Chapter 15 - The Person Roman Trusted Most
Samuel’s gun remained raised.
Ethan stood ten feet away.
Roman stayed between Samuel and the doorway.
Gabriel waited above.
Claire and Evelyn remained hidden.
No one moved.
Then Samuel laughed.
“You always were sentimental, Ethan.”
“And you always mistook cruelty for intelligence.”
“You followed Vincent like a dog.”
“I was loyal.”
“You were obedient.”
Ethan’s face tightened.
“To people I loved.”
Samuel aimed at him.
“That is why you lose.”
Roman spoke calmly.
“No.”
Samuel glanced at him.
“That is why you lost.”
Sirens grew louder.
Samuel looked toward the loading doors.
Roman continued.
“You spent twenty years building everything around one assumption.”
“What assumption?”
“That people will always choose themselves.”
Samuel’s eyes narrowed.
“Usually they do.”
“Claire chose her mother. Evelyn chose Claire. Marcus protected Evelyn. Gabriel came back for the truth. Ethan chose me over you.”
Samuel sneered.
“And Lydia?”
Roman looked at him.
“She chose to stop being afraid.”
For the first time Samuel seemed old.
Not powerful.
Not brilliant.
Just tired.
Then he fired.
Ethan moved.
Gabriel dropped from the upper platform.
Roman tackled Samuel sideways.
The shot went into the ceiling.
Police entered seconds later.
Samuel fought until there was nowhere left to go.
Then he stopped.
Handcuffs closed around his wrists.
Ethan stood nearby.
Samuel looked at his brother.
“You think they’ll forgive you?”
Ethan answered, “This isn’t about forgiveness.”
“It always is.”
“No.”
Ethan’s voice softened.
“It’s about finally telling the truth.”
Samuel was taken away.
Claire ran toward Roman.
“You’re okay?”
He looked down at himself.
“Yes.”
“You’re sure?”
“I have been shot at before.”
“That is not comforting.”
“You’ve said that.”
She stared at him.
Then hugged him.
Roman froze.
Gabriel saw.
Ethan saw.
Evelyn saw.
Roman ignored all of them and wrapped his arms around Claire.
For several seconds the warehouse disappeared.
There was only warmth.
Relief.
And the reality that she was safe.
When Claire stepped back, she became embarrassed.
Roman did not.
Evelyn approached Ethan.
For six years she had believed he might be involved in the attempt on her life.
Ethan had believed Marcus murdered her.
Now they stood face-to-face with the cost of Samuel’s lies between them.
“I’m sorry,” Ethan said.
Evelyn nodded.
“So am I.”
Marcus arrived with Lena.
He looked at Ethan.
Neither spoke initially.
Then Ethan said, “I blamed you for six years.”
Marcus shrugged.
“I’m difficult to like.”
Claire laughed.
It broke the tension.
Later, Roman visited the district attorney.
He surrendered the original ledger.
Not a copy.
Not selected pages.
Everything.
His attorneys objected.
Lydia objected.
Several board members threatened him.
Roman did it anyway.
Some entries implicated people long dead.
Others revealed crimes still prosecutable.
A few implicated Vale companies under Roman’s ownership.
He accepted that too.
Claire discovered him in his study three nights later surrounded by lawyers.
Everyone else left when she entered.
“You may lose several companies.”
“Yes.”
“You may spend years in court.”
“Yes.”
“People will say you destroyed your father’s legacy.”
“They already have.”
Claire sat opposite him.
“Are you worried?”
“Yes.”
That surprised her.
Roman Vale rarely admitted fear.
“About what?”
He looked around the room.
“Discovering how much of what I inherited was built on somebody else’s pain.”
Claire considered that.
“You can’t change what your father did.”
“No.”
“You can change what happens next.”
Roman looked at her.
“How?”
“Start by not building another prison.”
He smiled slightly.
“You’ve been thinking about that sentence.”
“All day.”
“It shows.”
She threw a cushion at him.
Roman caught it.
The moment became quiet.
Then Roman asked, “What happens next for you?”
Claire’s smile disappeared.
“I don’t know.”
“You’re not returning to work.”
She stared.
“Are you firing me?”
“I am not letting you clean my kitchen after all this.”
“That sounds like firing.”
“I’ll pay you for a year.”
“That definitely sounds like firing.”
“Claire.”
She folded her arms.
“Roman.”
He sighed.
“What do you want?”
Nobody had asked her that in weeks.
Not what Samuel wanted.
Not what Evelyn wanted.
Not what was safest.
What Claire wanted.
She looked down.
“I want to finish my degree.”
Roman knew she had left college when her mother died.
“What degree?”
“Accounting.”
Roman laughed.
Claire glared.
“What?”
“Your mother was a bookkeeper who uncovered a twenty-year conspiracy, and you want to become an accountant.”
“I’m good with numbers.”
“Apparently hereditary.”
She smiled.
“I also want my own apartment again.”
“Fine.”
“And no security people standing outside my bedroom.”
“No.”
“Roman.”
“Negotiable.”
She shook her head.
“And I want you to stop making decisions for me.”
He studied her.
“That one may take practice.”
“At least you’re admitting it.”
Claire stood.
At the door, Roman called her name.
She turned.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For walking into my kitchen at two thirteen in the morning.”
Claire smiled.
“I was already there.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Yes.”
She left.
Roman remained alone.
Then Ethan entered.
“Everything okay?”
Roman looked toward the closed door.
“No.”
Ethan frowned.
Roman smiled.
“For the first time in years, I think it might become okay.”
Ethan sat.
There was still one unresolved matter.
Gabriel Kane.
Legally dead.
Wanted under multiple old warrants.
Possessing evidence that could expose more of Samuel’s network.
And missing again.
Roman opened the envelope Gabriel had left.
Inside was a letter.
One last secret.
Below it was an address.
Ethan looked at Roman.
“You going?”
Roman stood.
“Yes.”
“Alone?”
Roman considered.
Then the door opened.
Claire walked back in wearing her coat.
“I heard that.”
Roman closed his eyes.
Ethan laughed.
Claire smiled.
May you like
“Looks like you’re still practicing.”
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