Chapter 5 - The Price of Saving Oliver
Clare screamed Oliver’s name until her throat hurt.
Sebastian had never felt more useless.
Not when he woke after the accident.
Not after Vale told him he would never walk again.
Not even when Matteo died.
Clare stood in the middle of Oliver’s empty room clutching the ransom note.
“My son.”
Sebastian moved toward her.
She turned on him.
“This happened because of you.”
The words struck exactly where she intended.
“Yes.”
“Because of your family.”
“Yes.”
“Because I came to your house.”
“Yes.”
Gabriel stepped forward.
“Clare, we’ll get him back.”
She looked at him with tears running down her face.
“You don’t know that.”
Nobody answered.
Sebastian looked at the ransom note.
Bring the watch. Come alone.
Victor believed the ledger remained inside it.
Good.
That gave them something.
“He doesn’t know we copied it,” Sebastian said.
Clare wiped her face.
“I’m going.”
“No.”
“He asked for me.”
“He asked for the watch.”
“And said come alone.”
“He’ll kill you.”
“He has Oliver.”
Sebastian’s voice hardened.
“You’re not going.”
Clare crossed the room and stood directly in front of him.
“You threatened me the first night we met. You used my son to force me into your car. Do not make the mistake of thinking you can control me now because you care about me.”
Sebastian looked up at her.
She was right.
He hated it.
“I’m coming with you.”
“You can’t.”
The words escaped before Clare could stop them.
Sebastian’s face changed.
She closed her eyes.
“I didn’t mean—”
“Yes, you did.”
“I meant Victor expects me alone.”
“No. You meant I’m in a wheelchair.”
“Sebastian.”
“And you’re right.”
He turned away.
Clare knelt in front of him.
“I need you thinking. Not proving something.”
His eyes met hers.
“You think I need to prove I’m a man?”
“I think you’ve spent four years believing standing and strength are the same thing.”
That silenced him.
“You were terrifying before your toe moved,” Clare whispered. “You’re terrifying now.”
A tiny smile touched his mouth.
“Comforting.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
She put her forehead against his.
“Help me bring him home.”
Sebastian closed his eyes.
Then nodded.
They built a plan.
Clare would bring the watch.
The memory card inside would be fake.
Gabriel’s team would track her from a distance.
Elena would send the remaining evidence to three news organizations the moment Oliver was secure.
And Sebastian?
Sebastian insisted on being nearby.
The facility was an abandoned rehabilitation hospital outside the city.
The irony was not lost on him.
Clare entered alone at 11:43 p.m.
Victor Lombardi waited in the former hydrotherapy room.
He was sixty-three.
Elegant.
Gray-haired.
Smiling.
Oliver sat in a chair beside Dr. Vale.
His hands were tied.
“Mom!”
Clare nearly ran to him.
Vale raised a syringe.
She stopped.
“Touch him,” Clare said, “and I swear—”
Victor laughed.
“Everyone swears around my family.”
“Let him go.”
“The watch.”
Clare held it up.
Victor’s eyes fixed on it.
“Throw it.”
“No.”
His smile disappeared.
“You’re negotiating?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t understand who I am.”
“I understand exactly who you are.”
She looked at Oliver.
“A coward who needs an eight-year-old to feel powerful.”
Victor’s face hardened.
Vale stepped forward.
“Give us the watch.”
Clare looked at him.
“You destroyed Sebastian’s spinal function.”
Vale smiled faintly.
“Sebastian destroyed himself long before I met him.”
“You used a neurotoxic compound.”
Vale’s smile vanished.
Clare knew she had him.
“Daniel documented everything.”
Victor glanced at Vale.
Just for a second.
But enough.
They did not trust each other.
Clare continued.
“Daniel also recorded you.”
Victor raised his gun.
“Give me the watch.”
“Let Oliver walk to me.”
“Watch first.”
“Boy first.”
A sound came from the corridor.
Victor turned.
Sebastian rolled through the doorway.
Alone.
Clare stared.
This was not the plan.
Victor laughed.
“My crippled nephew.”
Sebastian’s expression remained calm.
