly.
“Does it know me yet?”
Mave kissed his forehead.
“It will.”
Finn’s eyes drifted toward the door.
“Where’s Mr. Trouble?”
Mave looked down.
“He had to go away.”
Finn closed his eyes again.
“He likes you.”
“You are heavily medicated.”
“He looks at you like Captain looks at snacks.”
Despite herself, Mave laughed.
A nurse entered carrying flowers.
No sender was listed.
Inside the bouquet was a small black envelope.
Mave opened it.
The message contained one sentence.
Ask Rafe why Gabriel Colazo’s body was never found.
Beneath it was a recent photograph.
A gray-haired man stood outside a private clinic in Montreal.
Mave had never seen him.
May you like
But Finn had his eyes.
Gabriel Colazo was alive.
