Chapter 4 - The Bride’s Real Wedding Gift
Roman raised his weapon.
Victor didn’t flinch.
“You always were Dominic’s son.”
“You murdered my mother.”
Victor smiled.
“That’s what they told you?”
“The ledger says enough.”
“The ledger says what Marianne wanted you to believe.”
Nora stepped forward.
“Don’t say my mother’s name.”
Victor looked at her.
For the first time, his smile vanished.
“You have Adrian’s eyes.”
Roman moved between them.
“Stay away from her.”
Victor studied him.
“Interesting.”
“What?”
“You spent five years barely noticing the maid. Six days missing and suddenly you’re ready to start a war.”
Nora looked at Roman.
He didn’t answer.
Victor continued.
“Evelyn underestimated that.”
“Where is she?”
“Safe.”
“She kidnapped Nora.”
“She panicked.”
“She was going to kill her.”
Victor shrugged.
“Evelyn has always been ambitious.”
Roman’s finger tightened against the trigger.
Victor raised both hands.
“If you shoot me, you’ll never learn what happened to your mother.”
Roman stopped.
Victor knew exactly where to cut him.
He offered a deal.
The ledger for the truth.
Roman refused.
Victor smiled.
“You’ll change your mind.”
Then floodlights illuminated the pier.
Roman’s men raised their weapons.
Police vehicles appeared at both entrances.
Victor had planned everything.
Roman could either remain with the ledger and be arrested possessing evidence connected to decades of crimes, or abandon it.
Nora grabbed the book.
“There.”
A maintenance tunnel ran beneath the pier.
They escaped seconds before officers entered the container.
Back at the safe apartment, Roman studied the ledger until dawn.
Nora watched him from across the room.
“You should sleep.”
“So should you.”
“I tried.”
“So did I.”
She sat opposite him.
“Did you really barely notice me?”
Roman looked up.
“Victor said—”
“I heard him.”
Roman closed the ledger.
“No.”
“No?”
“I noticed you.”
Nora waited.
“You arrived before everyone. You gave leftovers to staff instead of throwing them away. You changed the flowers in the library after my mother’s anniversary because you noticed I hated the lilies.”
Nora stared.
“You knew?”
“I notice more than people think.”
“Then why did you never say anything?”
Roman looked down.
“Because noticing people is dangerous in my world.”
The answer landed harder than Nora expected.
Caleb entered rubbing his eyes.
“I’m hungry.”
Nora stood.
Roman did too.
“I’ll cook.”
Both siblings stared at him.
“What?”
Nora almost laughed.
“Do you know how?”
“No.”
Caleb sighed.
“This is going to be terrible.”
Roman made pancakes.
They were terrible.
Caleb ate three.
For twenty minutes, Roman Calder was not the man who controlled Baltimore’s waterfront.
He was simply a man standing in a kitchen while a nine-year-old criticized his pancakes.
Then Roman’s phone rang.
Evelyn.
“Put it on speaker,” Nora said.
Roman answered.
Evelyn’s voice came through.
“Hello, darling.”
“You have thirty seconds.”
“You always did hate conversation.”
“Twenty-five.”
Evelyn laughed.
“I know where Adrian Vale is.”
Nora froze.
“My father?”
Evelyn heard her.
“Oh, Nora. You’re there.”
“Where is he?”
“Alive.”
Nora gripped the counter.
“You’re lying.”
“Ask Samuel why he never showed you a death certificate.”
Nora looked toward Roman.
Evelyn continued.
“Your father has been alive all these years.”
“Where?”
“Come to the church.”
Roman’s expression darkened.
“What church?”
“The one where you were supposed to marry me.”
Evelyn disconnected.
Roman refused to let Nora go alone.
At the church, every pew was empty.
Wedding flowers still covered the altar.
Evelyn stood where she had expected to become Roman’s wife.
She was still wearing the gown.
“You kept the dress?” Nora asked.
Evelyn smiled.
“I paid enough for it.”
Roman scanned the room.
“Where is Adrian?”
Evelyn pointed toward the confessional.
Nora approached.
A man sat inside.
Thin.
Gray-haired.
His hands shook.
“Nora?”
She stopped.
The voice broke on her name.
He stepped into the light.
Nora saw her own eyes staring back at her.
Adrian Vale.
Her biological father.
He cried before she did.
“I’m sorry.”
Nora could barely speak.
“You were alive?”
“I couldn’t come near you.”
“For twenty-seven years?”
“Victor would have killed you.”
“He found me anyway!”
Adrian closed his eyes.
“I know.”
Nora stepped back.
Evelyn watched them with disturbing satisfaction.
Roman turned on her.
“What do you want?”
“The ledger.”
“No.”
“Then ask Adrian what your mother was doing the night she died.”
Roman looked at him.
Adrian’s face changed.
Roman crossed the aisle.
“What does she mean?”
Adrian swallowed.
“Your mother wasn’t supposed to be in that car.”
Roman went still.
“Who was?”
Adrian looked toward Nora.
“Marianne.”
Nora’s heart stopped.
Adrian continued.
“The bomb was meant for Nora’s mother.”
Roman stared at Evelyn.
“Victor tried to kill Marianne?”
“No,” Adrian whispered.
Roman turned.
Adrian’s face was white.
“I planted the bomb.”
Silence swallowed the church.
Nora backed away from him.
Roman’s hand moved toward his weapon.
Then the church doors slammed shut.
Locks clicked from the outside.
May you like
Evelyn smiled.
And gasoline began pouring beneath the doors.
