Chapter 5 - THE HUSBAND WHO STOLE HIS OWN SON
For four years Megan had imagined what she would say if Thomas somehow walked through the front door.
Sometimes she would slap him.
Sometimes she would hold him.
Sometimes she would ask why he had left her to raise Leo alone.
Never once had she imagined standing inside a mafia boss's mansion while police searched the hall and hearing her supposedly dead husband say he had taken their son.
“Put Leo on the phone.”
“Megan—”
“Put. Leo. On.”
Roman stood beside her.
Reese was nowhere in sight.
Neither were two of the officers who had arrived with him.
Nico's men were locking down the property.
Thomas exhaled.
“Dad?”
Leo's voice.
Megan's legs nearly failed.
“Baby.”
“Mom?”
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Did anyone scare you?”
Leo hesitated.
“Dad said I had to be quiet.”
Megan closed her eyes.
Thomas.
Dad.
The word ripped through her.
“Listen to me, Leo. Are you in a car?”
“I don't know.”
“Can you see outside?”
“No. There's a blanket on the window.”
Thomas took the phone back.
“Enough.”
Megan's voice became cold.
“If you hurt him—”
“He is my son too.”
“You gave up the right to say that when you let him bury you.”
Silence.
Roman looked away.
Thomas's voice softened.
“I know.”
“No. You don't know anything.”
“Megan, Vittorio is moving tonight.”
“I don't care.”
“You should.”
“All I care about is Leo.”
“And if Vittorio gets what he wants, Leo won't have a future.”
Roman took the phone from Megan.
“Thomas.”
Thomas immediately changed.
“DeLuca.”
“Where are you?”
“Bring yourself to Barrington.”
“You took a child to force me there.”
“I took my son away from a corrupt cop inside your house.”
Roman glanced toward the open hall.
“Reese?”
“Yes.”
“You knew he would come.”
“Yes.”
“And you didn't warn us until after?”
“I sent Megan the message.”
Roman's eyes hardened.
“That isn't warning. That's theater.”
Thomas laughed bitterly.
“You sound like your father.”
Roman went completely still.
Megan saw the insult land.
“Say that again.”
“Vittorio turns everybody into pieces on a board. So do you.”
“I've known Megan for four hours.”
“And you've already moved her into your house, assigned guards to her child, and decided you're responsible for her survival.”
Megan looked at Roman.
Thomas continued.
“That is exactly how Vittorio starts.”
Roman's voice dropped.
“You know very little about me.”
“I've been watching you for six years.”
That silenced everyone.
Roman's eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
“Because when Vittorio disappeared, I needed to know whether his son was part of the same machine.”
“And?”
“I haven't decided.”
Roman handed the phone back to Megan.
“Tell him.”
She stared at it.
“Megan,” Thomas said.
“I'm coming.”
“No.”
“Then you shouldn't have taken my son.”
“Megan, listen—”
“I'm coming, and Roman is coming.”
“No police.”
“I don't trust them anyway.”
Roman glanced toward the stairs.
Reese.
He had vanished during the blackout.
Nico approached.
“His car is gone.”
Roman frowned.
“Track it.”
“Already am.”
Megan grabbed a coat.
Roman caught her arm.
“You're not driving into Barrington blind.”
“My son is there.”
“So we plan for sixty seconds.”
“I don't have sixty seconds.”
“Leo does.”
That stopped her.
Roman moved close enough that only she heard him.
“If Thomas wanted Leo dead, he wouldn't have let you hear his voice.”
“You don't know that.”
“No.”
Roman's expression softened slightly.
“But frightened people make mistakes. I need you thinking.”
Megan hated that he was right.
She took one breath.
Then another.
“Fine. Sixty seconds.”
Roman looked at Nico.
“Two vehicles. No visible convoy. Drones from five miles out.”
Nico nodded.
“Elena stays with Mrs. Alvarez.”
His mother appeared at the end of the hall.
“Absolutely not.”
Roman didn't even look at her.
“You knew Thomas.”
“I knew Vittorio better.”
