Chapter 9 - The Night the Lights Went Out
Mrs. Finch had vanished.
Roman refused to believe she had betrayed him.
At least not immediately.
She had worked for the Gallagher family for thirty-two years.
She had held Roman as a baby.
She had attended his mother’s funeral.
She had taught Evelyn how to manage the estate staff after the wedding.
She had been inside every important moment of his life.
But Evelyn’s ledger did not care about loyalty.
It showed money.
Four payments.
All from shell companies linked to Victor.
Paul spread copies across Roman’s desk.
“First payment nine months ago.”
“Before Evelyn started investigating.”
“Yes.”
“Next?”
“Six months and three weeks ago.”
Three weeks before Evelyn died.
Roman looked toward the window.
“And the last?”
“Yesterday.”
Norah stared.
“She got paid while I was here.”
Paul nodded.
Roman’s face hardened.
“She told Norah about the cottage.”
“Maybe to send us into the open,” Paul said.
“The shooter knew where we were going.”
Norah folded her arms.
“So Mrs. Finch tells me about the cottage, we walk directly into an ambush.”
Roman hated the logic.
But logic did not care about affection.
His phone rang.
Unknown number.
Everyone froze.
Roman answered.
“Speak.”
A woman’s voice.
Mrs. Finch.
“Roman.”
He closed his eyes.
“Where are you?”
“I’m sorry.”
“Where are you?”
“You need to listen.”
Roman switched to speaker.
Norah stepped closer.
Paul began tracing the call.
Mrs. Finch continued.
“Victor forced me.”
Roman’s voice went cold.
“How?”
“My grandson.”
Paul looked up.
Mrs. Finch had a grandson studying in Boston.
Roman knew that.
“He said he would kill Daniel if I didn’t tell him what Evelyn was doing.”
“When did this start?”
“Nine months ago.”
“Why didn’t you come to me?”
“You were already at war with everyone!”
Her voice broke.
“You had men outside the house every night. Evelyn was afraid you’d kill Victor without proof. I was afraid you’d start another war and Daniel would die before you could protect him.”
Roman squeezed the phone.
“You took his money.”
“He made me.”
“You took money.”
“To make it look real.”
Paul shook his head.
Roman looked at him.
Trace failing.
Mrs. Finch sobbed.
“I helped Evelyn too.”
Norah stepped toward the phone.
“The cottage?”
“Yes.”
“Did Victor know?”
“Not until tonight.”
Norah frowned.
“Then who shot at us?”
Silence.
Roman’s eyes narrowed.
“Margaret.”
Mrs. Finch whispered, “You have another traitor.”
Every person in the room went still.
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
Paul mouthed: keep her talking.
Mrs. Finch continued.
“Victor never trusted me completely. Someone else sent him information.”
“Who had access?”
“Security.”
Roman looked toward the door.
Damian.
Norah thought of the cottage.
His father.
His knowledge.
Roman said, “Where are you?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Where is Victor?”
A pause.
“Old Pier Seventeen.”
Paul wrote it.
Roman said, “Margaret, listen to me. Stay where you are. I will get Daniel.”
“You can’t.”
“I can.”
“You don’t understand.”
“Then explain.”
Mrs. Finch breathed shakily.
“Victor isn’t the man in charge.”
Roman frowned.
“Who is?”
The line went silent.
Then a male voice entered faintly in the background.
Mrs. Finch gasped.
The call ended.
Roman was moving before Paul spoke.
“Pier Seventeen.”
“No.”
Roman turned.
Paul stood between him and the door.
“It’s bait.”
“I know.”
“And you’re going anyway.”
“Yes.”
Norah stepped forward.
“What about the twins?”
Roman looked toward the ceiling.
For six months, every threat pulled him away from them.
Every crisis became permission to disappear.
Not this time.
“Paul goes.”
Paul stared.
Roman continued.
“Take twenty men. Quietly.”
“You’re staying?”
“Yes.”
Norah saw how difficult that decision was.
Paul nodded.
“I’ll call.”
He left.
Roman ordered Damian to reinforce the estate.
Norah watched the security chief carefully.
He appeared calm.
Too calm.
At eleven thirty, Theo and Ruby were asleep.
Roman sat outside their room.
Norah joined him.
“You don’t have to stand guard personally.”
“Yes.”
“There are twelve men upstairs.”
“I trust myself.”
Norah sat beside him.
They listened to silence.
Roman looked at his hands.
“I used to think if I destroyed everyone responsible for Evelyn’s death, the children would be safe.”
“And now?”
“I think I made them live with a ghost while their father became one.”
Norah said nothing.
Roman glanced at her.
