Chapter 5 - The Price of a Bride
Samuel called at 2:13 in the morning.
Roman answered.
"Put Evelyn on."
Roman's voice was ice.
"You speak to me."
"No."
"If you hurt the child—"
"Then perhaps you should stop wasting time."
Evelyn took the phone.
Roman tried to stop her.
She shook her head.
"Uncle Samuel."
Silence.
Then a familiar voice.
"Evelyn."
She had not heard it since before his supposed death.
Her knees weakened.
Roman placed a hand beneath her elbow.
This time, she didn't pull away.
"Where are Clara and Lily?"
"Safe."
"Let me hear them."
A pause.
Then Clara.
"Evelyn?"
"I'm here."
"We're okay."
Lily's frightened voice followed.
"Evie?"
Evelyn closed her eyes.
"I'm coming for you."
Samuel returned.
"That's exactly what I hoped you'd say."
Roman took the phone.
"Location."
Samuel laughed.
"You always were impatient."
"What do you want?"
"My niece."
"No."
Evelyn looked at him.
Roman continued.
"You want something financial. Say it."
"Still clever."
"Say it."
Samuel demanded control of three Hart trusts now legally tied to Evelyn.
She finally understood.
Her recovery had ruined everything.
If she had died, Samuel's hidden beneficiaries would have inherited.
Instead, Evelyn had lived.
Worse, she had begun reviewing the accounts.
The foundation had exposed irregularities without her even realizing their significance.
"I want her signature," Samuel said.
Roman's voice hardened.
"You won't get it."
Evelyn took the phone again.
"Yes, he will."
Roman stared.
Samuel gave an address.
An abandoned lakeside hotel.
"No police."
The call ended.
Roman turned.
"Absolutely not."
"You don't control me."
"This isn't about control."
"It always is with you."
"No."
Roman stepped closer.
"This is about Samuel wanting you in a place he chose."
"He has a child."
"I know."
"Then I'm going."
Roman stared at her.
Three years earlier, he would have ordered her locked inside.
He knew that.
So did she.
Finally he said, "Then I'm going with you."
Samuel expected Evelyn.
He did not expect her to arrive without fear.
She carried the documents.
Roman remained hidden nearby with Gabriel.
Evelyn entered alone.
Clara sat tied to a chair.
Lily clung to her.
Samuel stood near the window.
He looked older.
Thinner.
Alive.
"Evelyn."
She stared at him.
"You attended my birthday parties."
He smiled faintly.
"You remembered."
"You taught me to drive."
"Badly."
"You sent flowers when I got sick."
His smile disappeared.
Evelyn held up the documents.
"And then you tried to profit from my death."
Samuel sighed.
"Life is rarely that simple."
"It is tonight."
"Sign."
"Release them."
"After."
"No."
Samuel's eyes hardened.
There was the man beneath the uncle.
"You were always stubborn."
"I had to become something."
He approached.
"Roman did this to you."
"No."
"He abandoned you."
"Yes."
"He humiliated our family."
"Yes."
"He left you to die."
Evelyn swallowed.
"Yes."
Samuel smiled.
"Then why protect him?"
"I'm not."
That surprised him.
"I'm protecting myself."
Samuel frowned.
Evelyn continued.
"You made the same mistake Roman made."
"What mistake?"
"You assumed my life belonged to a man."
She tore the unsigned transfer page in half.
Samuel lunged.
A door crashed open.
Roman entered.
Everything happened quickly.
Gabriel reached Clara.
Roman put himself between Samuel and Evelyn.
Samuel backed toward the window.
"You ruined everything," he spat.
Roman's voice was low.
"No. She survived you."
Samuel reached inside his coat.
Roman moved.
Evelyn saw metal.
Then Clara screamed.
A struggle.
A table overturned.
Gabriel pulled Lily away.
Samuel struck Roman across the face and ran through a side door.
Roman followed.
Evelyn rushed toward Clara.
"Are you hurt?"
"No."
"Lily?"
"She's okay."
Gabriel returned.
"Stay here."
Evelyn looked toward the corridor.
"No."
She followed.
Outside, Roman had Samuel cornered near the old dock.
The lake stretched black behind them.
Samuel held something in his hand.
Not a weapon.
A phone.
"You think you won?" Samuel shouted.
Roman stopped.
Samuel smiled.
"Ask your husband why he really married you."
Evelyn froze.
Roman's face changed.
Samuel saw it.
There.
The weakness he wanted.
Evelyn looked at Roman.
"What does he mean?"
"Evelyn."
Samuel laughed.
"He never told you?"
"Shut up."
"Three years and still no truth."
Roman stepped forward.
Samuel raised the phone.
"I have the original contract."
Evelyn's stomach dropped.
"What contract?"
Roman said nothing.
Samuel tapped the screen.
Evelyn's phone vibrated in her pocket.
A file had arrived.
She opened it.
The first page contained her name.
The second contained Roman's.
The third contained a clause she had never seen.
She read the first sentence.
May you like
Then looked at her husband.
Roman's silence told her it was real.