“Which is precisely why you're staying.”
“Roman—”
“Mother.”
She stopped.
His anger was never loud.
That made it final.
Fifteen minutes later Megan sat beside Roman in a black SUV racing north through the rain.
“What happened between your father and Thomas?” she asked.
“I don't know.”
“That answer is becoming annoying.”
Roman stared through the windshield.
“My father kept compartments. Men knew only what they needed.”
“You were his son.”
“That made me more dangerous to him, not less.”
Megan studied him.
“You hated him.”
Roman took a moment.
“I loved him.”
The answer surprised her.
“Both can be true.”
Megan looked away.
She understood that better than she wanted to.
Barrington grew darker as they left the city.
Large estates sat behind woods and iron gates.
Nico's voice came through Roman's phone.
“Property ahead. Thermal shows five people inside.”
“Leo?”
“Small heat signature, ground floor.”
Megan's breathing changed.
Roman noticed.
“He's alive.”
“Unless it's someone else.”
“It isn't.”
“How do you know?”
“Because if Thomas wanted to lure us with a lie, he wouldn't need a heat signature.”
Megan looked at him.
“That's strangely comforting.”
“I occasionally try.”
They stopped half a mile away.
Roman and Megan continued on foot through wet trees.
“You have a gun?” she whispered.
“Yes.”
“I don't.”
“Good.”
She glared.
“Roman.”
“You pulled a knife out of me without medical training. I am not adding a firearm.”
“Fair.”
The old DeLuca summer house appeared beyond the trees.
Dark brick.
Boarded windows.
One light glowed inside.
The brass key opened the side door.
No alarm.
Roman frowned.
“He wants us inside.”
Megan whispered, “We already knew that.”
They entered.
Dust covered the foyer.
Old furniture stood beneath white sheets.
A voice came from the library.
“Megan?”
She ran.
Thomas Parker stood beside a fireplace.
Alive.
For one impossible second, nothing moved.
Megan stared at the man she had buried.
His hair was shorter.
His face thinner.
But he still rubbed his thumb against his wedding finger when nervous.
He no longer wore a ring.
Megan walked toward him.
Thomas smiled faintly.
“Meg.”
She slapped him.
The sound cracked through the room.
Roman looked away.
Thomas did not.
Megan slapped him again.
Then she hit his chest with both hands.
“You were alive.”
“I know.”
“You were alive!”
Thomas caught her wrists.
She pulled free.
“Don't touch me.”
His eyes filled.
“Megan—”
“Our son cried for you.”
“I know.”
“He stopped eating pancakes because you used to make them.”
Thomas looked down.
“He wore your Cubs hat to bed for six months.”
“Megan.”
“He asked me whether heaven had phones.”
Thomas broke.
His face crumpled.
Megan wanted to hate him.
Instead, seeing him hurt made her angrier.
“Where is Leo?”
Thomas wiped his face.
“In the next room.”
She rushed past him.
Leo sat on a sofa beneath a blanket eating crackers.
“Mom!”
Megan grabbed him.
Thomas stood in the doorway.
For one moment they looked like a family.
Then Roman entered behind him.
Thomas's expression hardened.
“You came.”
Roman closed the library door.
“You kidnapped a seven-year-old. I was curious.”
“I saved him from Reese.”
“Where is Reese?”
Thomas looked toward the window.
“Probably coming here.”
“Then start talking.”
Thomas hesitated.
Megan stood.
“No more lies.”
He looked at her.
“None.”
“What is Vale?”
“A company Vittorio used to hide an intelligence network.”
Roman frowned.
“Vale moved freight.”
“Vale moved information.”
Thomas sat opposite them.
“Politicians. Judges. police. labor leaders. Competitors. Vittorio collected leverage on everyone.”
“Why?”
“Power.”
Roman said, “My father already had power.”
Thomas looked at him.
“No one who wants power ever thinks they have enough.”
Megan hugged Leo closer.
“And David?”
“David managed records.”
“He was a restaurant manager.”
“That was his cover after Vale shut down.”
