Chapter 5 - The Ledger of Debts
By 3:00 a.m., the estate had settled into a quiet, heavy calm.
Finn had fallen asleep directly beside his mother, his thin hand holding onto her blanket. Mrs. Gable was resting in an adjacent guest bedroom, exhausted from the night's shock. Sienna had finally gone to her room after promising Mave three separate times that she would visit her first thing in the morning.
In the basement security headquarters of the estate, the atmosphere was dark, cold, and razor-sharp.
Rafe sat behind a massive steel desk, reviewing digital files displayed on three monitors before him. Julian stood across from the desk, tossing a blue leather folder onto the steel surface.
"We ran a full background check on Mave Donovan, Boss," Julian reported, his tone crisp and professional. "Everything checks out. No connection to the Morettis. No connection to any rival family. She’s clean."
"Tell me about her debts," Rafe ordered, his eyes glued to the screen displaying medical records from Boston Children's Hospital.
Julian sighed, leaning against the edge of the desk. "It’s bad, Rafe. Her son, Finn, was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome. He’s had two major reconstructive surgeries in his nine years. He needs a third procedure—a valve replacement—by the end of this year, or his heart will give out entirely."
Rafe’s jaw tightened until the bone showed pale against his skin. "How much?"
"Two hundred and eighty thousand dollars for the surgery alone," Julian said quietly. "Insurance canceled her coverage six months ago after she lost her full-time job at the insurance agency. That’s why she was working eighty hours a week at The Salt Line and taking morning cleaning shifts at the docks. She was trying to save fifty thousand for the hospital deposit."
Rafe picked up the blue folder, opening it to reveal pages of overdue notices, pharmacy bills, and bank rejection letters. Page after page of a young mother slowly drowning under a mountain of paper, fighting an impossible war completely alone in a city that didn't care whether her child lived or died.
"And her family?" Rafe asked, his voice dropping into a dangerous, icy register.
"Father was an alcoholic; died three years ago in county jail," Julian said. "Mother died of cancer when Mave was nineteen. No siblings. No extended family. She’s been carrying the boy on her back by herself since he was born."
Rafe closed the folder with a quiet, final thud. He stood up, turning toward the glass wall that looked out into the rain-swept courtyard.
"Who was the man with the baton?" Rafe asked.
"His name is Victor Vane," Julian answered, his face darkening. "A mid-level enforcer for Marco Moretti. We questioned him in the sub-basement. He admitted Moretti paid him fifty thousand to eliminate Sienna. It was supposed to be a message to you regarding the territory expansion along the North End docks."
Rafe didn't react with anger. He didn't smash his fists or shout orders. That was how weak men reacted. Instead, his winter-blue eyes went completely cold, dead, and motionless.
"Where is Marco Moretti right now?" Rafe asked.
"He's at his private club on East Cambridge," Julian said. "Expecting a phone call from Victor confirming Sienna’s death."
Rafe picked up his dark wool coat from the back of his leather chair and slid it over his shoulders. "Call a strike team. Four cars. We're going to East Cambridge."
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"Rafe," Julian warned gently, stepping into his path. "A direct attack on Moretti’s club means an open war in the city. The other families—"
"Moretti tried to murder my nineteen-year-old sister in a crowded restaurant," Rafe interrupted, his voice dropping into a register that made Julian’s blood run cold. "And he broke the spine of an innocent woman who has suffered enough for ten lives. The war started the second his man raised that baton, Julian. Tonight, I end it."
