Page 27 of Beyond Redemption

“Wait,” Bodhi said, his mind spinning. “Wasn’t he the guy in the news the other day?”

Liis nodded. “He publicized corruption involving the Carlisis and their associates that cost them millions of dollars. The day of Olive’s death, we thought the Carlisis were coming after us because Benny was murdered. And… that was part of it, but they saw an opportunity. The other day wasn’t the first time the governor—Olive’s grandfather—had interrupted their business dealings in Colorado. We’d all just learned of Olive’s biological family that year. What we didn’t know until the day of the drive-by was that from a leak from within the Bureau, the Carlisis knew about Olive too. We thought Olive was struck by a stray bullet, but she was targeted. They killed one of the Maddoxes to avenge Benny Carlisi, and they killed Olive to send a warning to Governor Fairchild.”

“You’re Governor Fairchild’s granddaughter?” Bodhi asked Olive. “So, this is… what? Protective custody?”

She nodded, sad. “I’ve never met him, which is why targeting me was just a warning. The real way to hurt the governor was to hurt his daughter, Falyn… my biological mother.”

“Your biological mother?” Bodhi asked.

“She gave me up for adoption when I was a baby. I was raised by Shane and Liza, who live next door to Trenton Maddox, Thomas’s little brother,” she reiterated.

“Whoa,” Bodhi said, dazed. “So… why isn’t she here? Or Shane and Liza? Hiding with you?”

Liis crossed her arms. “It all comes down to funding, really. Bringing Shane and Liza along meant the financial burden of a safe house as opposed to just Olive moving in with us. We barely got the green light to bring her here. Falyn is, as of now, married to Thomas’s other brother, Taylor. They have two children. The logistics while also having an entire family with young children keep it all quiet was… complicated to organize in the limited time we had. Olive had already been shot, and she died at the scene. It took them nearly fifteen minutes, but they got her heart beating again. They brought her back, but we had to make a quick decisionandget approval from the top.”

I continued. “It made more sense to put an undercover agent on Falyn to protect her, and to let everyone believe Olive had died and to bring her back to Virginia with us. We bought a bigger house here in Falls Church, changed her name, and after she’d had some time to adjust, enrolled her into Marymount.”

Bohdi processed it all, and after a full minute, he finally spoke again. “So, you’re telling me your biological family, adopted family, and Thomas’s family think you’re dead, and they’re about to find out you’re not?”

“And we have to leave,” Olive said, her bottom lip trembling.

“Liv… Olive…” Bodhi said, quickly correcting himself. “You… what… w-when?” He was scrambling. Everything was changing too fast, and he was desperately trying to keep up.

“Tonight,” Liis said, her voice uncharacteristically regretful.

Olive grabbed Bodhi and hugged him tight. “I’m sorry.”

He squeezed her for a moment, then held her at arm’s length. “You… you guys are fucking with me, right? You’re FBI, one of your brothers had an in with the people you were investigating, your other brother is married to a woman who gave… Olive… up for adoption and whose father also was involved with the Carlisis? You’ve gotta be fucking with me.”

“Like I said, it’s complicated,” I muttered.

“Complicated? The odds of all of that are zero to none.”

A heavy and unforgiving silence followed, and Olive sunk back into herself.

Bodhi stared at Olive, waiting for her to speak. When she didn’t, he prompted her, this time gentler. “So… it’s true. And you’re… you’re saying you were shot?

Olive nodded. “That scar you’ve asked about isn’t from a car accident.”

I winced. I didn’t need to hear he’d seen her scar.

“You died,” Bodhi said, more of a statement than a question.

“For forty-five minutes,” she answered.

“And they don’t know you survived. All this time you’ve kept it a secret,” he said.

She nodded, sheepish.

His gaze flicked to me, then to Liis. “Her family is going to hate you for this.Yourfamily is going to hate you for this.”

“We know,” I said.

“So, everything I know about you…”

“Is made up,” Olive whispered. “I’m so sorry.”

“The details of her past are the only things about her that are false, Bodhi,” Liis said. “Everything you love about her is true.”