Chapter 7 - THE WOMAN WHO STARTED THE FIRE
Roman did not speak for the rest of the drive.
That frightened Megan more than shouting would have.
Thomas tried twice.
“Roman—”
Nothing.
Adrian watched his newly discovered brother from the opposite seat.
Finally he said, “I didn't know.”
Roman looked at him.
“Stop telling me things you didn't know.”
Adrian fell silent.
They reached a secure DeLuca property near the lake just before two in the morning.
Not Roman's mansion.
A smaller brick house hidden behind a private marina.
Nico moved Leo into an upstairs bedroom under guard.
Megan stayed until her son fell asleep.
When she returned downstairs, Roman stood beside a window staring at the black water.
Thomas sat at the dining table.
Adrian leaned against a wall.
No one looked comfortable.
Megan walked to Thomas.
“Explain.”
Thomas rubbed both hands over his face.
“Six years ago, Elena learned what Vittorio planned.”
“The immunity deal?”
“Yes.”
“He was going to sacrifice Roman.”
Thomas nodded.
“Elena tried to stop him.”
“By killing seven innocent people?”
Thomas looked sick.
“It wasn't supposed to happen that way.”
Roman finally spoke.
“That's what people say after innocent people die.”
Thomas looked at him.
“Elena ordered the warehouse emptied. She arranged a fire to destroy the evidence Vittorio planned to give federal prosecutors.”
“But?”
“David changed the shift roster.”
Megan frowned.
“Why?”
“To make the fire deadly.”
Roman turned.
“So my mother ordered arson. David turned it into murder.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Chaos.”
Thomas leaned forward.
“David had already sold copies of Vale records. If Vittorio testified, everybody would discover David's role. He needed Vittorio gone, the files destroyed, and the organization blaming itself.”
Adrian asked, “Where were you?”
“Pier Seventeen.”
“With Reese?”
“Yes.”
Thomas looked toward Megan.
“We were supposed to deliver evidence to federal agents that night.”
“You were an informant?”
“Not exactly.”
“What does that mean?”
“I worked private investigations for an insurance consortium. Vale was one of our clients.”
Megan laughed bitterly.
“So you did sell industrial insurance.”
“In a way.”
“You could have told me.”
“I wanted to keep work away from home.”
“And that worked beautifully.”
Thomas lowered his eyes.
Roman asked, “Why did my father keep you alive?”
“Because after the fire, I had the only complete copy of the archive.”
“And you hid it with Leo.”
“Yes.”
Adrian folded his arms.
“Then why didn't Vittorio kill David?”
“Because David convinced him Elena started the fire to seize control of the family.”
Roman frowned.
“My mother never controlled the organization.”
“Not publicly.”
Thomas looked at him.
“But after Vittorio disappeared, who convinced you to take over?”
Roman's face shifted.
Megan understood.
“Elena.”
Roman turned away.
“She said the family needed stability.”
Thomas's voice softened.
“She needed you in power before Vittorio could return.”
“Why?”
“To protect you.”
Roman laughed without humor.
“There it is again.”
Megan stepped closer.
“Roman.”
He looked at her.
“Everyone keeps calling lies protection.”
She didn't know what to say.
Because he was right.
Thomas had done it.
Elena had done it.
And Roman himself had moved Leo without Megan's permission because he believed danger justified control.
Thomas stood.
“We need to find Elena.”
Roman's gaze sharpened.
“You don't give orders here.”
“I'm trying to help.”
“You abandoned your wife and child for four years while watching them through cameras.”
Thomas flinched.
Roman stepped closer.
“Don't confuse survival with heroism.”
Megan intervened.
“Enough.”
Both men looked at her.
“I have spent this entire night surrounded by men who think protecting someone means deciding what they are allowed to know.”
Thomas lowered his eyes.
Roman's expression softened.
Megan continued.
“I'm done with it.”
She pointed at Thomas.
“No more secrets.”
Then Roman.
“No more decisions about me or Leo without me.”
Then Adrian.
“I don't know what your problem is yet, but I'm sure we'll get there.”
Adrian blinked.
“Fair.”
Megan turned back to Thomas.
“Where would Vittorio take Elena?”
Thomas hesitated.
She raised one finger.
He answered immediately.
“Old Vale headquarters.”
Roman frowned.
“Demolished.”
“The public building was.”
Thomas looked at Adrian.
“You know what I'm talking about?”
Adrian slowly nodded.
Roman noticed.
“Of course he does.”
Adrian sighed.
“There's a secondary facility beneath the old shipping terminal.”
“Location.”
“Calumet River.”
Nico entered with a laptop.
“Boss, we've got movement.”
He turned the screen.
Security footage showed Detective Reese entering a warehouse near Calumet Harbor twenty minutes earlier.
Thomas stood.
“He's joining Vittorio.”
“Or Elena,” Megan said.
Everyone looked at her.
“What?”
“Reese betrayed Thomas at Pier Seventeen. David planted evidence through police networks. Vittorio has apparently manipulated people for years.”
She pointed at the screen.
“But if Elena was really the one who ordered the original fire, maybe Reese isn't working for Vittorio.”
Roman understood.
“He's working for David.”
Nico nodded.
“David is the one person nobody has seen since the restaurant.”
Thomas's expression changed.
“You're right.”
Adrian frowned.
“Then where is he?”
Megan thought about the live video.
David beside Thomas's chair.
The phone in David's office.
The cuff link.
The alley.
“Roman.”
He looked at her.
“The cuff link.”
“What about it?”
“One was in the alley. David wore the matching pair.”
“Yes.”
“You assumed David had been there.”
Roman stared at her.
