Chapter 6 - The Guard Who Betrayed Him
Nobody moved.
Roman stared at Jonah.
“How long?”
Jonah swallowed.
“Three weeks.”
“You could've told me.”
“He said he'd kill Daniel.”
“And you believed Victor?”
“I believe what men like us are capable of.”
Roman flinched at us.
Jonah wasn't wrong.
Victor had built a prison without walls.
Fear.
Exactly like Walter had.
Renley slowly stepped forward.
“Does Victor know we're here?”
Jonah looked at her.
“Yes.”
Roman's voice sharpened.
“Don't talk to her.”
Renley ignored him.
“Is your brother alive?”
“I think so.”
“You think?”
Jonah's gun trembled.
Samuel spoke.
“Victor doesn't keep promises.”
Jonah shouted, “Shut up!”
Renley jumped but stayed where she was.
“Mr. Pike used to tell me something.”
Roman looked at her.
“Renley.”
“He said people make their worst choices when they're scared and alone.”
Jonah's eyes filled.
Renley continued.
“You're not alone.”
The gun lowered slightly.
Roman saw his chance but didn't take it.
Not physically.
Instead he said, “Give me the weapon.”
Jonah shook his head.
“Daniel dies.”
“Then we get Daniel.”
“You can't.”
Roman stepped closer.
“You have watched me do impossible things for money.”
Another step.
“Watch what I do for one of my own.”
Jonah's weapon lowered.
Then a shot came from upstairs.
Jonah collapsed.
Renley screamed.
Roman dragged her behind the cabinet.
The bullet had struck Jonah's shoulder.
Alive.
More shots followed.
Victor's men entered.
Miles returned fire.
Samuel pulled Elena behind a concrete wall.
Roman helped Jonah crawl to safety.
Jonah stared at him in disbelief.
“Why?”
Roman pressed cloth against his wound.
“Because I'm tired of burying people.”
Police sirens approached.
Victor's men withdrew.
Someone had anonymously called authorities.
Samuel smiled.
“Your father.”
Roman looked confused.
“Walter programmed emergency calls?”
“No.”
Samuel held up his phone.
“I did.”
Roman nearly laughed.
Jonah survived.
His brother Daniel was found hours later in a motel outside the city after Jonah gave them the location he'd overheard.
Victor's leverage disappeared.
But their greater problem remained.
The tapes implicated powerful people.
The ledger could destroy them.
And Victor would burn the city before allowing Roman to find it.
Back at the mansion, Roman listened to another recording.
Walter sounded older.
Tired.
“I thought hiding the truth would keep people alive. I was wrong.”
“Secrets become weapons when honest people are afraid to speak.”
Then Walter said something Roman wasn't prepared for.
“If Renley is listening…”
Renley looked up.
“…tell her I'm sorry I never said goodbye.”
Her eyes immediately filled.
Walter's voice continued.
“I knew my heart was getting weaker.”
“I knew one Thursday might be the last.”
“But I was selfish.”
“I wanted one more knock at the door.”
Renley covered her mouth.
Roman paused the tape.
She began crying.
“I was late.”
“No.”
“If I got there earlier—”
“No.”
“He might've—”
“Renley.”
Roman knelt.
“You didn't kill my father.”
She cried harder.
“I know.”
“You don't.”
Roman remembered his mother's death.
Twelve years blaming himself for not answering her final phone call.
Walter disappearing.
Years building anger around guilt.
He finally understood what Elena had told her daughter.
“You cannot save everybody by arriving five minutes earlier.”
Renley stared at him.
“That sounds like my mom.”
“Your mom's smart.”
Renley wiped her face.
Roman placed Walter's cassette beside her.
“My father didn't wait for soup.”
“What?”
“He waited for you.”
Renley began crying again, but differently.
That evening Roman announced a decision.
He would find the ledger.
Then he would give everything to federal investigators.
Miles stared.
“Everything?”
“Everything.”
“Boss, that could include us.”
“I know.”
Samuel leaned against the wall.
“It could include you.”
Roman nodded.
“I know.”
For the first time, he said it without hesitation.
Renley asked, “Will you go to jail?”
“Maybe.”
Her face fell.
Roman smiled sadly.
“Doing the right thing doesn't erase the wrong things.”
Before anyone could answer, the lights went out.
The mansion became dark.
Then the security system died.
Roman stood.
“Miles.”
“Backup generator isn't responding.”
Outside, engines approached.
Not one.
Several.
Roman looked through the curtain.
Black vehicles surrounded the gates.
Victor Dane had stopped searching for clues.
Now he was coming for Roman directly.
May you like
And this time, he had brought enough men to start a war.
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