“You enjoy telling people uncomfortable truths. Why stop?”
“Because you already know this one.”
He leaned his head against the wall.
“Evelyn would hate what I became.”
“Maybe.”
He looked at her.
“That’s surprisingly gentle.”
“She might also understand.”
Roman’s eyes closed.
“I don’t.”
Norah’s phone buzzed.
Paul.
She answered.
His voice came quickly.
“Victor isn’t here.”
Roman leaned closer.
“What?”
“The pier is empty.”
A crash sounded downstairs.
Roman stood.
Lights went out.
Complete darkness.
Norah’s breath stopped.
Then emergency lighting should have activated.
It didn’t.
Roman whispered one word.
“Inside.”
A scream came from the twins’ room.
Roman kicked the door open.
Theo and Ruby were gone.
Window open.
Curtains moving.
Norah’s heart stopped.
“No.”
Roman ran toward the window.
A rope hung outside.
Impossible.
Twenty-foot drop.
He saw movement below.
Two figures carrying children.
“HEY!”
Roman climbed onto the sill.
Norah grabbed his jacket.
“You’ll break your neck.”
He shoved away.
A gunshot cracked from the garden.
Roman ducked.
Norah pulled him back.
He roared.
Not anger.
Terror.
“THEO!”
Below, engines started.
Roman sprinted into the corridor.
Norah followed.
They reached the stairs.
A guard lay unconscious near the service hall.
Not dead.
Roman ran past.
At the side entrance, one SUV accelerated toward the north gate.
Roman fired at the tires.
Missed.
The vehicle disappeared.
Damian appeared behind them.
“What happened?”
Roman spun.
“You tell me!”
Damian looked genuinely shocked.
“Someone disabled the north cameras.”
“Again?”
Norah stared at him.
“Where were you?”
“Security station.”
“No.”
Damian looked at her.
“Excuse me?”
“You told Roman you were going to reinforce upstairs.”
“I reassigned teams.”
“Where were you when the lights failed?”
Damian’s hand moved.
Norah saw it.
Not toward a weapon.
Toward his radio.
But this time Roman saw suspicion too.
“Drop it.”
Damian froze.
“Roman.”
“Drop everything.”
Damian slowly placed his gun and radio on the floor.
Norah’s phone rang again.
Paul.
Roman answered.
“We have a problem.”
Paul sounded breathless.
“So do we.”
“The twins were taken.”
Silence.
Then Paul swore.
Roman said, “Where are you?”
“Coming back.”
“No. Find Victor.”
“Roman—”
“Find him!”
Norah stepped closer.
“Wait.”
She remembered Ruby’s words.
Mrs. Finch went to see the bird man.
Before dinner.
“What if Pier Seventeen wasn’t bait for you?”
Roman frowned.
“What?”
“Maybe it was bait to get Paul away.”
Paul heard her.
“Meaning whoever took the twins needed the estate weakened.”
Roman looked at Damian.
Damian shook his head.
“I didn’t—”
A phone began ringing.
Not Roman’s.
Not Norah’s.
Damian’s.
On the floor.
Roman stared at it.
Unknown number.
“Answer.”
Damian hit speaker.
Victor’s voice filled the hall.
“Do you have them?”
Damian’s face drained.
Roman raised his gun.
Victor repeated, “Damian?”
Damian whispered, “No.”
Roman’s eyes became murderous.
Victor paused.
Then laughed softly.
“Ah.”
Damian looked at Roman.
“It isn’t what you think.”
Victor continued.
“Roman, since I assume you’re listening, your children are alive.”
Norah gripped the wall.
Roman’s voice was barely human.
“If you touch them—”
“I don’t want them.”
“What do you want?”
“The red ledger.”
Roman stared at Norah.
Victor said, “Midnight tomorrow.”
“Where?”
“I’ll tell you.”
“And the twins?”
“You’ll see them when I have the ledger.”
Roman’s hand shook.
Victor added, “Come alone.”
The call ended.
Damian backed toward the wall.
“I swear I didn’t know.”
Roman aimed at him.
“You had Victor’s number.”
“He called me because he thinks I’m working for him.”
“Are you?”
Damian swallowed.
“Yes.”
Norah felt sick.
Roman stepped closer.
Damian raised both hands.
“But not the way you think.”
Roman’s finger tightened.
“Then you have five seconds to explain why my children are gone.”
Damian looked directly at him.
“Because Evelyn asked me to infiltrate Victor’s operation before she died.”
Roman stopped.
Damian whispered:
“I’ve been working for your wife for almost a year.”
May you like
And suddenly the man Roman thought was a traitor might be the only person who could tell them where Theo and Ruby had been taken.
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