“Maybe he wanted us to assume that.”
Thomas slowly nodded.
Megan continued.
“He left the green bag where I had already seen it. He had a copy of my phone in his desk. He disappeared right before we found everything.”
Roman's expression darkened.
“He staged the entire discovery.”
“Why?”
Adrian answered.
“To make Roman hunt Vittorio.”
Thomas looked toward him.
“And make Vittorio hunt Roman.”
Megan whispered, “While David takes the archive.”
Nico's laptop chimed.
An email had arrived from an unknown address.
SUBJECT: MR. PARKER'S FINAL INSURANCE POLICY.
Thomas went pale.
Nico opened it.
One photograph.
David Kesler stood beside the silver storage case Vittorio had taken from Northwestern.
Behind him, Elena DeLuca sat tied to a chair.
Vittorio lay unconscious on the floor.
Roman stared.
Thomas swore.
Text beneath the photograph read:
EVERYONE ALWAYS UNDERESTIMATES THE RESTAURANT MANAGER.
Another line:
BRING THOMAS PARKER AND LEO'S ORIGINAL BIRTH RECORD.
NO POLICE.
Adrian leaned closer.
“He has the storage sample.”
Thomas's face tightened.
“He still can't open the archive.”
“Without Leo's biological marker,” Megan said.
Thomas shook his head.
“He doesn't need Leo physically.”
Everyone looked at him.
Roman's voice went cold.
“Explain.”
Thomas rubbed a hand across his mouth.
“Leo had surgery when he was three.”
Megan remembered instantly.
“Tonsils.”
“Blood work was stored.”
Her stomach dropped.
“Where?”
“Hospital records.”
Roman turned to Nico.
“Lock it down.”
Nico was already typing.
Thomas continued.
“David had access to Vale's insurance databases. He might know.”
Megan felt sick.
“So he can get Leo's DNA without touching him.”
“Yes.”
“What does he need the birth record for?”
Thomas looked at her.
“The phrase.”
“What phrase?”
“When Leo was born, you were exhausted. You said something while holding him.”
Megan stared.
Thomas smiled sadly.
“You said, ‘He found us.'”
Her throat tightened.
“I remember.”
“I used it.”
Roman frowned.
“As the password.”
“Yes.”
Megan stood.
“So David needs me.”
“No,” Thomas said.
“He knows the phrase?”
Thomas looked ashamed.
“He was listening.”
Megan stared.
“What?”
“David was at the hospital.”
“You told me he was a client.”
“He was there for Vale.”
Her anger exploded.
“You brought that man near me while I was giving birth?”
“Megan—”
She slapped Thomas again.
Adrian quietly moved farther away.
Thomas accepted it.
“I deserved that.”
“You deserve several more.”
Roman almost smiled.
Then Nico's laptop chimed again.
“Hospital network breach.”
Thomas went pale.
“Which hospital?”
“Northwestern.”
Megan's heart began pounding.
“Can he get Leo's sample?”
Nico typed rapidly.
“Someone accessed pathology storage six minutes ago.”
Roman grabbed his coat.
“We go now.”
Thomas stood.
“David won't be there.”
“Maybe not.”
Roman looked at Megan.
“But somebody is.”
They reached the hospital in twelve minutes.
Security escorted them into the pathology floor.
A technician met them outside a refrigerated archive room.
“The sample was removed five minutes before our lockdown.”
“By whom?” Megan demanded.
The technician handed over a tablet.
“Dr. Samuel Pierce.”
Thomas frowned.
“I know that name.”
Roman looked at him.
“From where?”
Thomas's face drained.
“He signed my death certificate.”
Roman went still.
They raced toward the elevators.
The security office pulled surveillance.
Dr. Pierce appeared on-screen leaving with a small medical case.
Then another camera showed him entering the underground parking garage.
He reached a black sedan.
The driver's door opened.
Detective Reese stepped out.
Megan whispered, “There.”
Then David Kesler appeared from the passenger side.
Roman's face hardened.
Three men.
All connected.
Thomas's false death.
Roman's stabbing.
Leo's records.
The warehouse fire.
David took the medical case.
Then he looked directly toward the security camera.
Smiled.
And held up a piece of paper.
Megan leaned toward the monitor.
Words were written in thick black marker.
THANK YOU, MEGAN.
BECAUSE YOU SAVED ROMAN, HE FOUND EVERYTHING FOR ME.
Roman went completely still.
Megan understood.
The alley.
The cuff link.
The restaurant.
The hidden room.
They hadn't been chasing David.
They had been opening doors for him.
David had used Megan to lead Roman through every barrier his own security couldn't penetrate.
Another message appeared on Nico's phone.
ARCHIVE DECRYPTION: 92%.
Thomas stared.
“If it reaches one hundred—”
“What happens?” Megan asked.
Thomas looked at Roman.
“David gets every secret Vale ever collected.”
Roman's phone rang.
David.
Roman answered.
David's voice was calm.
“Mr. DeLuca.”
Roman's expression became ice.
“You made one mistake.”
David laughed.
“Only one?”
“You left Megan alive.”
Megan looked at Roman.
David paused.
Then he said, “No.”
His voice changed.
“That was the point.”
Roman frowned.
David continued.
“Ask Thomas why Megan Parker's maiden name appears on the first page of the Vale archive.”
Thomas went white.
Megan slowly turned toward her husband.
“My maiden name?”
Thomas said nothing.
“Tom.”
Roman's voice became dangerous.
“Answer her.”
Thomas looked at Megan.
“The archive wasn't started by Vittorio.”
Megan felt cold.
“Then who started it?”
May you like
Thomas swallowed.
“Your father.”
