Chapter 8 - The Night They Came for Chloe
Arthur stared at the birth certificate.
Mother: Eleanor Romano.
Father: Victor Romano.
"No."
Victor stood across the study.
"I didn't know."
Arthur laughed once.
"You expect me to believe that?"
"I swear."
Eleanor entered.
Arthur looked at her.
She stopped.
He held up the certificate.
"Tell me it's fake."
His mother's face answered first.
Arthur sat down.
Victor turned away.
Eleanor whispered, "Dominic couldn't have children."
Arthur stared at her.
"Then?"
"Victor and I..."
She closed her eyes.
"It happened once."
Victor looked devastated.
"You told me the baby was Dominic's."
"I was afraid."
Arthur stood.
"So Dominic knew?"
"Eventually."
"When?"
"When you were six."
Arthur remembered everything differently.
His father's coldness.
His obsession with loyalty.
His constant warnings that Arthur had to earn the Romano name.
"He hated me."
Eleanor shook her head.
"In his way, he loved you."
"Don't."
She stopped.
"Don't turn control into love."
Victor looked at Arthur.
"I don't expect anything from you."
"Good."
"But I am sorry."
Arthur folded the certificate.
His entire identity had shifted in one afternoon.
Yet when he thought about what mattered, one image came to him.
Chloe.
He returned to the hospital.
She listened without interrupting.
When he finished, she said, "How do you feel?"
"I don't know."
"That's allowed."
Arthur looked at her.
"I spent my whole life trying to become worthy of a name that wasn't even mine."
Chloe squeezed his hand.
"Arthur is still your name."
He smiled faintly.
"And Romano?"
"You decide what that means."
That sentence stayed with him.
Over the following weeks, Arthur did exactly that.
He cooperated with investigators.
He separated legitimate Romano companies from Dominic's hidden operations.
He created an independent board.
Richard resigned from Croft Holdings and entered a cooperation agreement.
Vivian took control of her family's legitimate businesses.
Pike entered witness protection after giving investigators everything he had.
Victor slowly returned to a world that had buried him.
And Chloe went home.
Arthur didn't move in.
He wanted to.
Instead, he rented the apartment across the hall.
Chloe laughed for five straight minutes when she discovered it.
"You bought the apartment?"
"Rented."
"You own half of Chicago."
"Not anymore."
"Good."
Arthur smiled.
Every morning, he brought breakfast.
Every evening, he asked before entering.
He attended prenatal appointments.
He learned about blood pressure.
He assembled a crib so badly Chloe eventually took the screwdriver away.
"You run companies."
"Cribs are structurally irrational."
"They have six pieces."
"Exactly. Suspicious."
Slowly, trust returned.
Not because Arthur demanded it.
Because he earned it.
One night, Chloe woke at 2:17 a.m.
Something was wrong.
She crossed the hallway and knocked.
Arthur opened immediately.
"Chloe?"
"My water broke."
He stared.
"Arthur."
Nothing.
She snapped her fingers.
"Baby."
He came alive.
"Right. Hospital."
He grabbed his keys.
Then his wallet.
Then two different shoes.
Chloe stared.
"You're wearing one loafer and one sneaker."
He looked down.
"Fine."
"It is not fine."
"Chloe, you're having a baby."
"And you're dressing like a confused tourist."
Despite the contractions, she laughed.
Arthur changed shoes.
They reached the hospital safely.
Labor lasted twelve hours.
Arthur stayed beside her.
At one point Chloe screamed that she hated him.
Arthur nodded.
"Completely reasonable."
Three minutes later she demanded he never leave.
"I won't."
This time, it wasn't a promise made from fear.
It was a choice made in partnership.
At 3:42 p.m., their daughter was born.
Arthur cried before Chloe did.
The nurse placed the baby against Chloe's chest.
Arthur touched one tiny hand.
"She's perfect."
Chloe looked exhausted.
"Name?"
They had argued about names for weeks.
Arthur wanted Grace.
Chloe wanted Emma.
They had never agreed.
Then Arthur looked at Chloe.
"Hope."
She blinked.
"Hope Romano?"
Arthur hesitated.
"Hope Henderson."
Chloe stared.
"You'd give her my name?"
"Why wouldn't I?"
Tears filled her eyes.
"Arthur."
"Or both. Whatever you want."
Chloe smiled.
"Hope Henderson Romano."
Arthur kissed her forehead.
"Perfect."
For several hours, the world finally seemed quiet.
Then Daniel arrived.
The real Daniel.
He stood outside the room holding an envelope.
Arthur stepped into the hallway.
"What is it?"
"Dominic asked his attorney to deliver this."
Arthur's expression hardened.
"Throw it away."
"There's something inside you need to see."
Arthur opened it.
One handwritten page.
Dominic admitted ordering the surveillance.
Admitted the plot against Arthur.
Admitted knowing Victor was Arthur's biological father.
But the final paragraph made Arthur stop.
Dominic claimed there was one final account.
Money accumulated through decades of wrongdoing.
Millions.
Arthur could claim it.
Or expose it.
At the bottom was a bank location and access code.
Daniel asked, "What are you going to do?"
Arthur looked through the hospital window.
Chloe held their daughter.
He knew immediately.
"Expose it."
Daniel smiled.
Arthur turned to go back inside.
Then his phone vibrated.
A message from an unknown number.
One photograph.
Chloe's diner.
Taken minutes earlier.
The front door was open.
Arthur zoomed in.
Someone stood inside.
A figure Arthur recognized.
May you like
He stared at the screen.
Because Dominic Romano was supposed to be in federal custody.
