Chapter 4 - The Secrets in the Shadows
(3,500 words)
The safehouse in Cleveland Heights was not a cabin in the woods; it was a massive, gothic stone mansion hidden behind fifteen-foot iron gates and surrounded by dense pine trees.
For the first twenty-four hours, Josephine, Nora, and Clara were kept in a lavishly furnished wing of the house. Armed guards patrolled the hallways, their heavy footsteps a constant reminder of their captivity—or protection, depending on how Josephine chose to look at it.
Josephine spent her time tending to Konstantin’s wound.
In the mansion’s private medical wing, which was better equipped than most rural clinics, she changed his dressings. The stitches were holding, but the skin around them was bruised a deep, angry purple.
"You're healing remarkably fast," Josephine said, taping a fresh sterile pad over his ribs. "Most men would still be flat on their backs."
"I don't have time to bleed," Konstantin replied, looking down at her. "The Kovac syndicate has frozen our shipping routes. If I do not show my face to the council by tomorrow night, they will assume I am dead, and a full-scale gang war will consume the city."
"And what happens to us then?" Josephine asked, stepping back and pulling off her gloves. "When do we get to go home?"
Konstantin's face darkened. "You don't. Not yet."
"We can't stay here forever, Konstantin! My mother needs her medication. My sister has a job. I have a job!"
"Your job at the hospital has already been compromised," Konstantin said quietly. He reached over to the bedside table and picked up a tablet, sliding it toward her.
On the screen was a security feed from Cleveland Metropolitan Hospital from six hours ago. Two men in dark suits were standing at the nursing station, showing her picture to one of her coworkers. One of the men had a hand inside his coat, resting on a weapon.
Josephine felt a cold sweat break out on her neck. "They... they know where I work."
"They know everything about you now, Josephine. They know your father was David Carrigan. A beat cop who was shot in the line of duty nineteen years ago."
Josephine froze. The mention of her father's name felt like a physical blow. "How do you know about my father?"
Konstantin sighed, a heavy, weary sound. "Because nineteen years ago, David Carrigan wasn't shot by a random street thug. He was shot because he intercepted a shipment of black-market weapons belonging to Victor Kovac. The same man who ordered me dead two nights ago."
The room seemed to tilt. Josephine gripped the edge of the medical cart to keep her balance. "What... what did you say?"
"Your father was a good cop, Josephine. Too good. He refused to take the Kovac payroll. So Victor Kovac had him eliminated. And the police department covered it up to protect the dirty cops on Kovac's payroll."
"You're lying," she whispered, tears burning her eyes. "He died in an armed robbery. That’s what the detectives told us."
"The detectives who told you that were driving brand-new Cadillacs three months later," Konstantin said, his voice laced with a grim, hard truth. "I have the ledger, Josephine. When my father ran the Bratva, we kept records of everyone Kovac paid off. Your father's name was on the red list—the list of those who could not be bought."
Josephine’s mind raced back to her childhood. The sudden wealth of the lead investigator on her father's case. The way the file had been closed so quickly. The way her mother had been told to "let it go" by the precinct captain.
It had all been a lie.
Before she could speak, the double doors of the medical bay burst open.
Marcus ran in, his face pale, a cell phone clutched in his hand. "Boss. We have a problem. A major one."
Konstantin sat up, wincing slightly as the movement strained his stitches. "What is it?"
"The Kovac syndicate... they just released a video to the media. They're framing us for a terrorist bombing at the flats. The FBI has just issued an arrest warrant for you. And... they've issued an arrest warrant for Josephine Carrigan as an accomplice to organized crime."
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Josephine stared at the screen Marcus held up.
Her own face—her badge photo from the hospital—was displayed next to Konstantin's under the flashing red banner: WANTED BY THE FBI.
