Page 23 of Twisted Trust (Mafia Lords of Sin #10)

LEVI

“ Y ou’re being… sued?”

Out of all the scenarios I concocted in my mind as to why Maeve was speaking to the cops, that one didn’t even cross my mind. I can’t keep the disbelief from my voice as I stare at her hastily wiping away the tears forming in her eyes.

“Yes!” she snaps with a trembling voice. “So I really don’t have time for your shitty accusations or whatever story you’ve made up in your head!”

It’s there in black and white. A court summons for Miss Maeve Jackson in response to an outstanding warrant, where jail time has been waived at the request of the investigating officer. “No jail time?”

Maeve sniffles and paces away from the couch with one hand pressed against her abdomen as if it will help her control her tears.

“They said—” She hiccups softly. “The detective said that now he’d found me and he was aware of my mugging and my son, that he was going to waive the jail time.

Usually, I’d be in jail until court, but he took pity on me, I guess.

Now do you see?” She turns to face me and her eyes swim. “I’m just trying to survive here.”

“Tell me again.” Stiffness almost locks my jaw. “Tell me everything.”

“I just did!”

“Again!” I snap, rising and moving toward her. “I want to make sure I have everything clear.”

“Why?” Despite her upset, there’s push back in her voice. She’s falling apart but she’s still unwilling to back down. “What does it matter?”

I grasp her firmly by the shoulders and force her to face me. “Start from when you thought I was dead.”

Maeve looks ready to fight me but after a few seconds, she slumps in my grip and repeats her story.

Everything from thinking I was dead for a year, to trying to reach out and being met by a stranger who threatened her life and that of her son, which caused her to fully flee New York.

Once she finishes, I release her and force distance between us as a strange cloud fills my chest like some kind of weighted inflatable.

“I was never dead,” I say after a few long, strained seconds of silence. “I was in a coma for three weeks. I…” Turning to look at her, I’m faced with a choice. Do I trust her with the truth and risk her running back to the Red Serpents? Or do I leave her in the dark?

At this point, I’m not sure what damage she could do with old history, and I’m not confident she even was.

“You were in a coma?” Maeve prompts, sinking down into the chair near her. “You wanna spit it out so we can get this over with?”

“Do you remember the deal I told you about?”

“What?”

“Five years ago, do you remember what we talked about the last time we were together?”

Her brow flickers slightly and she swipes away a few more tears.

“Something about a business deal, right? You were excited. Kept saying it was your big break between you and uhm…” Her brow dips again as if she’s searching through her memories.

“I can’t remember his name, but it was important. I remember that much.”

Maybe to be expected, given how long it’s been. “That deal was huge. Biggest of my career, if you can consider organized crime a career. But there was an explosion. A lot of people died and I was severely injured. I ended up in a coma, Maeve. I didn’t die.” I step closer. “Who told you I’d died?”

She stares up at me with wide, shining eyes. “Some guy.”

“Some guy ?”

“Yeah, he…” She sniffles again. “He came to the motel where we were staying and said there’d been an accident and you’d died and since I was the last person to see you, your family thought I was the cause.

I’d never seen him before, but he had that.

” She points at me, and I glance down at the XXX pin attached to my jacket.

“He had this?” I touch the pin.

She nods. “It wasn’t like that, though. It wasn’t sparkly. It was just a regular pin.”

Someone in my own organization told her I was dead? But no one knew about her. No one but Chip, but Maeve knows Chip. She met him five years ago when we were meeting up and she’s met him now. He’s been by my side for as long as I can remember, so I know it’s not him.

“Silver or gold?”

“Huh?”

“Was the pin silver or gold?”

Maeve frowns and then shrugs. “I don’t know, silver, I think?”

I’d been hoping for gold. Gold would be easier to narrow down as it’s a smaller pool of people, but it won’t help me right now. “Then what happened?”

“Well, he told me to hide so I did. I couldn’t understand how I was the cause of what happened to you and I couldn’t believe you were dead, so I hid.

And then shit happened and a year later, I was struggling and I had Scott and…

” She hesitates. “I had no one. Knew no one. It was dumb, but I reached out to your family.”

“Why?”

Maeve hesitates, her lips slightly parted. “It felt like the right thing to do. I wrote to your mother.”

My brow twitches. “Did she reply?”

Maeve shakes her head. “No. Instead, some guy turned up at my door.”

“The same guy?”