“Why hire me?”
Thomas looked ashamed.
“Because I asked him to.”
Megan stared.
“What?”
“I needed someone near the old building.”
“You put me there?”
“I thought David was still loyal.”
“So my job—”
“Wasn't luck.”
Megan stood.
“You manipulated my life.”
“To watch you.”
“You could have called me.”
“If Vittorio knew I contacted you, you and Leo would become leverage.”
“You made us leverage the second you disappeared!”
Roman stepped in quietly.
“Thomas. What happened six years ago?”
Thomas looked at him.
“I found proof Vittorio was preparing to sell out his own organization.”
Roman's expression hardened.
“To whom?”
“Federal prosecutors.”
Silence.
Roman stared.
“You're lying.”
“I wish I were.”
Thomas crossed the room to an old cabinet.
He opened a hidden compartment.
Inside were files.
Photographs.
A digital recorder.
“Your father wanted immunity.”
“For himself?”
“For himself and Elena.”
Roman looked sick.
“What about me?”
Thomas met his eyes.
“You were the price.”
Megan whispered, “He was going to give Roman to the government?”
“Yes.”
Roman said nothing.
Thomas handed him a document.
Roman read it.
His face became stone.
Thomas continued.
“Before the deal happened, David stole the file and sold pieces of it to the Morettis. Everything collapsed. The warehouse fire was Vittorio's escape plan.”
“The seven people who died?”
Thomas lowered his eyes.
“Collateral.”
Roman's hand tightened around the paper.
“My father killed seven employees so people would think he died.”
“Yes.”
Megan looked at Thomas.
“And you?”
“I helped investigate it. Reese was our police contact.”
“But Reese betrayed you.”
Thomas nodded.
“He sold our location to Vittorio. I survived the attack at Pier Seventeen. Vittorio gave me a choice.”
“Work for him or die?”
“Worse.”
Thomas looked at Megan.
“Work for him or he would kill you.”
Megan's anger faltered.
Thomas's voice cracked.
“I watched you through cameras because I couldn't come home. Every birthday. Every first day of school. Every night you cried after Leo went to sleep.”
Megan stared at him.
“You watched?”
“I couldn't stop.”
“That doesn't make it better.”
“I know.”
A floorboard creaked above them.
Roman immediately drew his weapon.
Thomas did too.
Megan pulled Leo close.
“Someone's upstairs.”
Thomas frowned.
“No one should be upstairs.”
Roman looked toward him.
“How many people came with you?”
“Two.”
“Where are they?”
“Outside.”
A gunshot sounded.
Then another.
Thomas ran to the window.
One of his men fell near the tree line.
Headlights flooded the front yard.
Multiple vehicles.
Thomas cursed.
“Reese.”
Roman looked through the curtain.
“No.”
Thomas followed his gaze.
His face changed.
A black sedan stopped at the front steps.
The rear door opened.
An elderly man stepped into the rain.
Tall.
Silver-haired.
Black overcoat.
Roman stopped breathing.
Megan knew without being told.
Vittorio DeLuca walked toward the house he had supposedly abandoned six years earlier.
Leo looked up.
“Mom?”
Megan covered his head against her chest.
The front door opened downstairs.
No one had unlocked it.
Then Vittorio's voice carried through the dark house.
“Roman.”
Roman's gun lowered by half an inch.
His father entered the library.
He looked older than the photograph.
But unmistakably alive.
Vittorio smiled.
“My son.”
Roman's face emptied.
“You murdered seven people.”
Vittorio sighed.
“Thomas has always had a talent for dramatic summaries.”
Thomas raised his gun.
Vittorio didn't even glance at him.
Instead, he looked at Megan.
Then Leo.
A strange softness entered his face.
“There he is.”
Megan stepped back.
“What?”
Vittorio looked at the boy like he had waited years to see him.
Roman noticed.
“So that's what this is.”
Vittorio smiled.
“No, Roman.”
He removed his gloves.
“This was never about you.”
May you like
His eyes remained on Leo.
“It was always about Thomas Parker's son.”
