Chapter 9 - A KING ON HIS KNEES
Roman's mother had been dead for nineteen years.
At least that was what the world believed.
Evelyn Hail had supposedly died in a boating accident off the coast of Maine when Roman was seventeen.
There had been a memorial.
No body.
No investigation that lasted longer than a week.
Now she stood inside Blackridge Chapel looking directly into the camera.
Alive.
Roman stared at the screen as though everything holding him upright had disappeared.
“That's impossible.”
His mother spoke.
“Roman.”
One word.
His face changed.
Not mafia boss.
Not billionaire.
Not the man newspapers feared.
A son.
Vincent moved beside her.
“Family reunions are beautiful.”
Roman stepped toward the speaker.
“If you hurt her—”
“You'll what?”
Vincent smiled.
“Kill me? You've been trying very hard not to do that lately.”
Roman's injured shoulder bled through Tomas's bandage.
I shifted Lily against me.
“Why is she alive?”
Roman couldn't answer.
Evelyn did.
“Your father hid me.”
Vincent slapped her.
Roman lunged toward the screen as though he could cross through it.
Lily cried.
I grabbed Roman's arm.
“Don't give him what he wants.”
Roman looked at me.
His breathing was ragged.
Vincent's voice continued.
“Bring Daniel's card to the chapel. Alone.”
“You don't need it anymore,” Roman said.
“I need the original certificate.”
“Why?”
“Because unlike you, I plan to use the family empire instead of apologizing for inheriting it.”
The feed ended.
Roman stood motionless.
Tomas spoke.
“You cannot go alone.”
“I know.”
“Good.”
“I'll make him think I did.”
Twenty minutes later, Roman walked into the chapel through the front doors.
I watched through a tiny camera in his jacket.
Lily was with Tomas in the bunker.
I had refused to stay with her.
Leaving my daughter after what happened felt impossible.
But Vincent had murdered Daniel.
He had taken Lily.
And I had spent two years living inside a lie he built around my husband's death.
I needed to see his face when the truth reached him.
So I entered through the chapel crypt with two agents.
Ortega was tied near the altar.
Celeste beside him.
Evelyn sat in the first pew.
Vincent stood behind her.
Felix guarded the side door.
Roman walked down the aisle.
No weapon.
He held the storage card between two fingers.
Vincent smiled.
“My favorite cousin.”
“Let them go.”
“You know that's not how this works.”
“Then tell me how.”
“You give me the key.”
“And then?”
“I disappear.”
“With my mother's witness list.”
“Probably.”
“And Felix?”
Felix smiled.
“Retirement.”
Roman looked at him.
“You cut Daniel Vale's brakes.”
Felix shrugged.
“He forced our hand.”
My recorder was running.
So were the federal microphones.
Roman continued.
“Vincent ordered it?”
Vincent sighed.
“Don't become melodramatic.”
“You ordered Daniel killed.”
“He stole from us.”
“He copied evidence.”
“Same difference.”
From behind the crypt wall, I closed my eyes.
Got you.
Roman took another step.
“And the truck?”
Vincent smiled.
“That was mine.”
“Why blame Lily?”
“Because children are perfect.”
My stomach turned.
Vincent continued.
“They run where they shouldn't. Parents feel guilty. Security reports become messy. Insurance companies call everything tragic.”
Roman's face hardened.
“You wrote the report before the crash.”
“Adrian did.”
“On whose order?”
“Mine.”
“And Felix drove the truck.”
Felix's smile vanished.
Roman looked at him.
“Black ring.”
Felix swore softly.
Vincent laughed.
“Your little girl really did see everything.”
My little girl.
The phrase nearly made me rush from hiding.
Roman's voice became deadly quiet.
“She's not my little girl.”
Vincent raised an eyebrow.
“No?”
Roman glanced toward the hidden camera.
Toward me, though Vincent didn't know it.
“No.”
His expression softened for half a second.
“But I'd burn this entire family to the ground before I let you touch her again.”
Something inside my chest broke open.
Vincent held out his hand.
“The card.”
Roman approached.
Then stopped ten feet away.
“Release my mother.”
“No.”
“Celeste.”
“No.”
“Ortega.”
“No.”
Roman looked almost amused.
“Then you don't have a deal.”
Vincent raised his gun and pointed it at Evelyn.
Roman froze.
“You've spent years trying not to be your father,” Vincent said. “Let's see whether you can watch your mother die better than he could.”
Roman slowly lowered himself to his knees.
I stared at the monitor.
Even Felix looked surprised.
Roman Hail.
The man half the city feared.
On his knees.
He placed the card on the chapel floor.
“Take it.”
Vincent smiled.
He walked forward.
Exactly as Roman had planned.
One step.
Two.
Three.
Away from Evelyn.
Away from Ortega.
Away from cover.
I pressed the transmitter.
The chapel doors exploded inward.
Federal agents flooded the room.
Vincent spun.
Felix fired.
Gunshots thundered.
Roman tackled Vincent.
Ortega threw himself sideways.
Evelyn dropped behind the pew.
I ran toward Celeste.
Felix saw me.
His face changed.
“Mara!”
He aimed.
Before he could fire, Celeste kicked his knee.
The shot went wide.
I grabbed the heavy brass candle stand beside the altar and swung with everything I had.
It struck Felix's wrist.
His gun flew away.
Ortega hit him from behind.
Agents piled on top of him.
Across the chapel, Roman and Vincent crashed through a row of chairs.
Vincent had a knife.
Roman's wounded shoulder gave out.
Vincent drove him backward against the altar.
I screamed.
Roman caught Vincent's wrist.
They struggled.
The knife hovered inches above Roman's chest.
Vincent hissed, “You were always weak.”
Roman's face twisted with pain.
“No.”
He shoved Vincent backward.
“I was the one who learned weakness isn't mercy.”
Vincent attacked again.
Roman moved aside.
Agents surrounded them.
“Drop it!”
Vincent looked around.
Then laughed.
He pressed the knife against his own cousin's throat.
Everything stopped.
“Back up!”
Agents froze.
Roman didn't.
He stared into Vincent's eyes.
“You won't do it.”
Vincent smiled.
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because dead men can't unlock accounts.”
Vincent hesitated.
That tiny hesitation was enough.
Roman slammed his head backward.
Vincent lost his grip.
Agents tackled him.
The knife skidded beneath a pew.
For three seconds, nobody moved.
Then handcuffs clicked around Vincent Hail's wrists.
I nearly collapsed.
Roman immediately looked toward the doors.
“Lily?”
Tomas's voice came through the radio.
“Safe.”
Roman closed his eyes.
Relief.
Then Evelyn approached him.
His mother.
Alive after nineteen years.
She lifted a trembling hand toward his face.
“Roman.”
He stared at her.
“Why didn't you come back?”
Her eyes filled.
“I tried.”
Roman's voice cracked.
“Why didn't you come back?”
Before she could answer, Felix began laughing from the floor.
Everyone turned.
Blood ran from his mouth.
“You still don't understand.”
Roman stared.
Felix smiled.
“Vincent didn't hide her.”
Silence.
“Your father did.”
“We know that.”
Felix shook his head.
“No.”
He looked directly at Evelyn.
“He hid her because she was the first person who discovered what really happened to Roman's brother.”
Roman went still.
I had never heard of a brother.
Evelyn's face turned white.
May you like
Roman whispered, “What brother?”
And suddenly, after surviving the truck, finding Daniel's evidence, rescuing Lily, and arresting Vincent, we realized Blackridge still had one more grave to open.
