Chapter 6 - The Brother Who Came Back From the Dead
Roman lowered his weapon immediately.
Sophia stood frozen.
Behind her was a man Roman recognized from Vale's security team.
Daniel stood beside them.
Marty stared at his brother.
“Danny.”
Daniel's eyes filled with tears.
“Marty.”
The armed man pushed Sophia forward.
“Everybody downstairs.”
Roman obeyed.
Not because he was afraid for himself.
Because Sophia changed every calculation.
Daniel looked sick.
Not poisoned.
Ashamed.
“You're working with them?” Marty asked.
Daniel shook his head.
“They have my daughter.”
Marty froze.
“You have a daughter?”
“Her name is Lily.”
Daniel explained.
Halcyon had staged his death.
For years, they forced him to continue developing the compound.
When Rachel discovered he was alive, she tried to rescue him.
Vale killed her before she could.
Daniel eventually escaped.
But Vale found his family.
Now Daniel had been ordered to recover the original research.
“Where is Lily?” Roman asked.
Daniel looked toward the armed man.
The man smiled.
Roman understood.
Vale had built redundancies.
Even from jail, pieces of his network were still moving.
The gunman demanded the formula.
Daniel looked at Roman.
“Your father hid it.”
“I don't know where.”
“Yes, you do.”
Daniel pointed toward the fireplace upstairs.
Roman remembered something.
As a child, his father had forbidden him from touching one particular stone.
They went upstairs.
Roman removed it.
Behind it was a metal box.
Inside were notebooks.
The original research.
The gunman smiled.
“Give it to me.”
Roman held the box.
“No.”
The gun moved toward Sophia.
Marty stepped forward.
“Don't.”
The gunman looked at him.
Marty continued walking.
“You've spent years treating me like the fat chauffeur nobody notices.”
Another step.
“You know the advantage of being underestimated?”
The gunman aimed at him.
Marty threw himself sideways.
Roman moved simultaneously.
A single shot exploded.
Sophia screamed.
Roman tackled the gunman.
They crashed into the furniture.
Marty grabbed Sophia and pulled her away.
Roman struck the man's wrist until the pistol dropped.
Seconds later, it was over.
The gunman lay unconscious.
Marty looked down.
Blood covered his shirt.
“Marty!”
He had been shot.
Daniel rushed toward him.
The bullet had passed through his shoulder.
Painful.
But survivable.
Marty looked at his brother.
“Next time you come back from the dead, call first.”
Daniel laughed and cried at the same time.
Police arrived soon afterward.
Daniel gave them everything.
Names.
Facilities.
Accounts.
And Lily's location.
She was rescued the following morning.
Vale's remaining network collapsed within days.
The original formula was surrendered to federal investigators under controlled conditions.
Roman watched the box disappear.
Something his father had created had destroyed three years of his life.
It had killed Rachel.
Nearly killed Marty.
Destroyed Grant.
Imprisoned Daniel.
Roman felt no desire to preserve any part of it.
Grant eventually visited.
He looked different without the suit.
Older.
Human.
“I don't expect forgiveness,” he said.
“Good.”
Grant nodded.
“I loved Rachel like family.”
Roman's eyes hardened.
“Don't.”
“I should've stopped Vale.”
“Yes.”
“I was afraid.”
Roman stared at him.
Grant had spent decades appearing fearless.
But perhaps fear explained more evil than hatred ever could.
Roman said, “Sophia wants to see you.”
Grant looked shocked.
“I told her everything.”
“Why?”
“Because we've had enough secrets.”
Grant's eyes lowered.
Roman walked away.
He didn't forgive him.
Maybe someday.
Maybe never.
But Roman finally understood that forgiveness and revenge were not the only choices.
Sometimes you simply stopped carrying another man's sins.
Months passed.
Roman sold several businesses.
Closed others.
He retained his legitimate logistics company and transformed it completely.
People in Chicago began whispering that Roman Calder had gone soft.
Roman found that amusing.
The same people had whispered that he was dying.
Let them whisper.
One evening, he drove toward Lake Michigan.
Marty sat behind the wheel.
His shoulder had healed.
Roman sat in the back.
The seat had been replaced.
Roman stared at it suspiciously.
Marty noticed.
“You want me to rip this one open too?”
Roman almost smiled.
“Keep talking and I'll make you pay for the last one.”
“You still owe me overtime.”
Roman looked out the window.
Then his phone rang.
Sophia.
“Dad?”
“What happened?”
“You always assume something happened.”
“Usually because something did.”
She laughed.
“I got accepted.”
Roman sat straighter.
“Accepted where?”
“The graduate program.”
Roman smiled.
Rachel had wanted Sophia far away from the Calder world.
Sophia had chosen law.
Not criminal law, she repeatedly reminded him.
Roman suspected Rachel would have appreciated the irony.
“I'm proud of you.”
Sophia became quiet.
“Mom would be too.”
Roman looked through the rain.
“Yes.”
After the call, Marty glanced at him through the mirror.
“You okay?”
Roman nodded.
Then suddenly his mouth filled with a metallic taste.
His heart accelerated.
Roman froze.
“Marty.”
The chauffeur looked back.
Roman's breathing became shallow.
“Pull over.”
Marty immediately stopped.
Roman stumbled out.
His vision blurred.
Not again.
After everything—
not again.
Marty grabbed him.
“Roman!”
Darkness rushed inward.
Roman collapsed.
And as Marty called for an ambulance, one terrifying possibility returned.
Maybe they hadn't found every device.
Maybe Vale's network wasn't finished.
Maybe the poison was still inside Roman.
May you like
And this time—
he might not wake up.
