Chapter 5 - The Son Roman Never Knew Existed
Roman did not speak for almost a minute.
For a man who had built his reputation on always knowing what to say, silence looked unnatural on him.
“Where is he?”
“Safe.”
“With whom?”
“Mia.”
“The waitress?”
“My friend.”
Roman rubbed a hand over his face.
“You had my son.”
“I had my son.”
“Our son.”
Nora’s eyes hardened.
“You don’t get to appear after three years and claim him.”
“I didn’t know.”
“I know.”
Roman looked stunned by that answer.
“You know?”
“Yes.”
Nora sat.
“When I left, I didn’t know I was pregnant.”
She had discovered it six weeks later.
By then, she believed Roman was connected to Daniel Price’s disappearance.
She believed returning would place the baby inside the same world she had escaped.
“So I stayed gone.”
Roman sat opposite her.
“You should have told me.”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe?”
“I was terrified.”
“Of me?”
“Yes.”
That answer hurt him visibly.
Nora continued.
“I loved you. That was the problem. Every time you crossed a line, I found a reason to excuse it because I loved you.”
Roman looked down.
“I never would have hurt you.”
“You didn’t have to hit me to hurt me, Roman.”
He looked back up.
“You controlled everything. Where we went. Who drove me. Who knew where I was. You called it protection.”
“I thought it was.”
“It felt like a beautiful prison.”
Roman swallowed.
“I’m sorry.”
She had imagined him saying those words for years.
They did not magically repair anything.
But they mattered.
Then Roman asked, “Can I see him?”
Nora hesitated.
“Not tonight.”
His disappointment was immediate.
“But eventually?”
“If we survive Victor.”
Roman nodded.
“Fair.”
The next morning, Nora agreed to let Roman see Caleb from a distance.
They parked across from a small neighborhood park.
Caleb wore a blue jacket and chased fallen leaves while Mia watched.
Roman stared through the window.
The feared Roman Vale looked suddenly human.
Caleb had his dark hair.
His serious eyebrows.
Even the same habit of tilting his head when concentrating.
“That’s him?”
Nora nodded.
Roman’s voice cracked slightly.
“He looks like my father.”
Nora had never heard Roman’s voice crack.
Caleb fell while running.
Roman reached instinctively for the door.
Nora grabbed his arm.
“Wait.”
Caleb stood by himself.
Brushed his knees.
Continued running.
Roman smiled.
“He’s stubborn.”
“That’s definitely yours.”
Roman looked at her.
For the first time in three years, they both laughed.
It lasted two seconds.
Then Tommy’s voice came through Roman’s phone.
“We found Arthur.”
Roman’s smile disappeared.
“Where?”
“Lombardi’s.”
They returned to the restaurant after closing.
Arthur sat alone at table four.
No diners.
No music.
No chandeliers except those above the main floor.
He looked twenty years older.
“I didn’t have a choice,” Arthur said.
Roman remained standing.
“Everybody has choices.”
“Victor owns my debt.”
Nora approached.
“You hired me because he told you to?”
“Yes.”
“For three years?”
Arthur nodded.
“Did you report everything?”
“Mostly.”
Nora felt sick.
Her schedules.
Her addresses.
Her friendships.
Victor had known everything.
“Why reveal yourself now?”
Arthur looked at Roman.
“Because Victor is coming back.”
Roman’s expression hardened.
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
Arthur reached beneath the table.
Tommy immediately moved.
Arthur raised both hands.
“Easy.”
He removed a flash drive.
“Victor made me keep this.”
Roman took it.
“What is it?”
“Insurance.”
They connected it to a laptop.
A video appeared.
Victor sat behind a desk.
The timestamp was yesterday.
“If you’re watching this, Roman, congratulations. You finally learned Nora didn’t betray you.”
Roman’s jaw tightened.
Victor smiled.
“But betrayal is such an interesting word.”
The video changed.
Security footage.
Roman recognized his father’s office.
Twenty years earlier.
A younger Tommy entered.
Roman looked sharply at him.
Tommy went pale.
On the video, Tommy handed Victor an envelope.
Nora stared.
Roman slowly turned toward his closest friend.
“Tommy?”
Tommy said nothing.
The video continued.
Victor opened the envelope.
Inside were documents belonging to Roman’s father.
Roman’s voice became dangerously quiet.
“What did you give him?”
Tommy closed his eyes.
“Something I’ve regretted every day since.”
Roman stepped closer.
“What?”
“The location of your father’s evidence.”
Roman stared.
“You worked for Victor?”
“I was nineteen.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“He threatened my family.”
Roman’s anger filled the room.
Tommy continued.
“I gave him the location. But when Victor went there, the evidence was gone.”
“Because Evelyn had moved it,” Nora said.
Tommy nodded.
Roman looked betrayed.
“You stood beside me for twenty years.”
“Yes.”
“And never told me.”
“I was ashamed.”
Before Roman could answer, Nora’s phone rang.
Mia.
Nora answered immediately.
“Mia?”
Her friend was crying.
“Sadie, someone came to the apartment.”
Nora’s blood turned cold.
“Where’s Caleb?”
“He’s okay. We left through the back stairs.”
Nora closed her eyes in relief.
Then Mia said something else.
“They left a box.”
“What box?”
“It has your name on it.”
Roman took the phone.
“Don’t touch it. Leave the building.”
But Nora already knew.
Victor was finished hiding.
Ten minutes later, Tommy’s team retrieved the box.
Inside was no weapon.
No threat.
Only a child’s toy.
A small wooden train.
Caleb’s favorite.
Attached to it was a note.
A father should meet his son.
And underneath:
Bring Roman to Pier 17 tomorrow night, or Caleb learns what kind of family he was born into.
Nora looked at Roman.
Roman looked back.
Victor had discovered Caleb.
And suddenly, the war was no longer about money.
May you like
It was about their child.
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