Chapter 6 - What Fell From Her Pocket Changed Four Lives
The photograph had been taken that morning.
Finn asleep in his hospital bed.
Through the window.
Someone had gotten close enough to photograph him.
Mave stared at the image without speaking.
Rafe had seen fear in people hundreds of times.
He had caused some of it.
But Mave's fear looked different.
It wasn't fear of dying.
It was fear of failing someone she loved.
She turned toward him.
"Get him somewhere else."
"We will."
"No, now."
"Mave—"
"Move his room. Change the floor. Put security outside every elevator. I don't care what it costs."
Rafe nodded.
"Done."
Mave stopped.
She realized what she'd just done.
For the first time, she'd asked him for help before he offered it.
Rafe didn't point that out.
Within an hour, Finn was moved to a restricted pediatric suite under another patient designation.
Hospital security coordinated with police.
Rafe stationed his own people outside public entrances but followed Mave's condition that they remain discreet.
Then he focused on Dominic.
Patrick finally reappeared.
Not voluntarily.
He walked into a police station shortly after midnight carrying a flash drive and asked for federal investigators.
Rafe received the news through a contact.
Patrick was talking.
The records in Aunt Delia's case had been copies.
Patrick had the originals hidden elsewhere.
For twenty years, Dominic Colazo had used politicians, contractors, and criminal intermediaries to conceal extortion and money laundering.
Patrick participated.
Then he'd tried escaping.
Dominic threatened Mave and Finn.
Patrick stayed away believing distance would protect them.
It hadn't.
His cowardice had become abandonment.
But now he was finally giving authorities everything.
Mave met him in a secure interview room the next morning.
Rafe waited outside.
Patrick looked smaller than she remembered from childhood.
Not physically.
Morally.
He stood when she entered.
"Mave."
She sat.
Patrick remained standing.
"How's Finn?"
"Surgery tomorrow."
His eyes closed.
"Can I see him?"
"No."
Patrick nodded.
He deserved that answer.
Mave looked at him.
"Why didn't you tell us?"
"Because I thought silence kept you safe."
"You sent a man to frighten me."
Patrick's face twisted.
"I didn't know Dominic had taken over North Harbor. I hired Pierce through someone I thought I trusted. I wanted the case back before Dominic knew you had it."
"Pierce almost killed someone."
"I know."
"That is on you."
Patrick nodded.
"I know."
Mave hadn't expected remorse to make her angrier.
"I needed you."
Patrick's eyes filled.
"I know."
"Finn needed you."
"I know."
"You don't get to say that like it fixes something."
"It doesn't."
She stared at him.
For years she'd imagined this conversation.
In some versions Patrick begged.
In some she screamed.
In some she walked away.
None felt like this.
Just two broken people sitting across a table.
Patrick said, "I loved you."
Mave's face tightened.
"You loved us badly."
He looked down.
"Yes."
That was the first honest sentence he'd given her.
Mave stood.
"If you want any chance of seeing Finn again, tell investigators everything."
"I am."
"Not because you want forgiveness."
Patrick looked up.
"Because it's the right thing."
Mave left.
Outside, Rafe stood against the wall.
He didn't ask what happened.
Mave appreciated that.
Instead he handed her coffee.
She took it.
"Terrible?"
"Probably."
He looked at the cup.
"It cost seven dollars."
"Then definitely terrible."
She smiled.
It was small.
But Rafe noticed.
They returned to the hospital.
Finn was awake, making Sofia draw superhero costumes for Mr. Buttons.
Sofia's drawings were awful.
Finn informed her repeatedly.
Rafe entered.
Finn looked at him.
"You're late."
"For what?"
"My operation planning meeting."
Rafe looked at Mave.
"I wasn't invited."
Finn shrugged.
"You are now."
Mave leaned against the doorway.
Something warm and frightening moved through her.
This was beginning to look like family.
That terrified her almost as much as Dominic.
The surgery began the next morning.
Mave walked beside Finn's bed until nurses stopped her at the operating doors.
Finn reached for her.
She bent down.
"Real promise?" he whispered.
Mave knew what he meant.
She pressed her forehead against his.
"I'm going to be right here when you wake up."
"What if I don't?"
Her breath caught.
"Then I'll still be right here."
Finn nodded.
They took him through the doors.
Mave stood motionless.
Then her knees nearly gave out.
Rafe caught her.
Hours passed.
Sofia brought food nobody ate.
Patrick remained under federal protection.
Dominic disappeared.
Then, three hours into surgery, Mateo approached Rafe.
