Chapter 8 - A Name Written in Blood
“You married him?”
Nora’s voice barely carried.
Sarah nodded.
“Before Gabriel.”
Nora recoiled.
Sarah explained that she had been eighteen.
Charles was older, charming, wealthy.
Then controlling.
Then violent.
She escaped.
Years later she met Gabriel.
Charles never accepted losing her.
“He killed Dad because of you?”
“No,” Sarah said. “He killed Gabriel because Gabriel had evidence. Hurting me was a bonus.”
Nora looked away.
Roman focused on Caleb.
“Where would Charles take him?”
“Somewhere he controls.”
Sarah whispered, “Sterling Memorial Hospital.”
The abandoned private hospital had belonged to Charles’s family.
They arrived before dawn.
Caleb’s voice echoed from an upper floor.
“Nora!”
She ran.
Roman followed.
The building was a trap.
Doors locked behind them.
Gas hissed into the corridor.
Roman broke a window.
They escaped into a surgical wing.
On one wall someone had written a name in blood.
MERCER.
They found the doctor alive.
His palm had been cut.
He had written the warning himself.
“Charles wants the ledger.”
Roman crouched.
“Where’s Caleb?”
“Third floor.”
Nora ran.
This time Roman did not stop her.
They found Caleb inside an old recovery room.
Untied.
Watching cartoons on a tablet.
“Nora!”
She crushed him against her.
A television turned on.
Charles appeared live.
“Touching.”
Roman scanned the room.
Camera.
“Where are you?”
“Close.”
“What do you want?”
“The ledger.”
“You know I didn’t bring it.”
“I know.”
Charles smiled.
“That’s why Evelyn did.”
Roman turned.
The door opened.
Evelyn entered holding the black ledger.
Roman stared.
“How?”
“Your vault security is embarrassingly old.”
Nora stepped in front of Caleb.
Evelyn looked at her.
“I’m not going to hurt him.”
“You kidnapped me.”
“I arranged it.”
“You ordered them to kill me.”
“No.”
Nora hesitated.
Evelyn looked toward the camera.
“My father changed the order.”
Charles’s smile vanished.
“Careful.”
Evelyn ignored him.
“I was supposed to frighten Nora into giving me the key. I didn’t know he planned to kill her.”
“You tied me up.”
“Yes.”
“You smiled.”
Evelyn’s face tightened.
“Yes.”
There was no excuse.
That mattered.
Roman stepped closer.
“Why bring the ledger?”
“Because this ends tonight.”
She opened it.
Pages had been removed.
Charles’s voice became furious.
“What did you do?”
“I copied everything.”
Evelyn looked into the camera.
“Federal prosecutors have it.”
Roman stared.
“You went to the government?”
“I went to everyone.”
Charles shouted her name.
Evelyn flinched.
For the first time Roman saw not a calculating bride but a daughter terrified of her father.
She looked at him.
“I was raised to obey him.”
“That doesn’t absolve you.”
“I know.”
Nora watched her.
Evelyn continued.
“I thought if I married Roman, my father would finally stop.”
“Stop what?” Nora asked.
“Trying to own everyone.”
The building alarm activated.
Charles’s voice disappeared.
Dominic shouted through Roman’s earpiece.
“Police incoming.”
Evelyn looked toward the window.
“No.”
Roman frowned.
“You contacted them.”
“Not police.”
Sirens approached.
Evelyn went pale.
“My father owns half the unit.”
Gunfire erupted downstairs.
Roman moved Caleb and Nora into a secure room.
“Stay.”
Nora grabbed his hand.
“Come back.”
He looked at her fingers around his.
“I will.”
Roman and Dominic descended.
Men in tactical uniforms entered.
Some were legitimate officers.
Others were Charles’s.
Chaos followed.
Roman refused to shoot unless fired upon.
He had spent years building an empire through fear.
Now that empire was collapsing because the truth demanded daylight.
Upstairs, Evelyn sat opposite Nora.
“I hated you.”
Nora looked at her.
“I noticed.”
Evelyn almost smiled.
“You weren’t afraid of him.”
“Roman?”
“Yes.”
“I was sometimes.”
“But you treated him like a person.”
“So?”
“I didn’t know how.”
Nora studied her.
“You could have learned.”
Evelyn looked down.
“I know.”
A door slammed.
Evelyn stood.
“Roman?”
No answer.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Caleb moved behind Nora.
The door opened.
Charles Sterling entered.
He held a gun.
Evelyn whispered, “Dad.”
He looked at his daughter.
“You always were a disappointment.”
Then he pointed the gun at Nora.
May you like
Evelyn stepped between them.
Charles pulled the trigger.
