Chapter 6 - The Sister Nobody Knew Existed
Clara had been hidden for twenty-three years.
The trust belonged to her.
Not Rafe.
Not Mave.
Her.
The account required a Vale heir and a Callahan witness.
Clara was the Vale heir.
Mave was the witness.
The marriage had been designed to make Rafe and Mave believe they were the center of the conspiracy.
They were not.
They were camouflage.
Voss had intended to remove Clara after the transfer.
But Lucia's plan had been smarter.
Clara had been protected.
By Patrick.
By Rafe's mother.
By people who had sacrificed their lives.
Mave looked at Clara.
“Why didn't you tell us?”
“I was scared.”
“Of us?”
“Of everyone.”
Rafe knelt beside her.
“You have my word.”
Clara looked at him.
“Mom trusted you.”
“I know.”
“Then I trust you.”
The account was located beneath an old Calder property.
They entered through a hidden basement.
Inside was a vault.
Mave placed her hand on the panel.
It opened.
A fingerprint scanner appeared.
Clara placed her finger.
The vault unlocked.
Inside were boxes.
Cash.
Documents.
Photographs.
And one final ledger.
The complete network.
Voss.
Silas.
Rafe's father.
Judges.
Police.
Businessmen.
Everything.
Rafe stared.
“This destroys all of them.”
“Yes,” Mave said.
“It also destroys the Calder name.”
She looked at him.
“Maybe the name should change.”
He smiled.
“You really are dangerous.”
She laughed.
“I'm learning.”
They copied everything.
Then the vault exploded.
Smoke filled the chamber.
Rafe grabbed Mave.
Clara crawled toward the exit.
They barely escaped.
Outside, police arrived.
But Voss had disappeared.
Silas was arrested.
Several judges resigned.
The network collapsed.
For the first time in decades, the Calder empire was free of the people who had controlled it.
Rafe stood outside the courthouse.
Reporters shouted questions.
“Did you know?”
“Is your family involved?”
“Who is the woman beside you?”
Rafe looked at Mave.
His hand found hers.
“My wife.”
A reporter asked:
“Did you marry her for strategic reasons?”
Mave stepped forward.
“No.”
She looked at the cameras.
“We married because someone tried to use us.”
“Then why stay married?”
She looked at Rafe.
“Because somewhere along the way, we stopped being useful to them.”
She smiled.
“And became real to each other.”
The press exploded.
Rafe looked at her.
“You enjoy this.”
“A little.”
He laughed.
Later that evening, they stood on the balcony.
“You're famous now.”
“I was already famous.”
“Infamous.”
“Better.”
She leaned against him.
“What happens now?”
“I rebuild.”
“Your father's company?”
“My way.”
“And the illegal side?”
“Gone.”
She looked surprised.
“You're walking away.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I don't want our children growing up thinking fear is a family tradition.”
She looked at him.
“Our children?”
Rafe froze.
Mave smiled.
“You heard yourself.”
He laughed.
“That was accidental.”
“No.”
She kissed him.
“Maybe not.”
They began a new life.
Rafe sold the remaining criminal interests.
The legitimate businesses were rebuilt under new leadership.
Mave returned to nursing.
Clara attended university.
Patrick retired.
Jonah became legal counsel for the new foundation.
Malcolm cooperated with investigators.
And Silas went to prison.
Everything seemed finally over.
Until Mave received a letter.
No address.
Only her name.
Inside was a photograph.
Her mother.
Rafe's mother.
Silas.
And another man.
Patrick.
The date was thirty years old.
On the back was written:
Your father never told you what happened the night your mother disappeared.
Mave stared.
Rafe stood beside her.
“What's wrong?”
She handed him the photograph.
He went still.
“That's not possible.”
“Why?”
“Because that man beside your father…”
He pointed.
“…is my father.”
Mave's blood ran cold.
Rafe's father had supposedly been dead for eighteen years.
But the photograph had been taken twelve years later.
He had been alive.
May you like
And if he had been alive, then the entire story of Rafe's father's death had been a lie.
A dangerous one.
