Chapter 5 - The Mother Who Never Died
Boston changed everything.
Caitlyn barely spoke on the private flight.
Deari sat across from her.
He watched her silently.
She looked exhausted.
Not from work.
From hope.
Hope was more dangerous than fear.
Fear protected people.
Hope made them reckless.
When they reached the bookstore, Caitlyn stood outside for nearly five minutes without moving.
A bell chimed.
A woman looked up.
She dropped the book in her hands.
Caitlyn whispered, “Mom?”
The woman covered her mouth.
Then she cried.
Caitlyn crossed the room.
They collided in a desperate embrace.
For several minutes, neither could speak.
Deari remained in the doorway.
Margaret eventually looked over her daughter’s shoulder.
Her eyes landed on him.
“You’re Deari.”
“Yes.”
“You look like your father.”
He stiffened.
“You knew him?”
“I knew what he became.”
That sentence carried history.
Margaret locked the store.
Then they went downstairs.
The basement contained boxes of documents.
Photographs.
Old ledgers.
Caitlyn stared in disbelief.
“You kept all this?”
“I had to.”
“Why did you let me believe you were dead?”
“Because people were watching you.”
“You could have told me.”
“I was trying to keep you alive.”
Caitlyn turned away, furious and heartbroken.
“I spent years thinking you abandoned us.”
“I know.”
“Tommy still asks about you.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
“I know.”
Caitlyn stared.
“How?”
“I have watched you from a distance.”
Then Margaret told them the truth.
Daniel had discovered a network of corrupt executives operating inside Hamilton Enterprises.
The network was not just selling information.
It was arranging disappearances.
Blackmail.
Fraud.
Murders disguised as accidents.
Evelyn tried to expose them.
Daniel helped.
Margaret became their courier.
Then someone betrayed them.
The person responsible was not Marcus.
It was someone much closer to Deari.
Someone who had remained beside him for years.
“Who?”
Margaret looked at Deari.
“Your father's oldest friend.”
Deari’s face hardened.
“Richard?”
Margaret nodded.
Richard Voss.
Hamilton Enterprises’ chairman.
A man who had served as Deari’s mentor after his parents died.
Caitlyn understood immediately.
“He had access to everything.”
“Yes.”
“He knew about my father.”
“Yes.”
“And my mother.”
“Yes.”
Deari looked at Margaret.
“Why not expose him?”
“I tried.”
“What happened?”
“He killed Evelyn.”
Silence.
Caitlyn stared.
Margaret continued.
“He did not pull the trigger himself. He had someone else do it.”
Deari’s voice dropped.
“Who?”
Margaret reached for a box.
Inside was a list of payments.
One name appeared repeatedly.
Luigi Cavalier.
Caitlyn’s heart stopped.
“No.”
Deari stared at the document.
“Luigi?”
Margaret shook her head.
“It does not mean he is guilty.”
“It means someone paid him.”
“No.”
Margaret looked directly at Deari.
“It means someone paid an account belonging to his deceased brother.”
Deari’s eyes narrowed.
“What?”
“Your traitor knows how to frame people.”
That afternoon, the bookstore was attacked.
A car crashed through the front window.
Gunmen entered.
Deari pulled Caitlyn behind the counter.
Margaret disappeared through a hidden door.
Shots echoed.
Deari fought his way across the room.
Caitlyn saw a gunman raising his weapon behind him.
Without thinking, she screamed.
“Deari!”
He turned.
The gunman fired.
Caitlyn shoved him.
The bullet struck her shoulder instead.
She collapsed.
Everything stopped.
Deari caught her before she hit the floor.
His face changed completely.
“Caitlyn.”
She looked up.
“I’m okay.”
Blood soaked her sleeve.
“No, you are not.”
For the first time, everyone heard the man who was rumored to fear nothing sound terrified.
He lifted her into his arms.
“Call the doctor.”
Luigi shouted from outside.
“I’m on it.”
Deari looked down at Caitlyn.
“You will never do that again.”
She gave a weak smile.
“Then stop standing in front of bullets.”
His jaw tightened.
“You first.”
She tried to laugh.
He held her closer.
May you like
And in that moment, there was no boss and secretary.
Only a man terrified of losing the one person who had slowly become indispensable.
