Chapter 5 - The Brother Who Wanted Roman Broken
For most of his life, Roman DeLuca had believed he understood hatred.
He had seen men kill over money.
Power.
Pride.
Territory.
He had watched alliances collapse because somebody felt insulted at dinner.
But nothing prepared him for seeing his younger brother standing beneath Claire’s portrait with a gun in his hand.
“Adrian.”
Roman said the name quietly.
Behind him, Josephine moved subtly toward the children.
Adrian noticed.
“Don’t.”
She stopped.
Vincent lay bleeding on the floor.
Roman remained between Adrian and everyone else.
“You shot Vincent.”
“He got in the way.”
“You came into my bedroom.”
“Our bedroom once.”
Roman frowned.
Adrian gave a bitter smile.
“You really don’t remember, do you?”
Their father had purchased the mansion when Roman was nineteen.
Adrian had been fourteen.
They had both lived there briefly.
Before Roman inherited everything.
Before Adrian left.
Before distance became normal.
Roman looked at the pendant.
“You’ve been working with Mercer.”
“For years.”
“Why?”
Adrian laughed softly.
“Because he told me the truth.”
“About what?”
“Dad.”
Roman’s expression changed.
Adrian stepped closer.
“Antonio DeLuca wasn’t the hero you remember.”
“I never remembered him as a hero.”
“No. You remembered him as your father.”
“So did you.”
“No.”
The single word carried decades of pain.
“He was your father. I was his spare.”
Roman stared.
“You think this is about inheritance?”
“I don’t care about your money.”
“That seems to be everyone’s favorite sentence tonight.”
Adrian’s face hardened.
“Do you know what Dad did to Samuel Mercer?”
Roman did not answer.
“He ordered Samuel killed because Samuel discovered Dad was laundering money through companies that belonged to Mom’s family.”
Roman frowned.
“Our mother knew?”
“She found out.”
“What happened?”
“You tell me.”
Their mother had died when Roman was twenty-three.
Car accident.
At least that was what Roman had always believed.
Adrian’s eyes filled with something dangerous.
“She was going to leave him.”
Roman’s stomach turned.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Mercer showed me the records.”
“Mercer showed you whatever he needed you to see.”
Adrian raised his gun slightly.
“You sound exactly like Dad.”
Roman absorbed the insult.
“Maybe.”
Adrian had not expected that.
Roman continued.
“Maybe I became too much like him. But Claire didn’t kill your mother.”
Adrian flinched.
“My sons didn’t kill her.”
Silence.
“Josephine didn’t.”
Adrian looked toward the boys.
For the first time his expression wavered.
Roman saw it.
“You love them.”
“Don’t.”
“You came here tonight.”
“To get the key.”
“You could have killed them.”
Adrian’s face changed.
“I never would.”
“That’s why you warned Oliver to hide.”
Adrian stared.
Roman understood.
“It was you.”
“What?”
“The photographs.”
“No.”
“You sent Josephine pictures of the boys so she would come here.”
Adrian’s silence answered.
“You wanted Claire’s evidence found.”
“I needed Roman to find the key,” Adrian said to Josephine.
“Why not search the attic yourself?”
“Because I didn’t know where it was.”
“And Mercer?”
Adrian touched the pendant.
“He believes I’m bringing him the key.”
Roman looked at the necklace.
“You’re betraying him.”
“I’m finishing what Claire started.”
Josephine stepped forward.
“Then lower the gun.”
Adrian looked at her.
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because Mercer has men outside.”
Roman’s eyes shifted toward the windows.
Adrian continued.
“If I don’t leave this house with Roman and the key, Mercer will kill everyone inside.”
“Security?”
“Half the system is compromised.”
Vincent coughed.
Roman looked down.
His old friend whispered, “He’s telling the truth.”
Adrian stared at him.
“You should be unconscious.”
Vincent almost smiled.
“You always did hit like a rich kid.”
Josephine knelt beside him.
Roman turned back to Adrian.
“What’s the plan?”
Adrian blinked.
“You believe me?”
“No.”
