Chapter 4 - The House With No Address
Peter Colson had hired Mia six years earlier.
That fact bothered her more than the kidnapping.
He had interviewed her when she was twenty-five, newly relocated to Chicago, wearing a department-store blazer she couldn’t afford and trying to hide how badly she needed the job.
Peter had been kind.
He told her she was too nervous.
Then gave her coffee.
When her father died two years later, Peter approved two extra weeks of leave without asking questions.
When Mia made her first serious accounting error, Peter corrected it privately rather than embarrassing her.
People became dangerous differently when you had once trusted them.
Gabriel watched her process the betrayal.
“You don’t have to defend him.”
“I’m not.”
“You look like you want to.”
“I’m trying to understand.”
“That’s usually how defense starts.”
Mia gave him a tired look.
“People aren’t spreadsheets, Gabriel.”
“No. Spreadsheets are more honest.”
She hated that he had a point.
Marco relocated them before noon.
The new safe house stood on forty wooded acres outside Lake Forest.
No company records.
No obvious connection to the Romano name.
Daniel had purchased it under a trust years earlier because he wanted somewhere to bring his wife on weekends.
Gabriel had never been there.
That made the silence painful.
Daniel’s fingerprints seemed to remain everywhere.
A fishing rod by the garage.
Old coffee mugs.
A stack of home-renovation magazines.
One unfinished wooden crib in the basement.
Gabriel found it after dark.
He stood beside it for a long time.
Mia came downstairs carrying Leo.
She stopped when she saw him.
“I can go.”
“No.”
She stayed.
Gabriel ran one hand across the unfinished railing.
“He started this.”
“For Leo?”
“Yes.”
“He was good with his hands?”
“No.”
Mia smiled.
“Then maybe it’s good he didn’t finish it.”
Gabriel actually laughed.
Daniel would have liked her.
The thought struck him unexpectedly.
Mia sat on the stairs.
Leo was awake, staring at Gabriel with the serious expression babies sometimes wore as though evaluating adult failures.
Gabriel looked at him.
“He does that.”
“What?”
“Judges me.”
“He’s six months old.”
“He knows.”
Mia laughed.
Leo reacted by kicking both feet.
Gabriel sat beside her.
Close.
Not touching.
For several minutes they said nothing.
It was the first silence between them that didn’t feel dangerous.
Then Mia whispered, “Do you think Daniel was murdered?”
Gabriel stared forward.
“Yes.”
“You sound certain.”
“I’m not.”
“But you believe it.”
“Yes.”
Mia looked down at Leo.
“What happens if you find out Sterling did it?”
Gabriel answered without hesitation.
“He pays.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
He turned.
“What happens to you?”
Gabriel frowned.
Mia continued.
“You’ve spent your whole life being the man everyone is afraid of. Fine. Maybe that kept people alive. Maybe it also made enemies. If Daniel’s death was tied to the business and Leo was taken because of the business, what happens after you win?”
Gabriel’s face closed.
“You think I caused this.”
“I think you’re asking the wrong question.”
“And what question should I ask?”
“Whether winning leaves anything worth keeping.”
He stared at her.
Nobody talked to Gabriel like this.
Daniel had.
Once.
That memory hurt.
Mia shifted Leo toward him.
“Hold him.”
“What?”
“My shoulder hurts.”
Gabriel took the baby.
Awkwardly at first.
Mia adjusted his arm.
“Support his neck.”
“I know.”
“You’re holding him like evidence.”
“I am not.”
“You absolutely are.”
Gabriel looked down.
Leo grabbed his shirt.
Something inside Gabriel softened.
Mia saw it.
There.
The man behind the reputation.
Not weak.
Not gentle exactly.
But capable of tenderness he seemed embarrassed to possess.
Leo fell asleep against his chest.
Gabriel barely moved for forty minutes.
At nine fourteen, the lights went out.
Gabriel stood instantly.
Leo woke and cried.
Mia froze.
A second later, backup power flickered.
Then died.
Gabriel handed Leo to Mia.
“Basement safe room. Now.”
She didn’t argue.
