Chapter 10 - Roman Finally Chose His Children
Roman almost killed Damian anyway.
Norah stepped between them.
Not directly in front of the gun.
She was brave, not stupid.
But close enough that Roman noticed.
“Let him talk.”
Roman’s eyes remained fixed on Damian.
“He helped them take my children.”
“I didn’t,” Damian said.
“Victor called you.”
“He believes I’m his man.”
“Why?”
“Because Evelyn built the cover.”
Roman’s expression twisted.
“Evelyn?”
Damian nodded.
“She found out Victor was buying people inside your organization. She needed someone he believed could be turned.”
“Why you?”
“My father worked for yours.”
“And?”
“He hated Charles.”
Roman lowered the gun one inch.
Damian continued.
“Patrick Cross helped Hannah escape.”
Norah froze.
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
Damian looked at her.
“My father drove her out of the city.”
Norah’s voice shook.
“To Philadelphia.”
“Yes.”
“Then how did she die?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did your father?”
“No.”
“You sure?”
“I found his journals after he died. He believed Charles located her.”
Roman stared.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because when I came to work for you, you were becoming exactly like your father.”
That struck harder than a bullet.
Roman’s gun lowered.
Damian said, “Evelyn changed that.”
Roman swallowed.
“She trusted you.”
“Yes.”
“And you let her die.”
Damian’s face tightened.
“I was supposed to follow her that morning.”
Roman froze.
“What happened?”
“She canceled me.”
“Why?”
“She said you needed the security team.”
Roman remembered.
There had been a meeting.
A threat.
An anonymous warning about Roman’s route.
He had ordered additional security.
Evelyn left alone.
It had always bothered him.
Now he understood.
The warning had been manufactured to pull security toward Roman.
Away from Evelyn.
Damian continued.
“Victor’s people believed I’d been feeding them information. Sometimes I gave them real minor details. Enough to earn trust.”
“And tonight?”
“I didn’t know they were coming for the twins.”
Norah asked, “Can you locate Victor?”
“Possibly.”
Roman’s phone rang.
Paul again.
“Two minutes out.”
Roman looked at Damian.
“Then start talking before he arrives.”
Damian explained Victor’s network.
Safe houses.
Warehouses.
Old shipping properties.
But Victor rarely stayed in one place.
He communicated through disposable phones.
The kidnapping team could be independent.
Norah’s mind raced.
“What does he need the ledger for?”
“Destroy it.”
“Why not kill us?”
Damian looked at Roman.
“Because the ledger connects people bigger than Victor.”
Roman frowned.
“Who?”
“City officials. Judges. International shipping firms.”
Norah looked toward the stairs.
“And Charles Gallagher.”
“Yes.”
“So Victor wants to erase the past.”
Damian nodded.
Roman’s face hardened.
“I don’t care about the past.”
Everyone looked at him.
“I care where my children are.”
For the first time in months, revenge did not come first.
Theo and Ruby did.
Paul arrived.
He nearly shot Damian.
Explanation followed.
Nobody trusted anybody.
But they had no time.
Midnight tomorrow gave them less than twenty-four hours.
Norah went upstairs.
The twins’ room was empty.
Two small beds.
Ruby’s stuffed rabbit.
Theo’s dinosaur slippers.
Norah sat on the carpet.
She had promised breakfast.
Tomorrow morning, I’ll be there.
They might not be.
Her breath broke.
Roman appeared at the doorway.
She looked away.
He entered.
“I should’ve been in the room.”
“No.”
“I was responsible for them.”
“So am I.”
“They’re not your children.”
Norah looked at him sharply.
Roman immediately regretted it.
“I didn’t mean—”
“They trusted me.”
“They trust you more than anyone.”
“That’s why I should’ve protected them.”
Roman crouched in front of her.
“Listen to me.”
She refused to look.
He touched her chin gently.
Norah met his eyes.
“This is not your fault.”
“You can’t know that.”
“Yes, I can.”
“How?”
“Because it’s mine.”
Norah frowned.
Roman sat beside her.
“I built a life where people could use my children against me.”
“You didn’t kidnap them.”
“I made them valuable targets.”
“Then change it.”
Roman looked at her.
Norah wiped tears.
“You keep talking like your life is weather. Something happening around you.”
“It isn’t.”
“No. You choose parts of it.”
He stared.
“You want Theo and Ruby safe?”
“Yes.”
“Then stop building an empire they have to survive.”
Roman’s eyes narrowed.
“You think I can walk away?”
“I think you’ve convinced yourself you can’t.”
Roman stood.
“There are people who depend on me.”
“Men with guns?”
“Families.”
