Chapter 9 - The Price on Naomi Bell
Naomi didn't remember climbing through the bathroom window.
She remembered Tessa saying the fire escape was outside.
She remembered Roman shouting through the phone.
She remembered the apartment door opening behind them.
Then suddenly cold night air hit her face.
Tessa pushed the window wider.
"Go."
Naomi climbed.
Three floors above the alley.
Her hands shook.
"I'm going to die."
"Not tonight."
Footsteps crossed Naomi's bedroom.
Roman's voice came from the phone still clenched between her teeth.
"Security is two minutes away."
Naomi lowered herself onto the metal platform.
Tessa followed.
Inside, someone entered the bathroom.
The window moved.
Naomi looked down.
"Run."
They descended.
Fast.
Too fast.
Metal stairs rattled.
Naomi slipped once.
Tessa caught her jacket.
At the second floor, a man appeared at the window above.
Dark clothes.
Face covered.
He looked down.
Naomi froze.
Roman's voice screamed through the phone.
"Move!"
She moved.
They reached the alley.
A black SUV turned the corner.
Naomi almost ran the other direction.
Then the rear window lowered.
Victor.
"Get in!"
They jumped inside.
The SUV accelerated before the door fully closed.
Naomi collapsed against the seat.
Tessa stared at Victor.
"You look exactly like your arrest photos."
Victor frowned.
"What?"
Naomi began laughing.
Hysterical.
Uncontrolled.
Tessa joined.
Victor looked toward the driver.
"Are they in shock?"
"Probably."
Ten minutes later Naomi stopped laughing.
Then she began crying.
Victor said nothing.
He handed her tissues.
"Where's Roman?"
"Virginia."
"The boys?"
"Safe."
Naomi nodded.
"Good."
Victor hesitated.
"He wanted to come personally."
"Why didn't he?"
"I told him kidnapping all three infants into an urban pursuit seemed counterproductive."
Naomi almost smiled.
"He listened?"
"Eventually."
The SUV drove south.
Naomi looked at Tessa.
"I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"You got dragged into this."
Tessa squeezed her hand.
"If your terrible taste in men gets me killed before we even date any of them, I'll haunt you."
Naomi stared.
"Roman and I are not—"
Victor looked out the window very deliberately.
Naomi pointed.
"Don't."
"I said nothing."
"You thought something."
"Not illegal yet."
Naomi groaned.
They reached the estate after midnight.
Roman was waiting on the steps.
No coat.
Black shirt.
Barely controlled fury.
The SUV stopped.
Naomi stepped out.
Roman crossed the distance.
He stopped before touching her.
"Are you hurt?"
"No."
"Tessa?"
"I'm fine," Tessa said.
Roman looked Naomi over.
"You're bleeding."
She looked down.
A scrape across her palm.
"Fire escape."
His jaw tightened.
"I'm fine."
Roman nodded.
Then walked toward Victor.
"How many?"
"Two entered. One driver."
"Captured?"
"One."
"Other?"
"Gone."
Roman's expression became terrible.
Naomi touched his arm.
"No."
He turned.
She didn't need to explain.
No revenge.
Roman breathed once.
Twice.
"Federal custody."
Victor nodded.
Roman looked back at Naomi.
"Okay."
That single word meant more than she expected.
He was choosing again.
The new life.
Even while the old one screamed for control.
Inside, Tessa met the babies.
She immediately forgot Roman was frightening.
"Oh my God."
Leo blinked at her.
Tessa put both hands over her heart.
"They're tiny."
Roman looked offended.
"They were born early."
"I'm not criticizing them."
Miles began crying.
Tessa stepped backward.
"Okay. Tiny and loud."
Naomi instinctively moved toward him.
Then stopped.
She had promised herself distance.
Roman noticed.
He lifted Miles instead.
"Hey."
Miles screamed.
Roman rocked him.
"Come on."
The baby continued.
Roman looked at Naomi helplessly.
She sighed.
"Support his head."
"I am."
"You're tense."
"Someone broke into your apartment."
"Miles doesn't care."
Roman exhaled.
Relaxed.
The baby slowly quieted.
Tessa stared.
"What kind of alternate universe did you enter?"
Naomi whispered, "You have no idea."
The captured intruder gave federal agents information before sunrise.
His name was Daniel Price.
Low-level contractor.
Paid through a security company linked to Kincaid.
His job wasn't to kill Naomi.
It was to take her.
"For leverage?" Roman asked Evelyn.
"Apparently."
"Against me."
"Yes."
Naomi sat across the room.
Roman looked at her.
"I'm sorry."
She hated that he kept saying that.
Because each time it sounded more personal.
Evelyn continued.
"Price says Kincaid believes Naomi has additional evidence."
"I don't," Naomi said.
"He doesn't know that."
Roman leaned forward.
"Why not grab me?"