That frightened him more than if she had.
Marco entered with a handgun.
“Perimeter breach.”
“How many?”
“Unknown.”
Gabriel looked toward Mia.
“Go.”
She ran.
The safe room lay behind a reinforced door.
Mia reached it.
Then stopped.
A noise came from the kitchen.
Not outside.
Inside.
Someone was already in the house.
She backed away.
A figure stepped from the dark hallway.
Romano security uniform.
For one second relief flashed through her.
Then she saw his face.
Peter Colson.
“Mia.”
Her body went cold.
He looked older.
Exhausted.
A handgun hung loosely in his right hand.
“Peter.”
“Give me the baby.”
“No.”
“Mia.”
“No.”
“Please.”
The word confused her.
Peter looked terrified.
Not aggressive.
Terrified.
“They’re coming.”
“Who?”
“You don’t understand.”
“Then explain.”
Peter took one step.
Mia backed away.
“Don’t.”
“I’m trying to save you.”
“You broke into my apartment.”
“I left the photograph.”
“You threatened my mother.”
“That wasn’t me.”
The house shook with distant gunfire.
Peter flinched.
“Mia, listen. Sterling isn’t running this.”
Her heart pounded.
“Then who is?”
Peter opened his mouth.
A gunshot cracked.
Peter jerked backward.
Blood spread across his shirt.
Mia screamed.
Gabriel appeared at the other end of the hall.
He fired toward the kitchen.
A shadow disappeared.
Peter collapsed.
Mia knelt beside him.
“Peter!”
Gabriel reached her.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Leo?”
“Fine.”
Peter grabbed Mia’s wrist.
His fingers were slick with blood.
“Ledger.”
“What ledger?”
“Daniel.”
His breathing rattled.
“Daniel hid it.”
“Where?”
Peter looked at Gabriel.
Then whispered three words.
“His son’s name.”
Gabriel stared.
Peter’s grip loosened.
His eyes closed.
Mia checked his pulse.
Nothing.
Gabriel stood very still.
“His son’s name.”
Mia repeated it.
“Leo?”
Marco rushed in.
“House is clear. Two attackers escaped.”
Gabriel barely heard him.
Daniel had named his son Leo Daniel Romano.
But Peter hadn’t said in his son’s name.
He said his son’s name.
Gabriel suddenly remembered something.
Daniel hated ordinary passwords.
He used phrases.
Birthdays.
Jokes.
Names layered into encryption keys.
Gabriel turned toward Marco.
“Get the old Daniel archive.”
“Here?”
“Now.”
Twenty minutes later, they opened a secure laptop.
Daniel’s archived company files had been preserved after his death.
Most were inaccessible.
Mia searched.
Nothing.
Then she found an encrypted folder without a title.
Password required.
Gabriel typed LEO.
Denied.
LEODANIEL.
Denied.
ROMANOLEO.
Denied.
Mia stared at the screen.
“His son’s name.”
Gabriel rubbed his jaw.
“Daniel wanted to name him something else.”
“What?”
“His wife refused.”
“What name?”
“August.”
Mia typed AUGUST.
Denied.
Gabriel suddenly smiled.
“He wanted Leo. She wanted August.”
Mia looked at him.
“So?”
“They compromised.”
She typed:
LEOAUGUST.
The folder opened.
Inside were hundreds of documents.
Audio files.
Bank records.
Vehicle maintenance reports.
Photographs.
And one video recorded by Daniel five days before his death.
Gabriel clicked.
Daniel appeared on screen.
Alive.
Smiling tiredly.
Gabriel stopped breathing.
Daniel looked directly into the camera.
“If you’re watching this, Gabe, then I was right.”
Gabriel’s face went pale.
Daniel continued.
“And if I was right, Damian Sterling is not the man you should be afraid of.”
The video flickered.
Then Daniel said the name.
Gabriel’s expression changed completely.
Marco whispered, “Jesus.”
Mia looked between them.
“Who?”
Gabriel closed the laptop.
Not because he wanted to hide it.
May you like
Because for the first time that night, his hands were shaking.
“My uncle.”