“Still hiding behind doctors and children, Uncle?”
Victor aimed the gun at him.
“You should have died in that car.”
“Your first mistake.”
“Vale corrected it.”
“Poorly.”
Sebastian looked at Clare.
Then Oliver.
“Are you hurt?”
Oliver shook his head.
“No.”
“Good.”
Victor smiled.
“You came for them?”
“I came for you.”
“No army?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re predictable.”
Victor frowned.
Sebastian looked toward Vale.
“My father trusted you.”
Vale stiffened.
“You killed him anyway.”
Victor’s gun shifted.
And Sebastian said one sentence.
“He kept a second ledger.”
Victor turned toward Vale.
“What?”
Vale stared at him.
“He’s lying.”
“Am I?”
Sebastian smiled.
“Vale made copies. Insurance.”
Victor’s expression changed.
Vale stepped backward.
“You idiot,” Vale whispered.
Clare understood what Sebastian was doing.
Breaking the alliance.
Victor aimed his gun at Vale.
Vale grabbed Oliver.
Chaos erupted.
Clare lunged.
A gunshot exploded.
Sebastian threw himself from the wheelchair.
Gabriel’s team entered from two corridors.
Clare reached Oliver and dragged him behind a concrete barrier.
Another gunshot.
Victor fell.
Vale ran.
Sebastian lay on the floor.
“Sebastian!”
Clare crawled toward him.
No blood.
He was breathing.
“I’m fine.”
Then Vale appeared behind her.
Syringe raised.
Sebastian saw him.
“Clare!”
She turned too late.
Vale grabbed her.
The needle touched her neck.
“Everyone stop!”
Gabriel froze.
Vale dragged Clare backward.
“I leave, or she dies.”
Sebastian’s face became terrifyingly still.
Vale laughed.
“Look at you. The great Sebastian Lombardi. Helpless.”
Sebastian gripped a metal railing.
Then something impossible happened.
He pulled himself upward.
His legs shook violently.
Clare stared.
“Sebastian, no.”
He continued.
One foot beneath him.
Then the other.
He was not truly standing independently.
His arms carried most of his weight.
But he was upright.
Vale stared.
That second of disbelief was enough.
Clare drove her elbow backward.
Gabriel moved.
Vale fell.
The syringe skidded across the floor.
Sebastian collapsed.
Clare reached him.
“You idiot!”
He laughed weakly.
“Apparently rehabilitation works.”
She kissed him.
Then remembered Oliver was watching.
Again.
“Seriously?” Oliver said.
Clare laughed through her tears and pulled her son into her arms.
Police sirens approached.
Victor survived the gunshot.
So did Vale.
For Sebastian, that mattered.
Not because he forgave them.
Because Clare had been right.
Dead men could become legends.
Living men could testify.
By morning, federal agents had both men in custody.
The ledger spread beyond anyone’s ability to erase it.
Judges resigned.
Police officers were arrested.
Vale’s medical license was suspended pending criminal prosecution.
Northstar warehouses were raided.
And Daniel Bennett’s name was officially attached to the evidence that exposed the network.
Three days later, Clare stood beside Sebastian’s hospital bed.
“You tore two muscles.”
“I stood.”
“You fell.”
“I stood first.”
“You’re impossible.”
Sebastian smiled.
Oliver entered carrying a paper cup.
“Coffee.”
Sebastian accepted it.
“You’re my favorite Bennett.”
“Hey,” Clare said.
Oliver grinned.
Then Gabriel appeared.
His expression was strange.
“What now?” Clare asked.
He handed her an envelope.
“It came from Daniel’s attorney.”
Clare stared.
“Daniel didn’t have an attorney.”
“Apparently he did.”
Inside was a letter.
And a key.
The letter began:
Clare, if you’re reading this, Sebastian survived long enough to learn the truth. But there is one thing I never told you.
She continued reading.
Then stopped.
Sebastian watched her.
“What?”
Clare looked at him in disbelief.
Daniel had left her something four years ago.
Something worth millions.
May you like
And according to the letter, it had belonged to the Lombardi family.
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