“Then move the legitimate businesses away from the criminal ones.”
He laughed bitterly.
“You make it sound like closing a restaurant.”
“I didn’t say easy.”
Roman looked toward the empty beds.
Norah’s voice softened.
“I’m saying choose.”
He understood.
Power or children.
Revenge or family.
The world he inherited or the life his wife wanted.
Roman whispered, “If I get them back…”
Norah stood.
“When.”
He looked at her.
“When you get them back.”
Roman nodded.
“When I get them back, I’m done.”
Norah searched his face.
“You mean it?”
“I don’t make promises lightly.”
“I know.”
“And I promised Ruby I’d come back.”
His voice cracked.
“So I’m coming back.”
They worked through the night.
Damian identified six properties Victor could use.
Paul eliminated three.
Roman eliminated one because it was too exposed.
Two remained.
An abandoned boarding school outside the city.
And a warehouse near the river.
Norah studied photographs.
“Would Victor keep children somewhere industrial?”
Paul shrugged.
“He’s not sentimental.”
“But he needs them calm enough to negotiate.”
Roman looked at her.
“What are you thinking?”
“The twins hate loud noises.”
“Yes.”
“A warehouse near freight trains would be loud.”
Damian checked the map.
“Boarding school is isolated.”
Roman nodded.
“We go.”
Paul stopped him.
“He said come alone tomorrow.”
“We’re not waiting.”
“What if he has men watching?”
“He does.”
Norah looked at the map.
“Then don’t send Roman.”
Everyone turned.
“What?” Roman asked.
“Victor expects Roman’s people.”
“Yes.”
“He expects black SUVs.”
“Yes.”
“He expects armed men.”
Roman narrowed his eyes.
Norah pointed at herself.
“He doesn’t expect the nanny.”
“No.”
Roman said it immediately.
Norah ignored him.
“I drive to the town nearby. Normal car. Normal clothes.”
“No.”
“Paul tracks me.”
“No.”
“I see whether the building is occupied.”
“No.”
Norah looked at him.
“You want your children?”
Roman stepped closer.
“I will not trade one person I care about for two others.”
The words stopped both of them.
Paul looked away.
Damian suddenly became interested in the map.
Norah stared at Roman.
“You care about me?”
Roman realized what he had said.
His expression closed.
“This is not the time.”
“Definitely not.”
Paul cleared his throat.
“I can send a woman from surveillance.”
Norah nodded.
“Do that.”
Roman looked relieved and annoyed simultaneously.
Three hours later, surveillance returned photographs.
Vehicle tracks.
Lights.
Two armed men.
And one image taken through a long lens.
A child at an upstairs window.
Dark curls.
Ruby.
Roman stared at the photograph.
“We go now.”
This time nobody argued.
The rescue operation began at four fourteen in the morning.
Roman remained in the second vehicle until Paul’s team secured the ground floor.
Then he entered.
The old school smelled of dust.
Broken desks lined corridors.
Roman climbed the stairs.
A guard appeared.
Paul subdued him.
Another fled.
Roman reached the final classroom.
Locked.
He kicked the door.
Nothing.
Again.
The frame cracked.
Third time.
Door opened.
Theo sat beneath a table.
Ruby stood in front of him holding a broken ruler like a sword.
Roman stopped.
Ruby’s face changed.
“Daddy?”
Roman dropped his weapon.
“Yes.”
She ran.
He caught her.
Theo followed.
Roman fell to his knees with both children in his arms.
Ruby sobbed.
“You came back.”
Roman pressed his face against her hair.
“I promised.”
Theo gripped his jacket.
“Norah?”
“She’s home.”
“Did she leave?”
“No.”
Theo cried harder.
Roman held them.
For once, nobody hurried him.
No calls mattered.
No enemy mattered.
Only two children alive in his arms.
Then Theo whispered something.
Roman almost missed it.
“The gray-haired man said Mommy was alive.”
Roman’s body went rigid.
“What?”
Theo pulled back.
“He said Mommy didn’t die.”
Ruby nodded.
“He said you lied.”
Roman stared.
“That’s not true.”
Theo reached into his pocket.
“He gave us this.”
A photograph.
Roman took it.
His heart stopped.
Evelyn.
Alive.
Standing outside a building.
The timestamp was three weeks after the car fire.
Roman’s hands began to shake.
Paul looked over his shoulder.
“No.”
Roman stared at the woman he had mourned for six months.
Same face.
Same hair.
Same necklace.
Evelyn Gallagher.
Alive after the day she supposedly died.
And beneath the photograph, Victor had written one sentence:
May you like
Ask yourself whose body was in the car.
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