Chapter 9 - BLOOD BROTHERS
They escaped through the hotel kitchen.
Marcus’s team had secured the underground passage seconds before a second explosion destroyed the main lobby.
Thomas had planned the attack to kill Rowan, Adrian and Caleb together.
Three competing claims.
One fire.
Another empty coffin.
Mara sat inside an armored vehicle while medics treated a cut above her eyebrow.
Rowan stood outside, issuing orders.
Caleb sat across from her.
Adrian occupied the far corner with his hands restrained.
“You tied up the man who knows where my daughter is,” Mara said.
“He may be lying,” Caleb replied.
“He may be our only lead.”
“He is a Petrov.”
“And Rowan is a Graves. You are a Ford. Apparently names do not guarantee honesty.”
Adrian almost smiled.
Caleb looked exhausted.
Mara softened slightly.
“Are you all right?”
“No.”
It was the first honest answer he had given about himself.
She reached for his hand.
He let her hold it.
For a moment, they were who they had been before the warehouse.
Then Caleb looked at her wedding ring.
“You love him.”
Mara released him.
“This is not the time.”
“You do.”
“I do not know what I feel.”
“That is not denial.”
She looked toward Rowan through the vehicle window.
He stood beneath flashing emergency lights, blood on his collar, every line of his body controlled.
“I loved you,” Mara said.
Caleb’s face tightened.
“Past tense?”
“I buried you.”
“I came back.”
“And I am grateful every second that you did.”
“But?”
“But the man who came back believes Rowan wanted him dead. You look at me as though I betrayed you by surviving the way I had to.”
Caleb stared down.
“I was chained in a room while they showed me photographs of your wedding.”
“I married him before you returned.”
“They told me he had always wanted you.”
“That part is true.”
Caleb laughed bitterly.
“At least he admitted it.”
“He admitted more than you have.”
His eyes lifted.
“What does that mean?”
“You told me Rowan sent you to Fulton Street. You did not tell me you suspected his brother, met Emilia or had discovered my daughter.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
Mara leaned back.
“Both of you use that sentence when you mean control.”
The vehicle door opened.
Rowan entered.
“We have the Lake Geneva address.”
Adrian looked surprised.
“How?”
“Marcus searched your phone.”
“It was encrypted.”
“Not well enough.”
Adrian’s expression darkened.
Rowan sat beside Mara.
“We leave in ten minutes.”
Mara studied him.
“You are bleeding.”
“Not mine.”
“Comforting.”
Rowan looked toward Caleb.
“The tracker was sewn beneath the lining of your coat.”
Caleb’s face tightened.
“They gave me the coat when I escaped.”
“They wanted Thomas to know where you went.”
“Yes.”
“Or you knew.”
Caleb lunged.
Rowan met him halfway.
They crashed against the vehicle wall.
Mara shouted.
Adrian moved despite his restraints, throwing his shoulder between them.
“Enough!”
Everyone froze.
Adrian looked at Rowan.
“You want to know who betrayed Caleb?”
“Yes.”
“It was not Thomas.”
“Then who?”
Adrian turned toward Caleb.
“Tell them about the ledger.”
Caleb’s face changed.
Mara saw it.
“What ledger?” she asked.
Caleb sat back.
Rowan’s voice became dangerous.
“Answer her.”
Caleb wiped blood from his mouth.
“I found proof that Daniel Whitlock was moving Graves weapons through Petrov routes.”
Mara stared.
“My father?”
“He was trying to pay the debt.”
Rowan said, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because Mara would have lost everything.”
“So you concealed treason.”
“I was going to force Daniel to stop.”
“And Fulton Street?”
“I arranged the meeting.”
Mara’s pulse pounded.
“You told me Rowan sent you.”
“Someone sent the final location through his account.”
“But the meeting itself was yours.”
“Yes.”
“You lied.”
Caleb looked at her.
“I needed you to distrust him.”
“Why?”
“Because if I told you the truth, you would stay married to him.”
The words struck with brutal clarity.
Caleb had returned and manipulated her.
Not because he was controlled.
Because he feared losing her.
Rowan’s face went cold.
“You used the attack to turn her against me.”
“I believed you were involved.”
“But you had no proof.”
“I knew you wanted her.”
“That is not proof of murder.”
“No,” Caleb said. “It is motive.”
Mara opened the vehicle door.
Rowan caught it.
“Where are you going?”
“Away from all of you.”
“We are leaving for Lake Geneva.”
“Then drive.”
She moved to the front compartment, putting a wall between herself and the three men.
The convoy reached Wisconsin before dawn.
The Lake Geneva property sat behind pine trees near the frozen shoreline.
No lights showed.
No guards appeared.
That made Rowan suspicious.
He ordered Mara to remain in the vehicle.
She waited thirty seconds before following.
The front door stood open.
Inside, the house was warm.
A child’s red coat hung beside the entrance.
Mara touched it.
“Elara?”
No answer.
They searched the first floor.
Empty bedroom.
Half-eaten cereal.
Crayons on the table.
A drawing had been taped to the refrigerator.
Three people stood beneath a yellow sun.
A little girl.
A silver-haired man.
A woman in blue.
Mara.
Beneath the drawing, in a child’s uneven letters, were the words:
MOMMY IS COMING.
Footsteps sounded upstairs.
Rowan raised his gun.
A small girl appeared at the landing.
Dark curls framed her face.
Gray eyes stared down at them.
Mara could not move.
“Elara.”
The girl looked at Rowan.
Then at Mara.
Her mouth trembled.
“Mommy?”
Mara ran up the stairs.
She dropped to her knees.
Elara hesitated for one painful second.
Then she threw herself into Mara’s arms.
Mara held her daughter.
Three lost years collapsed into the warmth of a tiny body.
Rowan stood several steps below them.
His face broke.
He turned away, but not before Mara saw tears.
Elara looked over Mara’s shoulder.
“Daddy?”
Rowan froze.
The child reached for him.
Mara held out one hand.
Rowan climbed the remaining stairs.
He knelt beside them.
Elara touched the scar near his jaw.
“The bad grandfather said you would not want me.”
Rowan closed his eyes.
When he opened them, the feared Chicago mafia boss was crying without shame.
“He lied.”
“Do you want me?”
Rowan gathered both Mara and Elara into his arms.
“More than anything.”
A gun clicked behind them.
Caleb stood at the bottom of the stairs.
His weapon was aimed at Adrian.
Adrian’s gun was aimed at Rowan.
And behind Adrian stood Daniel Whitlock.
Mara’s father held a pistol against Adrian’s spine.
May you like
“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” Daniel said.
“But the child belongs to the debt.”
