Chapter 19 - MAEVE’S BLOOD
Nobody moved.
Patrick’s gun remained raised.
Renick’s face revealed nothing.
Belle’s mind raced.
Maeve.
Sully.
Eleanor.
Another secret.
Another hidden parent.
“Put the gun down,” Renick said.
Patrick laughed.
“You still think commands work.”
“Yes.”
Renick’s voice remained calm.
“Because Naomi has two agents behind you.”
Patrick’s smile vanished.
He turned slightly.
That was enough.
Owen hit him.
The gun fired into the ceiling.
Belle dropped.
Agents rushed.
Patrick fought.
Renick joined.
By the time it ended, Patrick was bleeding and handcuffed.
This time Naomi swabbed his DNA in the room.
“Happy?” she asked.
Renick said, “Moderately.”
Patrick laughed from the floor.
“Ask Maeve.”
Belle did.
Maeve was at the safe house with the children.
When Belle arrived, Sully was there too.
Recovering.
Pale.
Alive.
Maeve looked at Belle’s face.
“What happened?”
Belle shut the door.
“Is Sully your father?”
Silence.
Sully closed his eyes.
Maeve stared at him.
“What?”
Belle realized.
She did not know.
Patrick had not revealed Maeve’s secret.
He had revealed Sully’s.
Sully whispered, “Maeve.”
She backed away.
“No.”
“I wanted to tell you.”
“No.”
Renick entered.
Maeve looked at him.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
She laughed in disbelief.
“Fantastic.”
Sully stood.
“You were conceived before Eleanor met Cormac.”
Maeve’s face went white.
“So Cormac knew?”
“Yes.”
“And raised me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Sully swallowed.
“He loved your mother.”
Belle almost laughed at the impossible geometry of it.
Cormac loved Eleanor.
Eleanor had Belle with Cormac.
Maeve with Sully before that.
Renick and Declan had another mother.
Patrick was a half brother.
This family tree needed warning labels.
Maeve looked at Belle.
“So we’re…”
“Half sisters through Mom.”
Maeve laughed.
Then cried.
“Of course.”
Renick sat.
“Brinley has requested nobody reveal any additional relatives until after dinner.”
Belle stared.
He was joking.
It helped.
A little.
Sully told the story.
He and Eleanor had been young.
Brief affair.
Maeve born.
Cormac knew.
Raised her as his own because public scandal would endanger everyone.
Sully stayed near her without claiming fatherhood.
Maeve listened silently.
Then slapped him.
Tradition continued.
Sully accepted it.
“You deserved worse,” she said.
“Yes.”
“You watched me call another man Dad.”
“Yes.”
“You stood at my graduation.”
“Yes.”
“My wedding.”
“Yes.”
“My divorce.”
“Yes.”
Maeve cried harder.
“You should have told me.”
“I was afraid you’d hate me.”
“I do.”
Sully nodded.
“I understand.”
Maeve walked away.
Belle followed.
They stood on the porch.
Ocean visible beyond trees.
Maeve laughed through tears.
“I spent my entire life thinking I was a Kavanaugh.”
“You are.”
“Apparently not.”
“Renick thinks you are.”
Maeve looked at her.
“How do you know?”
“Because he just made a joke.”
Maeve laughed.
Belle continued.
“Family isn’t only blood.”
“Easy for you to say. You discovered a billionaire crime family this week.”
“Believe me, blood is overrated.”
Maeve looked at her.
Then they both laughed.
Inside, Micah introduced Isla to a card game.
Brinley cheated.
Isla caught her.
For ten minutes, life seemed almost normal.
Then Patrick began talking in custody.
He confirmed Callum orchestrated the balcony.
Callum intended Brinley to survive.
Barely.
The goal was to force Renick into panic.
Then Micah intervened too early.
Patrick also admitted Callum discovered Owen had returned to Boston months earlier.
They had been watching Belle’s apartment.
Waiting for the hidden ledger.
But Patrick gave one final warning.
“Callum has people you haven’t found.”
Naomi asked, “Who?”
Patrick smiled.
“Someone close to Belle.”
Belle reviewed every person in her life.
Coworkers.
Neighbors.
Micah’s teachers.
Then she remembered.
Her landlord.
Mr. Avery.
The name.
Avery.
Her mother’s alias.
Belle froze.
Mr. Avery was not merely a landlord.
He had given Belle the apartment three years after Owen disappeared.
Cheap rent.
No deposit.
He always said she reminded him of his daughter.
Belle called him.
Disconnected.
Naomi searched records.
No real Mr. Avery.
The identity belonged to a dead man.
Renick looked at Belle.
“Whoever rented you that apartment wanted you near the ledger.”
Owen went pale.
“And wanted Micah near it.”
Belle’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
A familiar elderly voice said:
“Belle, dear.”
Mr. Avery.
Her hands shook.
“Who are you?”
The man laughed softly.
“Ask your mother about Jacob Vale.”
Renick’s face changed.
Callum’s father.
Belle whispered, “Where are you?”
“Where this began.”
The line ended.
May you like
Owen looked at Renick.
“The balcony.”
