Chapter 5 - Someone Inside the Carbone Family
Three weeks passed.
Silas did not call.
That surprised Mave.
It also irritated her.
Which irritated her more.
Then, on a rainy Thursday evening, someone knocked on her apartment door.
Mave checked the camera.
Vivien.
She opened it.
“Please tell me Silas isn’t dying.”
“No.”
“Arrested?”
“No.”
“Then this is already disappointing.”
Vivien smiled and held up a bottle of wine.
“Peace offering?”
“For what?”
“Existing inconveniently.”
Mave stepped aside.
“That wasn’t your fault.”
“I know.”
They sat in Mave’s small kitchen.
Vivien noticed the cheap pepper grinder.
She stared at it.
Mave pointed.
“Don’t.”
“I wasn’t going to say anything.”
“You were thinking something.”
“Silas really hated that thing.”
Mave laughed despite herself.
Then her expression became serious.
“Why are you here?”
Vivien placed an envelope on the table.
“Divorce finalized yesterday.”
Mave didn’t touch it.
“Congratulations.”
“He hasn’t told you.”
“He hasn’t spoken to me.”
Vivien blinked.
“At all?”
“I told him to let me decide.”
“And he actually listened?”
“Apparently personal growth is deeply annoying.”
Vivien laughed.
Then she became quiet.
“He’s changing things.”
“What things?”
“The organization.”
Mave looked skeptical.
“He removed people Tomas placed. Separated legitimate companies from the family’s old operations. Sold several properties. He’s putting distance between himself and the world his father built.”
“Why?”
“You know why.”
Mave shook her head.
“No. I don’t want a grand gesture designed to make me come back.”
“It isn’t.”
Vivien leaned forward.
“He hasn’t asked me once whether I think you’ll forgive him.”
That got Mave’s attention.
“He simply said you deserved a life where his secrets couldn’t reach your front door.”
Mave looked down.
Her phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
Her body tensed.
Vivien noticed.
“Answer it.”
Mave did.
“Hello?”
Silence.
Then a voice.
“Tomas Vieri sends his regards.”
The call ended.
Mave stood.
Vivien did too.
“I thought Tomas was in custody.”
“He is.”
Mave looked toward the window.
“Which means someone else isn’t.”
A black sedan had stopped across the street.
Vivien reached for her phone.
Mave grabbed her wrist.
“Not Silas.”
“Mave—”
“If someone wants us to call him, that means they’re waiting for him.”
Vivien slowly lowered the phone.
“What do we do?”
Mave smiled without humor.
“For once?”
She picked up her coat.
“We make the mafia boss wait.”
They left through the rear stairwell and took a cab to Creel Shipping’s legal office.
Twenty minutes later, Silas discovered Mave’s apartment empty.
His call came immediately.
She answered.
“Where are you?”
“Safe.”
“With Vivien?”
“Yes.”
A pause.
“Why?”
“Someone called me.”
Silas’s voice changed.
“What did they say?”
She told him.
“Mave, tell me where you are.”
“No.”
Silence.
She expected anger.
Instead:
“Okay.”
Mave blinked.
“Okay?”
“You’re safe?”
“Yes.”
“Vivien?”
“Safe.”
“Then tell me what you need.”
Mave looked at Vivien.
Vivien mouthed, Wow.
Mave turned away.
“I need you to find out who still has access to Tomas.”
“I can do that.”
“And Silas?”
“Yes?”
“Don’t come looking for me.”
A longer silence.
Then:
“I won’t.”
Mave closed her eyes.
May you like
For the first time, trusting him felt possible precisely because he wasn’t demanding her trust.
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