Chapter 5 - Why Roman Chose Me
Roman turned toward the doors.
Locks engaged electronically.
Nathan's agents were supposed to have control of the building.
Apparently someone else had planned better.
Augustus extended his hand.
"The ledger."
I stared at Roman.
"Did you marry me because of Daniel?"
"Not the way he's making it sound."
"That's not a no."
"I knew who you were before we met."
Pain moved through me deeper than any contraction.
"How?"
"Daniel's files."
"So our first meeting wasn't accidental?"
Roman looked ashamed.
"No."
I remembered the coffee shop.
Roman bumping my table.
Apologizing.
Buying another cappuccino.
Our first conversation.
Our first date.
Our first Christmas.
Pieces of my life rearranged themselves.
Augustus laughed.
"My son was always sentimental. He approached you because your brother had disappeared with evidence."
Roman lunged at him.
A gun appeared from behind a pillar.
One of Augustus's men.
Roman stopped.
Augustus continued.
"But then little Roman fell in love."
I whispered, "Is that true?"
Roman looked at me.
"Yes."
"Which part?"
"Both."
The honesty hurt more than another lie might have.
"I approached you because of Daniel."
I closed my eyes.
"And?"
"And within a week, I stopped caring about the assignment."
"What assignment?"
"Finding out whether Daniel had left anything with you."
The music box.
I laughed bitterly.
"He had."
"I never knew."
"Because you weren't good enough at spying?"
"Because I stopped searching."
Augustus looked disgusted.
"Pathetic."
Roman ignored him.
"I kept seeing you because I wanted you."
"Convenient."
"I married you because I loved you."
"You lied through our entire marriage."
"I did."
There was no defense in his voice.
That mattered.
Not enough.
But it mattered.
A contraction hit.
Hard.
I bent forward.
Roman moved.
The gunman raised his weapon.
Augustus snapped, "Let him."
Roman reached me.
"Look at me."
"I hate when you say that."
"I know."
"Breathe."
"I know how to breathe."
"Apparently so."
Despite everything, I almost laughed.
The contraction passed.
Roman's face remained pale.
"How far apart?"
"Ten minutes."
He looked toward Augustus.
"We're leaving."
Augustus smiled.
"After I get my book."
I lifted it.
"You want this?"
"Very much."
"Then listen."
I tore one page free.
Augustus's face transformed.
"No."
I tore another.
"You spent six years making everyone afraid."
"Stop."
Another page.
Roman stared at me.
Then a slow understanding appeared.
He knew me.
Maybe better than I wanted.
"Elena," he said carefully.
"Yes?"
"Did Daniel make copies?"
Augustus looked sharply toward him.
I smiled.
"Several."
For the first time, Augustus Vale looked afraid.
Roman laughed.
Actually laughed.
"You brought us here for worthless paper."
Augustus pulled a gun.
Roman moved in front of me.
The doors exploded inward.
Federal agents flooded the room.
Gunfire.
Shouting.
Roman pushed me behind a stone column.
Augustus disappeared through a side corridor.
Daniel ran toward us.
"Elena!"
"I'm fine."
Another contraction hit.
This one stronger.
Water spilled down my legs.
I froze.
Roman stared.
Daniel stared.
I stared.
"Oh."
Roman's face became almost comical.
"Was that—"
"Yes."
Daniel backed away.
"I am not equipped for this."
"Neither is he," I said.
Roman looked insulted.
"I attended every class."
"You answered phone calls during half of them."
"Still attended."
Nathan appeared.
"Augustus escaped through the tunnels."
Roman barely listened.
"Her water broke."
Nathan looked at me.
Then at the gunfire echoing through the conservatory.
"Of course it did."
Twenty minutes later, we were speeding toward the hospital.
Roman sat beside me.
Hand in mine.
I nearly pulled away.
Then a contraction came.
I squeezed hard enough to make him wince.
"Consider it interest on six years of lies."
"Fair."
Another contraction.
"Roman."
"Yes?"
"If we survive this—"
"We will."
"Don't interrupt."
"Sorry."
"If we survive this, nothing goes back to normal."
"I know."
"No more deciding for me."
"Yes."
"No more secret protection."
"Yes."
"No more lies."
His eyes met mine.
"Yes."
I breathed through the pain.
"And I haven't forgiven you."
"I know."
"I may not."
His answer took longer.
"I know."
That was the first time Roman Vale gave me something without trying to control the outcome.
Permission to hate him.
Permission to leave.
Permission to decide.
By early afternoon, labor was progressing quickly.
Roman stayed beside me.
Daniel paced the hall.
Vanessa arrived and apologized.
Really apologized.
She explained everything.
Her brother had been investigating Augustus.
Roman had met her because she had information about a leak.
Their embrace in the photograph had happened after she learned someone tried to kill her brother.
Nothing romantic.
I believed her.
That should have made things easier.
It didn't erase Roman's other lies.
Hours passed.
Pain swallowed time.
Roman held ice chips.
Counted breaths.
Let me crush his hand.
At 6:17 p.m. on Christmas Day, our daughter was born.
Sofia Elena Vale.
Six pounds, one ounce.
Early.
Small.
Perfect.
When the nurse placed her on my chest, everything else vanished.
Roman cried.
Not quietly.
Not elegantly.
The feared man in Chicago covered his face and sobbed.
I looked at him.
"Come here."
He approached cautiously.
I placed Sofia in his arms.
His hands trembled.
"She's so small."
"Don't tell her that when she's sixteen."
He laughed through tears.
"Hi, Sofia."
Watching him hold her was dangerous.
It reminded me why I had loved him.
Maybe still did.
That did not mean I could trust him.
A nurse entered.
"Mrs. Vale, there's a Detective Morris here."
Roman's entire body tightened.
"No."
I looked at him.
"Remember our new rule?"
He exhaled.
"Right."
"Let him in."
Detective Morris entered.
Middle-aged.
Tired eyes.
He congratulated us.
Then handed Nathan an evidence bag.
Inside was a phone.
"We recovered this from one of Augustus's men."
Nathan examined it.
"And?"
"There's a contact labeled E."
My stomach tightened.
"Elena?"
Morris shook his head.
"We don't think so."
He opened a photograph.
A woman.
Dark hair.
Elegant.
Standing beside Augustus.
Roman went still.
I had seen her before.
In an old Vale family photograph.
Roman's mother.
Evelyn Vale.
Dead for nineteen years.
Roman whispered, "That's impossible."
Detective Morris looked at him.
"The image was taken three weeks ago."
Roman stared at the screen.
Then the phone inside the evidence bag lit up.
An incoming call.
Contact name:
EVELYN.
Nobody moved.
May you like
The phone rang again.
And Roman's dead mother was calling.
