Chapter 4 - The Dead Brother
Roman Vale had attended his younger brother's funeral seven years earlier.
He remembered the rain.
He remembered his mother's hand shaking inside his.
He remembered the closed coffin.
Most of all, he remembered promising himself that Adrian's death would be the last debt collected from his family.
Now Adrian's face stared from a computer screen.
Alive.
Older.
But unmistakable.
Naen watched Roman.
“Could the video be fake?”
Gabriel answered.
“We'll verify it.”
Roman said nothing.
Naen recognized that silence.
It was the same expression he'd worn in the alley when pain became too large to show.
“Roman.”
He walked away.
Naen followed.
“Don't.”
He stopped.
“You don't get to tell me not to care after dragging my life into this.”
“I didn't drag you.”
“No. I walked into it voluntarily because apparently I make terrible decisions.”
That got his attention.
Naen stepped closer.
“If he's alive, you deserve to know why.”
Roman's jaw tightened.
“My brother died because of me.”
“You don't know that.”
“I sent him to negotiate with Victor.”
Naen went silent.
Roman stared through the window.
“The car exploded on the return trip.”
“You saw him?”
“No.”
“Then maybe that's the point.”
Roman looked at her.
By morning, Gabriel had authenticated the recording.
The man was almost certainly Adrian.
More disturbing was what happened after he left the alley.
Another man appeared.
David Kesler.
Naen stared at the screen.
“My manager?”
Former manager, she corrected herself.
David entered the alley less than three minutes after Roman was attacked.
He picked something up.
Then left.
Roman replayed it.
“What did he take?”
Gabriel zoomed in.
A silver flash.
Roman touched his chest.
“My key.”
“What key?” Naen asked.
Roman hesitated.
Gabriel answered.
“A private storage key.”
Roman looked irritated.
“She deserves to know.”
Naen crossed her arms.
“Thank you.”
Roman explained.
Years earlier, his father had kept records of every financial arrangement involving the Vale organization.
Payments.
Companies.
Officials.
Partners.
Enemies.
When Roman took control, he'd separated the records.
Some were destroyed.
Others were preserved as insurance.
The key opened a deposit vault containing the only physical copy of a ledger that could expose Victor's network.
“And David took it?” Naen asked.
“Apparently.”
Everything clicked.
David's arrogance.
His panic when Roman arrived.
The employee records accessed after the attack.
“He fired me because he recognized the blood.”
Roman looked at her.
Naen continued.
“He knew you were hurt. He saw my shirt and realized I'd been with you.”
Gabriel nodded.
“And firing her removed her from the restaurant before anyone could ask questions.”
Roman's expression became cold.
Naen touched his arm.
“No.”
He looked at her hand.
“No what?”
“Whatever you're thinking.”
“You don't know what I'm thinking.”
“You have the face again.”
Gabriel turned away to hide another smile.
Roman sighed.
“Naen—”
“Police.”
“No.”
“Then lawyers. Investigators. Something legal.”
“David participated in an attempt on my life.”
“And if you respond the way he expects, you prove him right about you.”
Roman stared at her.
She lowered her voice.
“You said you're trying to change things.”
“I am.”
“Then change them when it's hard.”
That landed.
Roman looked away.
Finally he said, “Gabriel, contact our attorney.”
Gabriel nodded.
Naen exhaled.
Roman pointed at her.
“Don't look pleased.”
“I am pleased.”
“You're very annoying.”
“Still alive, though.”
His mouth twitched.
They located David that evening.
He hadn't fled.
Instead, he had gone to a hotel near the airport.
Roman's attorneys arranged for investigators to meet him.
David cracked quickly.
Victor Vale had paid him for two years.
Not to kill Roman.
To report on restaurant meetings.
To identify employees Roman trusted.
To monitor private dinners.
The night of the attack, David had been ordered to retrieve Roman's key.
But David insisted Victor wasn't the man who stabbed him.
“Adrian did,” Roman said.
David looked terrified.
“No.”
Roman leaned forward.
“Don't lie.”
“I swear.”
David's hands shook.
“Your brother saved you.”
Roman froze.
“What?”
David swallowed.
“Victor ordered the hit. Adrian learned about it. He got there first.”
Naen felt Roman's hand tighten around the head of his cane.
“Then why was I stabbed?”
“Victor's man attacked you. Adrian fought him off.”
David looked down.
“When your security arrived, Adrian ran. He couldn't let Victor know he'd interfered.”
Roman's face went blank.
“Why has my brother been hiding for seven years?”
David shook his head.
“I don't know.”
But he did know one thing.
Adrian wanted Roman to find him.
The memory card had been planted deliberately.
There was a message embedded in the final frames.
Coordinates.
An abandoned railway station outside the city.
Midnight.
Roman stood.
Naen did too.
“No.”
He looked at her.
“You're not coming.”
“I wasn't asking.”
“This is family.”
“And the people involved photographed my son.”
Roman's expression hardened.
“That is precisely why you're staying here.”
For once, Naen didn't argue.
“Fine.”
Roman narrowed his eyes.
“That was too easy.”
“I know when I'm outmatched.”
“You never know when you're outmatched.”
“Go meet your brother.”
Roman left with Gabriel.
At 11:52 p.m., Naen sat beside Leo's bed.
He slept peacefully.
At midnight, her phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
“Hello?”
Silence.
Then a man's voice.
“You're Naen Walker.”
Her blood went cold.
“Who is this?”
“The woman who saved my brother.”
Naen stood.
“Adrian?”
A quiet breath.
“Yes.”
“Roman is waiting for you.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you calling me?”
Another pause.
“Because Roman thinks tonight is a reunion.”
Naen gripped the phone.
“It isn't?”
“No.”
Adrian's voice lowered.
“Victor knows where Roman is going.”
Naen's heart began pounding.
“Then warn him.”
“I tried.”
“Try harder!”
“You don't understand.”
“Then explain.”
Adrian said something that made Naen stop breathing.
“Victor isn't the person Roman should fear.”
Naen looked toward Leo.
“Who is?”
A long silence followed.
Then Adrian answered.
“Our father.”
Naen closed her eyes.
“Roman's father is dead.”
Adrian laughed bitterly.
“No, Naen.”
A vehicle pulled up outside.
Adrian whispered:
May you like
“That's just what Roman was supposed to believe.”
---
