Chapter 4 - The Attack That Made Her His Real Wife
They moved the next morning.
Rafe transferred his recovery to a private estate outside the city.
Mave went with him.
Not because she had to.
Because she chose to.
The first week there was almost peaceful.
She learned how he took coffee.
He learned that she hated being interrupted while reading.
She learned that he woke from nightmares.
He learned that she slept with one hand tucked beneath her pillow.
They argued.
They laughed.
They became something neither had expected.
Married.
Not legally.
Not politically.
Emotionally.
One night, they sat on the terrace.
“Do you regret it?” Rafe asked.
“What?”
“This.”
She thought.
“No.”
He looked surprised.
“Really?”
“I regret the reason.”
“What reason?”
“My father.”
“You don't have to regret saving him.”
“I know.”
She looked at him.
“But I don't want our marriage to be about debt.”
“It isn't.”
“Then what is it about?”
Rafe reached for her hand.
“This.”
She squeezed his fingers.
Then the lights went out.
Gunfire erupted.
Rafe pulled her down.
Security responded.
Someone tried to enter through the side gate.
Rafe was already moving.
“You're still recovering.”
“I recover quickly.”
“That isn't funny.”
“I'm not joking.”
They escaped through the basement tunnel.
Mave held onto his hand.
They reached a safe room.
Rafe checked her for injuries.
“You're bleeding.”
“Not mine.”
He looked at his arm.
A bullet had grazed him.
She grabbed a medical kit.
“Sit.”
“You're bossy.”
“You married me.”
He smiled.
“You keep using that as permission.”
She cleaned the wound.
He watched her.
“You're shaking.”
“So are you.”
“I know.”
The attack changed something.
Rafe realized Mave wasn't simply a person he wanted to protect.
She was his equal.
She had run toward danger.
For him.
The next morning, he gave her a key.
“To what?”
“My office.”
She stared.
“Why?”
“Because you're my wife.”
“That still feels like a legal technicality.”
He stepped closer.
“Then let's fix it.”
He kissed her.
This time, she kissed him back.
For a while, there was peace.
Then the surveillance report arrived.
The attackers had been identified.
Three were former Calder employees.
All had received payments from a company connected to Senator Voss.
Rafe stared at the files.
“They're escalating.”
Mave read the documents.
“What do they want?”
“The ledger.”
“What ledger?”
“My mother kept a record of every transaction.”
“Where is it?”
“Missing.”
“Maybe your father had it.”
“My father is dead.”
“Exactly.”
She looked at him.
“People who die leave things behind.”
He smiled.
“You're becoming dangerous.”
“I married a mafia boss.”
“You married me when I was unconscious.”
“Still counts.”
It was the first time he laughed freely.
Two days later, Jonah returned.
He brought bad news.
Patrick's accounts were frozen again.
The court order had been signed by a judge known to have links to Voss.
Mave's father could be arrested within twenty-four hours.
Rafe looked at her.
“I'll handle it.”
“No.”
“What?”
“You're not taking over.”
“I can fix this.”
“So can I.”
“How?”
She opened a folder.
“Your family's property records.”
Rafe stared.
“What about them?”
“Three shell companies.”
He read the names.
His face changed.
“These companies don't belong to us.”
“They do.”
“What?”
“Look at the directors.”
Rafe did.
All dead.
Except one.
Patrick Callahan.
Mave looked at him.
“My father wasn't laundering money.”
“He was hiding ownership.”
“Of the companies.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because your mother asked him.”
The hidden companies controlled the evidence.
They held the ledger.
The money trail.
And one final asset.
A warehouse in Boston.
Rafe understood.
“That's where the ledger is.”
Mave nodded.
They left that night.
The warehouse was empty.
But inside, they found a room.
In it were photographs.
Mave as a child.
Rafe as a teenager.
Their parents.
Everything.
Someone had watched them for decades.
Mave found a file.
Her name.
Rafe's name.
Together.
She opened it.
The first page contained a sentence.
THE MARRIAGE MUST OCCUR BEFORE HE WAKES.
Rafe stared.
“That means…”
Mave's voice went cold.
“This wasn't an accident.”
They had been meant to marry.
The people behind the network had wanted Mave beside Rafe when he woke.
But why?
The second page answered.
Mave Callahan has access to Patrick's trust. Rafe Calder has access to the Calder vault. Together they can unlock the account.
Rafe looked at her.
“They needed us.”
“To access something.”
“What?”
A hidden account.
Thirty million dollars.
Funds belonging to the network.
Money hidden by Rafe's father.
But the account required two signatures.
One Calder.
One Callahan.
They had been manipulated into marriage because only they could access it.
Mave's face went pale.
“So our marriage was planned.”
“Yes.”
“Before we knew each other.”
“Yes.”
She looked at Rafe.
“Then maybe none of this is real.”
His expression tightened.
“Don't say that.”
“How do I know?”
“Because I didn't marry you for the money.”
“But they did.”
“Yes.”
“Then how do I know I'm not part of their plan?”
Rafe stepped closer.
“You don't.”
She stared.
“That isn't comforting.”
“I know.”
He touched her cheek.
“But I know one thing.”
“What?”
“The moment you could have taken everything from me, you didn't.”
She looked at him.
“You were unconscious.”
“And now I'm not.”
Silence.
He leaned closer.
“I choose you.”
Before she could answer, the warehouse doors exploded open.
Gunfire.
Mave ducked.
Rafe pulled her behind a concrete pillar.
Someone shouted:
“Get the wife!”
Rafe's expression changed.
Not fear.
Rage.
He looked at Mave.
“Run.”
“No.”
“Mave.”
“I am not leaving you.”
That was when Rafe finally understood.
The woman he had married for a legal arrangement was now the person standing between him and the people trying to destroy him.
May you like
The marriage had been manipulated.
Their feelings were not.
