Chapter 3 - The Price of an Engagement
Tessa forgot the gunfire.
“What did you say?”
Roman turned instantly.
The caller breathed into the phone.
“If you want Eleanor Hayes alive tomorrow morning, come to Bishop Terminal Seven. Alone.”
The call ended.
Roman took the phone from her.
“No.”
Tessa stared at the blank screen.
“You heard him.”
“I heard a trap.”
“He said she’s alive.”
“He said what would make you come.”
“What if it’s true?”
Roman had no answer.
That frightened her more than denial would have.
Security rushed into the office moments later. The attackers had vanished almost as quickly as they had arrived.
No guests had been injured.
That was deliberate.
The attack had been a message.
Roman canceled the party.
Officially, a security threat required evacuation.
Unofficially, every important person downstairs understood something had shifted between the Castell and Bishop organizations.
Chloe’s father disappeared before Roman could confront him.
By midnight, Tessa sat inside an armored SUV beside Roman.
“You’re not going alone,” he said.
“I never agreed you were coming.”
“You don’t need to.”
“That attitude is exactly why I resigned.”
Roman looked at her.
She expected anger.
Instead, he nodded.
“You’re right.”
That silenced her.
“I’ve spent my entire life believing keeping someone safe gives me permission to make decisions for them,” he said. “It doesn’t.”
Tessa studied him.
“Then let me go alone.”
“No.”
She almost smiled despite herself.
“That apology lasted eight seconds.”
“I can respect your autonomy without agreeing to stupidity.”
“You really know how to ruin a moment.”
“I’ve been told.”
“By whom?”
“You.”
The SUV stopped near Terminal Seven.
Roman’s men spread across the perimeter.
Chloe had come too, against Roman’s orders.
The brass key opened an underground archive beneath an abandoned customs building.
Rows of filing cabinets stretched into darkness.
Tessa found HAYES, ELEANOR.
Inside was a photograph.
Her mother.
Younger.
Standing beside Vittorio Castell.
And beside Warren Bishop.
On the back:
PROJECT HARBOR — FINANCIAL AUDIT TEAM.
Tessa found bank records next.
Her mother had not worked as an ordinary accountant.
She had investigated both families.
Roman read over her shoulder.
“She found something.”
A folder marked FINAL AUDIT sat behind the photograph.
Empty.
Chloe whispered, “My father got here first.”
Then lights appeared beneath the archive door.
Someone was coming.
Roman pulled Tessa behind a concrete pillar.
Footsteps descended.
A man entered.
Warren Bishop.
Chloe’s father.
He carried no weapon.
He looked directly toward the darkness.
“I know you’re here, Roman.”
Roman stepped out.
Tessa followed.
Warren’s face changed when he saw her.
For one second, he looked terrified.
Not of Roman.
Of Tessa.
“You have Eleanor’s eyes,” he said.
“Where is my mother?”
Warren swallowed.
“You shouldn’t have come.”
“Where is she?”
“I didn’t take her.”
“Who did?”
Warren looked toward Roman.
“Ask your uncle.”
Roman went motionless.
“My uncle is dead.”
Warren laughed without humor.
“That’s what he wanted you to believe.”
Roman’s uncle, Salvatore Castell, had supposedly died fifteen years earlier.
Warren stepped closer.
“Your father and Eleanor discovered Salvatore was using both organizations to move weapons through humanitarian freight routes. When they tried to stop him, people started dying.”
Roman’s voice lowered.
“My mother?”
Warren nodded.
“The bombing was meant for Vittorio.”
Tessa’s stomach turned.
“And my mother?”
“Eleanor survived long enough to collect evidence.”
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
Tessa grabbed his coat.
“You’re lying.”
“I helped her disappear.”
Roman stared at him.
Warren continued.
“Your mother understood that if Salvatore learned she had a daughter, he would use you.”
Tessa released him.
“She abandoned me to protect me?”
“She watched you from a distance for years.”
Tessa’s eyes filled.
“No.”
“She wanted to come back.”
“Then why didn’t she?”
“Because Salvatore found her first.”
A phone rang inside the archive.
Not theirs.
Warren turned pale.
The ringing came from the empty filing cabinet marked HAYES.
Roman opened it.
A cheap phone lay inside.
He answered.
A distorted voice said, “Roman.”
Roman’s expression hardened.
“Salvatore.”
The voice laughed.
“So you finally learned my name.”
“Where is Eleanor?”
“Alive.”
Tessa moved toward the phone.
Roman put it on speaker.
Salvatore continued.
“And now that the engagement has brought both families into one building, I finally have what I need.”
“What?”
“Every traitor in one place.”
The archive lights went out.
A red emergency lamp flickered on.
Then Tessa heard metal scraping behind the far wall.
May you like
A hidden door was opening.
And someone on the other side whispered her childhood nickname.