“Then—”
“But Claire believed evidence mattered more than revenge. We get locker 214.”
Adrian lowered the gun slightly.
Josephine shook her head.
“Mercer expects us.”
“Good,” Roman said.
Everyone looked at him.
“For four years, Mercer has controlled what we know.”
Roman’s eyes hardened.
“Tonight that ends.”
Union Station was nearly empty by the time they arrived.
The storm had delayed trains.
Roman brought no visible security.
Mercer had demanded it.
Adrian walked beside him.
Josephine followed several yards back.
What Mercer did not know was that Vincent had managed to activate an independent emergency channel before paramedics took him away.
Three men loyal to Roman were somewhere nearby.
Not enough for war.
Enough for a chance.
Locker 214 stood in an old baggage corridor beneath the station.
Roman inserted the brass key.
Nothing happened.
Josephine looked at the pendant around Adrian’s neck.
He removed it.
The medal opened.
Inside was a tiny rotating dial.
Numbers were engraved along the edge.
Josephine stared.
“I used to turn that when I was nervous.”
“What sequence?” Roman asked.
She closed her eyes.
Her fingers moved unconsciously.
“Four. Eleven. Nine. Fourteen.”
Roman entered the sequence.
The lock clicked.
Inside was a small metal case.
Roman reached for it.
“Don’t.”
The voice came from behind them.
Daniel Mercer stepped from the shadows.
Four armed men appeared.
Adrian’s face tightened.
Mercer smiled.
“Family reunion.”
Roman turned.
“You killed Claire.”
Mercer shrugged.
“She became inconvenient.”
Josephine’s expression changed.
Roman had never seen hatred on her face before.
Now he did.
Mercer noticed.
“She liked you, Josephine.”
“Don’t say her name.”
“She died because you warned her.”
Josephine went pale.
Roman looked at her.
Mercer smiled wider.
“Oh, she never told you?”
“Shut up.”
“You discovered the breach. Claire changed her movements. We had to accelerate.”
Josephine’s eyes filled with tears.
Mercer enjoyed it.
Roman did not.
“You’re trying to make her responsible for something you did.”
Mercer looked at him.
“Still protecting women who lie to you?”
Roman stepped forward.
Gun barrels rose.
He stopped.
Mercer extended his hand.
“The case.”
Roman looked at Adrian.
Adrian nodded slightly.
Roman handed Mercer the metal box.
Mercer opened it.
Inside was a hard drive.
And a sealed envelope.
Mercer smiled.
“At last.”
Then Roman said, “Claire knew you would get this far.”
Mercer paused.
“What?”
Josephine looked at Roman.
He had noticed something she had not.
A blinking green light inside the locker.
Roman smiled faintly.
“The moment we opened it, the files transmitted.”
Mercer’s face changed.
“To where?”
Roman had no idea.
But Claire had.
Mercer grabbed the hard drive anyway.
Then sirens began outside.
Not police.
Federal vehicles.
Mercer’s men shifted nervously.
Roman realized Claire’s final insurance policy had been activated.
Mercer grabbed Josephine.
Gun against her side.
“No one moves.”
Roman’s face went cold.
Mercer backed toward the exit.
Josephine looked at Roman.
Not frightened.
Focused.
Her eyes dropped briefly toward Mercer’s hand.
Thumb.
Weak side.
Roman understood.
So did Oliver’s lesson.
Josephine moved.
Thumb down.
Turn.
Drop.
Mercer’s grip loosened.
Roman lunged.
The gun fired into the ceiling.
Adrian tackled one attacker.
Federal agents flooded the corridor.
Within seconds, Mercer was on the ground.
Josephine stood breathing hard.
Roman stared at her.
She looked back.
For a second, everything seemed finished.
Then Adrian picked up the sealed envelope from the floor.
His face changed as he read the front.
“What?” Roman asked.
Adrian handed it to him.
Claire had written one sentence.
Roman, before you forgive your brother, ask him where he was the night I died.
Roman slowly lifted his eyes toward Adrian.
May you like
And Adrian whispered, “There’s something I never told you.”
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