Chapter 5 - The Man Who Should Have Been Dead
Nobody moved.
The voice came again.
“Come out, Roman.”
Roman stared into the hallway.
Nora could barely breathe.
“Your father is alive?”
Celeste grabbed Nora's wrist.
“Don't let him see you.”
Roman looked back.
“Why?”
“Because he doesn't know the baby survived.”
Nora's heart pounded.
“What baby?”
Celeste looked at her.
“You.”
Roman's expression hardened.
The footsteps approached.
One of Roman's men whispered:
“Sir, we need to leave.”
Roman shook his head.
“No.”
“Roman.”
He looked at Nora.
“I won't let him take you.”
The door burst open.
A man stood in the corridor.
Older.
Elegant.
Cold.
Roman's father.
Nora recognized him from the photographs.
He smiled.
“You look just like me.”
Roman raised his weapon.
“You died.”
“I arranged that.”
Roman's jaw tightened.
“Why?”
His father looked past him.
His eyes landed on Nora.
Then on Celeste.
“You kept her hidden all these years.”
Celeste stepped forward.
“She was innocent.”
“She was valuable.”
Nora felt sick.
“What do you want?”
The older man smiled.
“You have something that belongs to me.”
Roman stepped between them.
“She belongs to nobody.”
His father laughed.
“You still think you're protecting her.”
Roman didn't answer.
“You don't even know who the child's father is.”
Nora froze.
Roman looked at her.
His father smiled wider.
“Ask her.”
Roman's expression changed.
Nora shook her head.
“Don't.”
Roman's father continued.
“She never told you, did she?”
“Told me what?”
“That the baby you're carrying is the reason your mother disappeared.”
Nora's hand moved protectively over her stomach.
Roman looked at Celeste.
“Explain.”
Celeste's eyes filled with tears.
“I couldn't.”
“You're going to now.”
Celeste swallowed.
“The night Nora was born, your father ordered the doctors to switch the babies.”
Roman stared at her.
“Why?”
“Because one baby carried a bloodline he wanted.”
Nora felt dizzy.
“And the other?”
Celeste looked at Roman.
“The other was yours.”
Silence.
Roman's eyes widened.
His father smiled.
“Now you understand.”
Nora whispered:
“Roman…”
Roman turned toward her.
His face had lost all color.
“You're saying…”
Celeste nodded.
“The baby you're carrying…”
She couldn't finish.
Roman stared at Nora's stomach.
His father laughed softly.
Then a gunshot cracked through the corridor.
Roman's father fell backward.
Everyone screamed.
Roman turned toward the shooter.
But the man was already running.
Celeste grabbed Nora.
“Run!”
They fled down the corridor.
Roman followed.
Behind them, his father's body lay motionless.
Or so everyone thought.
Because moments later, one of Roman's men looked down.
The older man's eyes opened.
May you like
And he whispered:
“Bring me my granddaughter.”
