Chapter 5 - The Friend at the Door
Samuel Crowe had been beside Roman through funerals, investigations, betrayals, and wars.
Which was exactly why Roman didn't confront him.
Not yet.
When Samuel entered Roman's office that morning, Roman acted exhausted rather than suspicious.
“Heard there was trouble.”
“There usually is.”
Samuel poured himself coffee.
“Victor Dane?”
Roman watched.
Samuel knew too quickly.
“Why Victor?”
Samuel shrugged.
“Who else?”
Roman smiled faintly.
“Good point.”
Renley watched through the cracked study door.
Roman had told her not to.
Renley had developed a complicated relationship with instructions.
Samuel wore a gold ring.
Same shape as the one in the old photograph.
After Samuel left, Renley entered.
“He's the man.”
“Probably.”
“You don't sound sure.”
“Sure gets people killed.”
Roman showed her Walter's second key.
“No number this time.”
Engraved along its side were the letters B.P.
Renley stared.
“Bus terminal?”
“No.”
“Bank?”
Roman stopped.
Walter had once owned a small printing company before Roman was born.
Vale & Pike Printing.
The abandoned warehouse where Victor had arranged the exchange had not been random.
Roman called Miles.
“Find every property my father ever owned.”
An hour later they found one.
A storage building on Baxter Place.
B.P.
The building had been sold twenty years ago, but the basement lease remained under a shell company.
Roman, Miles, and Renley went there in daylight.
Elena protested.
Roman promised there would be guards.
Renley told her mother, “Mr. Pike wanted me involved.”
Elena answered, “Mr. Pike is dead.”
The words silenced everyone.
Eventually Elena agreed—but only because she came too.
The basement smelled like paper and dust.
The key opened a metal cabinet.
Inside were dozens of cassette tapes.
Not the ledger.
Each was labeled with dates.
Roman recognized some from his childhood.
One had his name.
ROMAN — AGE 8
Another:
ROMAN — AGE 12
He inserted the oldest into a battered tape player.
Walter's voice filled the basement.
“If you're listening to these, son, I failed to tell you things while I had the chance.”
Roman sat.
Renley remained quietly beside Elena.
Walter spoke about ordinary things first.
Roman's first bicycle.
His fear of thunderstorms.
The time he broke a window and blamed a neighbor.
Roman almost laughed.
Then the recordings changed.
Walter described organized crime families consolidating power.
Victor Dane bribing officials.
Samuel Crowe's father facilitating illegal accounts.
And Walter's growing horror.
“I told myself I was protecting my family,” Walter said on tape. “But I was building the danger around them brick by brick.”
Roman closed his eyes.
Then came Evelyn.
“She begged me to leave.”
Roman stopped breathing.
“I promised her we would.”
The tape crackled.
“We never made it.”
Roman stood.
The voice continued.
“Victor believed Evelyn had copied records.”
“She hadn't.”
“I had.”
Roman stared at the machine.
“That night, Victor ordered her car sabotaged.”
Elena covered her mouth.
Renley looked at Roman.
His face had become terrifyingly calm.
Walter continued.
“I wanted revenge.”
“I nearly killed Victor myself.”
“But Evelyn once told me that if I became the thing I hated, our son would inherit only hatred.”
Roman lowered his head.
“So I disappeared.”
Walter had entered protective hiding without police because some officers were compromised.
He changed his name.
He let Roman believe he was dead because Victor would use Roman to find him.
But years became a decade.
Fear became shame.
And shame made returning harder.
“I watched you from a distance,” Walter said.
“I watched you become me.”
Roman shut off the tape.
Nobody spoke.
After a minute, Renley asked, “Is that why he never contacted you?”
Roman nodded.
“He thought staying away would protect me.”
“Did it?”
Roman looked around the basement.
“No.”
A noise came upstairs.
Miles raised a hand.
Footsteps.
More than one person.
Elena grabbed Renley.
Roman killed the lights.
The basement door opened.
Flashlights moved across the ceiling.
Samuel Crowe's voice came from above.
“Roman?”
Renley's eyes widened.
Roman signaled everyone silent.
Samuel descended slowly.
“I know you're down there.”
Roman stepped from the shadows.
Samuel stopped.
Roman stared at his oldest friend.
“Funny.”
“What?”
“My father left recordings.”
Samuel's expression tightened.
Roman continued.
“And your family's name is on several.”
Samuel smiled sadly.
“So you finally know.”
Roman's heart sank.
“Know what?”
Samuel removed his ring.
He placed it on the table.
“My father wasn't the fourth man in that photograph.”
Roman stared.
Samuel looked directly at him.
“I was.”
Roman froze.
“That picture is twenty-five years old.”
“Yes.”
“You'd have been sixteen.”
Samuel nodded.
“And that was the night your mother asked me to help her escape.”
Roman's anger disappeared beneath confusion.
Samuel stepped closer.
“I didn't betray your mother.”
“Then why did my father cut you out?”
“He didn't.”
Samuel looked toward the stairway.
“Victor did.”
A gun clicked behind Roman.
Miles turned.
Too late.
Jonah stood on the stairs holding the weapon.
His face filled with shame.
“I'm sorry, boss.”
Renley gasped.
Jonah aimed directly at Roman.
May you like
“But Victor has my brother.”
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