Quietly.
"Dominic's here."
Rafe stood.
Mave saw.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"Don't lie to me."
Rafe looked toward Sofia.
"Sofia, stay with her."
Mave grabbed his sleeve.
"Rafe."
He met her eyes.
"Dominic entered the hospital."
Mave's face drained.
"Why?"
"The records. Revenge. Maybe both."
"Call police."
"Already done."
Rafe began walking.
Mave followed.
"No."
She ignored him.
"Mave."
"My brother is in surgery inside this building. I'm not sitting in a chair."
"This isn't your fight."
She stopped.
"That sentence is exactly how people like Dominic survive."
Rafe stared.
Mave continued.
"Everybody keeps deciding it's somebody else's fight."
He knew she was right.
Security cameras showed Dominic heading toward a service corridor.
Rafe and Mateo intercepted him near a loading area.
Dominic looked older than Rafe remembered.
But his smile was the same.
"Rafe."
"You're finished."
Dominic laughed.
"You sound like your father."
"My father protected you."
"Your father feared me."
Rafe's expression hardened.
Dominic reached inside his coat.
Mateo reacted.
So did Rafe.
But before anything escalated, Mave's voice rang out.
"Stop."
Dominic looked behind Rafe.
A thin woman with her arm still partially immobilized stood twenty feet away.
He smiled.
"Mave Donovan."
Rafe stepped between them.
"Leave her out of this."
Dominic laughed.
"She started this."
Mave shook her head.
"No. You did."
Dominic's smile vanished.
"You've caused a lot of trouble."
"I served drinks."
"You opened something that didn't belong to you."
"My aunt left it to me."
"Your aunt was stupid."
Mave's voice turned cold.
"My aunt was smart enough to scare you twelve years after her death."
Dominic's face tightened.
Sirens approached outside.
Dominic glanced toward the exit.
Rafe saw the calculation.
The old Rafe would have ended the threat himself.
Quickly.
Permanently.
His father would have.
Dominic expected him to.
Instead Rafe stepped backward.
Mateo looked confused.
Dominic smiled.
"What's wrong?"
Rafe said, "I'm done solving problems your way."
Police entered from both sides.
Dominic's face changed.
"No."
Officers shouted commands.
Dominic looked at Rafe with disbelief.
"You'd hand family to police?"
Rafe's answer was quiet.
"You stopped being family when you started hunting children."
Dominic was arrested.
No gunfire.
No blood.
No revenge.
Just handcuffs.
Evidence.
Consequences.
Mave watched Rafe as officers took Dominic away.
Something had changed in him.
He looked at her.
"What?"
She shook her head.
"Nothing."
"You're staring."
"I'm surprised."
"That I didn't kill him?"
"That you wanted to."
Rafe didn't deny it.
Mave stepped closer.
"But you didn't."
"No."
"Why?"
Rafe looked toward the floors above them.
Toward Finn.
"Because a nine-year-old asked me last night if bad men can become good."
Mave's eyes softened.
"What did you tell him?"
"That I didn't know."
"And now?"
Rafe looked at her.
"Now I think maybe they can make better choices."
Before Mave could answer, Sofia came running down the corridor.
"Mave!"
Every trace of color left Mave's face.
"What?"
Sofia stopped, breathless.
"The surgeon is looking for you."
Mave ran.
She reached the waiting area and saw the doctor.
His mask was down.
His expression unreadable.
Mave's hands began shaking.
"Please."
The doctor stepped toward her.
"Finn is out of surgery."
Mave couldn't breathe.
The doctor smiled.
"It went well."
Her legs gave out.
Rafe caught her.
Mave covered her face and sobbed.
Not quietly.
Not politely.
Years of fear poured out at once.
Sofia wrapped her arms around both of them.
For once, Rafe Colazo did not care who was watching.
He held Mave Donovan in the middle of a hospital corridor while she cried because her little brother was going to live.
And when Finn finally opened his eyes several hours later, his first words were weak but unmistakable.
"Did Rafe bring food?"
Mave laughed through her tears.
Rafe leaned over the bed.
"What do you want?"
Finn thought seriously.
"Pancakes."
"Done."
Mave shook her head.
"No pancakes after heart surgery."
Finn looked at Rafe.
"See what I live with?"
Rafe nodded solemnly.
"Terrible."
Mave looked between them.
"Both of you are impossible."
Finn smiled.
Then closed his eyes again.
His heart monitor continued its steady rhythm.
For the first time in years, Mave heard that sound and did not think of fear.
May you like
She thought of tomorrow.
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