“No. He was different. Taller and skinnier. I remember thinking he looked a bit like the Slenderman. He told me to run. Told me you were alive and you blamed me for what happened a year ago, and if I wanted to save my own life and the life of my baby, then I needed to disappear. Really disappear. I was so shocked to learn you were alive, and I wanted to try and find you and talk to you, but he told me you’d put a bounty on my head and I was so scared for Scott, so I ran. ”

“This.” I hold up the letter. “This is where you were staying before you came here?”

She nods.

“Did Slenderman have a pin?”

She nods again. “Same color as the first guy.”

Anger churns in my gut, but it’s no longer directed at Maeve. Someone knew about her and this entire time, they’ve been keeping her hidden. But why? What is there to gain from this?

“The Red Serpents, do you know who they are?” Asking her directly wasn’t my initial plan, but there’s nothing about her reaction to suggest she has any idea who I’m talking about.

“I don’t know.”

“When I woke up and you vanished, I found evidence in your old apartment. Your first one. It looked like you’d been working for the Red Serpents for a few years and it was they who caused the explosion I was caught in. Which painted you as the reason I got blown up.” Among other things.

The shock on Maeve’s face is open and genuine and she surges back to her feet.

“You’re not serious! Are you insane? I don’t know who the Red Serpents are but do you really think I would betray you?

After everything we had? Everything we shared?

Look at me, Levi!” Her own hand hits her chest. “I’m not this monster you think I am.

I’m not a spy or a traitor or whatever else you think I am.

I’m just a person, okay? I have to pay to keep my kid in school, balance multiple jobs to keep food on the table, take public transport when my car gets impounded, and I get sued for running out on a lease!

Does that sound like some mastermind to you? No! It’s regular people stuff!”

She has a point, I have to admit.

Everything she lists wouldn’t ever cross my mind as a struggle.

I’ve never been short on money, never had to worry about bills or food, and no one would dare impound my car.

Thinking back to my earlier conversation with Chip, his reasoning sounds clearer now.

If she were some Red Serpent spy, her actions certainly would have gained her a high position.

Instead, she’s here struggling through an ordinary life.

“I’m not going to keep repeating myself,” Maeve says, wiping a few angry tears that leak down her cheeks.

“I don’t give a shit if you believe me or not.

I’ve got too much to deal with and the only reason I’m still talking to you is because by some cruel twist of fate, you’re the only one who can help me keep my son.

” Her voice cracks at the last word and her trembling fingers move over her mouth.

“Don’t you understand? He’s the only thing in this world I care about and this past month has been insane. ”

Five years.

I lost five years with her because of someone else’s lies.

Someone out there has kept Maeve from me, and when I find out who sent those men, who scared her out of New York and into a life on the run, I’ll kill them.

“Maeve.” Walking closer, I shove down the anger and focus on the blooming relief in my chest that things are finally becoming clear.

“I never wanted you dead, do you understand me? Well… okay, technically, I did want you dead for a few years because I believed you had betrayed me. But after everything you’ve told me, I see now that someone set me up.

And they used you to do it. How they found out about you, I have no idea. But I see it clearly now.”

“Oh, do you?” she challenges, not shrinking away from me. “About fucking time.”

“This?” I hold up the letter and crumple it into a ball. “Don’t worry about this. I’ll take care of it. Money is no issue.”

Maeve lifts a hand to her temple and massages. “You’re so used to solving everything with money that you don’t understand, do you?”

I tilt my head in silent question.

“Money won’t fix that. I have to make a court appearance because that’s what regular people do to fix these things, understand? You can’t just pay off the fucking courts.”

“I could. Easily.”

“No. I’m doing this properly because this is my mess and I don’t want my son growing up thinking money solves everything.”

“Money does solve everything,” I point out gently. “But in this case, you might be right. Money and law get messy.”

“It’s fine.” She sighs tiredly. “I’m sure it will be an in and out thing.”

Despite her request, my mind is already running about how to fix this for her. It’s like a reflex but as I’m thinking, something else occurs to me and I lower my gaze back to her.

“Maeve.”

“What?” She glances up at me and holds my gaze. “Another accusation?”

“No… you said you reached out about a year after I died .”

“What of it?”

“You had Scott.”

“Yeah, and?” As the words escape her, I see the burst of realization behind her eyes and her lips part.

“ Is Scott mine?” My heart freezes in my chest and I expect the same lie to flow from her, a lie I’m sure I could disprove if I had the time.

“Yes,” Maeve whispers, shocking us both.

“He’s the reason I ran. I was protecting him.

That’s all I’ve ever done. And when I reached out, it was because I was so sick I feared I’d die and leave him alone.

Everything I’ve ever done has been to protect him.

Including hiding him from you, because I don’t want you to take him away from me. ”