Evelyn almost laughed.
"You're surrounded by armed security."
Roman looked toward Naomi.
"She wasn't."
Naomi felt the guilt cross his face.
"Stop."
"What?"
"Making yourself responsible for every choice Kincaid makes."
"He targeted you because of me."
"He targeted Elise first."
Roman went silent.
Naomi continued.
"This began before the train."
Evelyn nodded.
"She's right."
Roman looked annoyed.
Naomi almost smiled.
"You hate that phrase."
"I'm hearing it frequently."
Later that morning, Roman asked Naomi to walk with him.
They went to the garden.
Security remained nearby but distant.
"I can move you somewhere else," he said.
"No."
"Hotel?"
"No."
"Another property?"
"No."
"Naomi."
"I'm tired of running."
Roman studied her.
"So am I."
"Then stop."
"What?"
"Running your life around threats."
He looked toward the house.
"I don't know how."
Naomi believed him.
Roman had grown up in danger.
Maybe safety felt unnatural.
Maybe conflict had become a language he spoke more fluently than peace.
"You said Elise wanted normal breakfast."
Roman nodded.
"What would that look like?"
"Today?"
"Yes."
He thought.
"Cereal."
Naomi smiled.
"Very ambitious."
"Coffee."
"Revolutionary."
"No phones."
"Impossible."
"Probably."
Naomi laughed.
Roman looked at her.
For several seconds, something changed between them.
Not grief.
Not danger.
Something warmer.
Naomi immediately stepped back emotionally.
Roman noticed.
"I'm not asking for anything."
"I know."
"Good."
She nodded.
Roman continued.
"But I need to say something."
"That sounds dangerous."
"Probably."
He looked directly at her.
"When you left yesterday, the house felt empty again."
Naomi's heart tightened.
"Roman."
"I know."
"No, you don't."
"I do."
"You lost Elise twelve days ago."
"Fourteen now."
The correction hurt.
Naomi continued.
"You are grieving."
"Yes."
"I'm grieving."
"Yes."
"You don't get to confuse gratitude with—"
"I'm not."
She stopped.
Roman's voice remained calm.
"I loved my wife. I still love my wife."
Naomi looked away.
"Whatever this is, I don't want to disrespect that."
"Neither do I."
They stood beneath an oak tree.
Roman continued.
"You aren't replacing Elise."
Naomi looked at him.
"And the boys aren't replacing Micah."
Her eyes filled.
Roman swallowed.
"Maybe two terrible things can be true without becoming the same thing."
Naomi nodded.
That was perhaps the wisest thing he'd said.
Before either could continue, Victor appeared.
"Roman."
Roman sighed.
"Of course."
Victor held up his phone.
"We found Grant."
"Where?"
"New York."
Naomi stiffened.
Roman asked, "With Kincaid?"
"No."
Victor's expression was strange.
"He's at St. Vincent's Hospital."
"Why?"
"He was admitted thirty minutes ago."
Roman frowned.
"Condition?"
"Gunshot wound."
Naomi's stomach dropped.
Victor continued.
"He says Kincaid shot him."
Roman's eyes narrowed.
"And he wants to talk."
"To who?"
Victor looked at Naomi.
"Her."
Naomi stared.
"Me?"
"Only you."
Roman immediately said, "No."
Naomi looked at him.
"We just had a conversation about control."
"This isn't control."
"It sounds like control."
"Grant helped kill my wife."
"And he may know why she chose me."
Roman stepped closer.
"No."
Naomi folded her arms.
"Roman."
He exhaled.
"Fine."
Victor looked surprised.
Roman added, "We all go."
Naomi almost smiled.
"Compromise."
"I hate it."
"Also fatherhood."
Victor said, "There's more."
Roman's expression darkened.
"What now?"
"Grant told the nurse one thing before surgery."
"What?"
Victor looked between them.
"He said Elise's crash wasn't supposed to kill her."
Roman went still.
Naomi whispered, "What was supposed to happen?"
Victor's face hardened.
"She was supposed to survive."
"Why?"
"Because Kincaid wanted her alive."
Roman's voice became ice.
"For what?"
Victor lowered the phone.
"To force Roman to sign over Jude's trust."
Naomi felt sick.
Then Victor added the worst part.
"Grant says the crash went wrong because somebody else interfered."
Roman frowned.
"Who?"
Victor shook his head.
"He wouldn't say."
Naomi stared toward the house where the three babies slept.
There had been Kincaid.
Grant.
Marcus.
Celeste.
Layers of betrayal.
But now there was another unknown person.
Someone who had changed the plan the night Elise died.
Someone perhaps even Kincaid hadn't controlled.
And Naomi realized they had been asking the wrong question.
They had been asking who wanted Elise dead.
Maybe the real question was:
May you like
Who decided at the last second that Elise could not be allowed to live?
---
