Chapter 9 - The Night the Gallagher Empire Fell
The operation took eleven hours.
Eleven hours to dismantle twenty years.
Finn contacted attorneys.
Caleb provided backup records.
Elias authenticated the Cerberus system.
Mave identified command sequences.
Declan opened his father's archives.
At 9:17 p.m., encrypted evidence packages went to multiple federal offices and independent news organizations.
At 9:18, copies went to attorneys representing victims.
At 9:19, financial records went to forensic accountants.
At 9:20, Margaret Gallagher realized nobody could stop what had begun.
"You think this makes you righteous?" she asked her son.
Declan stood across from her.
"No."
"Your hands aren't clean."
"I know."
"You'll lose everything."
"Probably."
"Men will come for you."
"They already do."
Margaret's eyes moved toward Mave.
"And her?"
Declan's expression changed.
Margaret smiled.
"There's the weakness."
Mave answered before Declan could.
"No."
She stepped beside him.
"I'm the reason he stopped pretending he didn't have one."
Margaret stared.
Mave continued.
"Caring about something isn't weakness. It's the reason people like you eventually lose."
Declan looked at her.
She immediately regretted how romantic that sounded.
"Don't make a thing out of it."
"I wasn't."
"You were."
"Maybe a small thing."
Despite everything, she smiled.
By midnight, raids began.
Not against the Gallaghers alone.
Judges were detained.
Officers suspended.
Shell companies frozen.
A port director disappeared before agents reached his house.
Two councilmen resigned.
Arthur called Mave fourteen times because reporters had surrounded the Copper Anchor.
Toby texted:
AM I FAMOUS NOW???
Mave laughed for the first time in days.
She replied:
Unfortunately.
Then another message arrived.
From an unknown number.
LOOK OUTSIDE.
Her smile vanished.
Declan immediately noticed.
"What?"
Mave showed him.
They approached the window carefully.
A black SUV waited across the street.
The rear door opened.
A man stepped out.
No weapon.
No coat.
The ponytailed rival from the restaurant.
His shoulder was bandaged.
He placed something on the sidewalk.
Then drove away.
Finn retrieved it.
A dog collar.
Brutus's original collar.
Inside the leather lining was another memory card.
The final recording belonged to Patrick Gallagher.
Declan watched his father appear on screen.
Patrick looked exhausted.
"If you're watching this, son, I failed."
Declan's face went still.
"I spent my life telling myself I did ugly things to protect beautiful ones. That's the lie men like me use when we don't want to admit we enjoy control."
Declan swallowed.
Mave moved closer.
Patrick continued.
"Do better."
Two words.
Nothing grand.
Nothing complicated.
Declan closed his eyes.
"Do better."
The recording ended.
Mave touched his hand.
He looked down.
Neither pulled away.
Brutus rested his enormous head against their joined hands.
Mave laughed softly.
"Subtle."
Declan looked at her.
"I don't know what happens now."
"That's new for you?"
"Terrifying."
"Good."
He smiled.
Then kissed her.
Not dramatically.
Not possessively.
He hesitated first.
Gave her time to move away.
She didn't.
His hand touched her cheek.
Her fingers caught the lapel of his shirt.
For several seconds, there were no criminal empires.
No ledgers.
No dead men returning.
No guns.
Just two exhausted people standing in a quiet room while an enormous dog supervised.
Then Brutus shoved his nose between them.
Mave stumbled backward laughing.
Declan stared at the dog.
"Seriously?"
Brutus wagged his tail.
"He's protecting me," Mave said.
"From what?"
She raised an eyebrow.
"You."
"Fair."
The moment ended when Finn entered.
He looked at them.
Then immediately turned around.
"I'll come back."
"Finn."
Declan's voice was murderous.
Finn kept walking.
"Didn't see anything."
Mave covered her face.
Then the building shook.
An explosion tore through the lower floor.
Windows shattered.
Alarms screamed.
Declan threw himself over Mave.
Brutus barked.
Smoke flooded the hallway.
Finn returned with his gun drawn.
"Car bomb!"
Declan pulled Mave upright.
"Everybody out!"
But Mave wasn't listening.
Her phone had received one final message.
She stared at it.
The sender was Margaret Gallagher.
Three words.
YOU MISSED ONE.
Mave looked through the broken window.
Across the street, a man stood beneath a streetlamp.
He wore a police uniform.
May you like
The commissioner.
And he was holding Evelyn Hart at gunpoint.
