Chapter 6 - The Boy Sebastian Should Never Have Touched
There are moments when fear becomes so large that it stops feeling like fear.
It becomes silence.
I remember Roman giving orders.
Marcus loading weapons.
Luca studying maps.
Federal agents being contacted secretly.
I remember all of it.
But I heard almost nothing.
My son was somewhere with a murderer.
Leo hated dark rooms.
He still needed a night-light.
He cried when thunderstorms were too loud.
He asked me to cut the crust off sandwiches because apparently bread crust was an organized conspiracy against children.
And Sebastian Marchesi had him.
I sat at Roman’s kitchen table gripping Leo’s dinosaur until my fingers hurt.
Roman crouched in front of me.
“We’re bringing him home.”
I looked at him.
“Don’t promise me things you can’t guarantee.”
His jaw tightened.
“Then I’ll promise you what I can.”
“What?”
“I will not stop until he is back in your arms.”
I believed him.
That terrified me too.
The shipping terminal sat along the Calumet River, abandoned except for warehouses Roman’s father had once used.
Sebastian chose it because he knew every entrance.
So did Luca.
“There’s a drainage tunnel beneath building four,” Luca said.
Roman studied the blueprint.
“Collapsed.”
“Not completely.”
“You sure?”
“I used it when I was seventeen to sneak out.”
Roman stared.
“You told me you climbed the north fence.”
“I lied.”
“After eleven years, that still annoys me.”
Luca smiled.
For one second, they looked like brothers who had never lost anything.
Then Marcus pointed to the map.
“We give Sebastian what he expects.”
“A ledger,” Roman said.
“A copy.”
“He’ll check.”
“Not immediately.”
I stood.
“I’m going.”
Roman looked at me.
“No.”
“He wants me there.”
“He wants the books.”
“He took my child.”
“Natalie—”
“I am going.”
Roman stepped closer.
“You are not trained.”
“I don’t need training to be Leo’s mother.”
“You could get killed.”
“So could you.”
“Yes.”
“Then stop acting as though your life is disposable and mine is sacred.”
That silenced the room.
Roman looked furious.
Then tired.
Then something else.
“Fine.”
Marcus muttered, “Wonderful.”
We arrived at 11:43.
Roman carried a metal case.
I walked beside him.
No visible weapons.
Sebastian waited beneath industrial lights.
He was older than I remembered from LaRue.
Sixty-three, silver-haired, elegant.
He looked like a man who belonged at charity dinners.
Leo sat in a chair beside him.
Hands tied.
Tears on his face.
“Mom!”
Every instinct in me screamed to run.
I forced myself not to.
“I’m here, baby.”
Sebastian smiled.
“Touching.”
Roman’s voice was ice.
“Let him go.”
“The books.”
Roman lifted the case.
“First the boy.”
Sebastian chuckled.
“You never learned patience.”
“And you never learned what happens when you make me angry.”
“I taught you anger.”
“No. My father did.”
Sebastian’s smile disappeared.
Roman continued.
“You taught me what cowardice looks like.”
Three armed men shifted.
Sebastian looked at me.
“Do you know what your father did, Mrs. Brooks?”
“He tried to stop you.”
“He stole from me.”
“He collected evidence.”
“He betrayed people who trusted him.”
I laughed.
“You murdered him and still need to call yourself betrayed?”
Sebastian’s eyes hardened.
I knew instantly I had made him angry.
Good.
Roman subtly shifted his weight.
A signal.
Somewhere beneath us, Luca and Marcus were moving through the drainage tunnel.
Sebastian held out his hand.
“The ledger.”
Roman set down the case.
One guard retrieved it.
Opened it.
Three books.
Convincing copies.
Sebastian flipped through the first.
His expression changed.
“These are incomplete.”
Roman shrugged.
“You expected me to bring originals?”
Sebastian pulled a gun.
He aimed it at Leo.
I stopped breathing.
“Roman.”
Roman did not move.
“Originals.”
“They’re already with federal prosecutors.”
That was a lie.
Sebastian’s eyes narrowed.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“You wouldn’t destroy your father’s empire.”
Roman smiled faintly.
“You still don’t understand me.”
Sebastian looked furious.
Then the lights went out.
Gunfire erupted.
I dropped.
Someone grabbed me.
I fought wildly.
“Natalie, it’s Marcus.”
“Leo!”
“I know.”
Emergency lights flashed red.
Roman charged toward Sebastian.
Luca emerged behind the guards.
A bullet hit a steel beam.
Another shattered glass.
I crawled toward Leo.
Someone seized my ankle.
I kicked.
Hard.
The man fell.
I grabbed Leo.
“Mom!”
“I’ve got you.”
His wrists were tied with plastic.
I pulled him behind a concrete barrier.
“Close your eyes.”
“I’m scared.”
“So am I.”
That surprised him.
“You are?”
“Yes.”
“But we’re leaving.”
Roman and Sebastian fought near the river entrance.
No guns now.
Just fists.
Sebastian was older, but he fought with brutal efficiency.
Roman’s wound reopened.
Blood spread across his shirt.
I screamed his name.
Sebastian heard.
He smiled.
Then drove his fist into Roman’s injury.
Roman collapsed.
Sebastian picked up a fallen pistol.
He aimed.
Luca shot first.
The bullet hit Sebastian’s shoulder.
He fell.
Sirens filled the distance.
Federal vehicles stormed the yard.
Sebastian tried to crawl toward his weapon.
Roman kicked it away.
“You should kill me,” Sebastian whispered.
Roman stared down at him.
Sebastian smiled through blood.
“You want to.”
Roman did.
I could see it.
Everything Sebastian had stolen.
His brother.
His mother’s final years.
My father.
Leo’s innocence.
Roman raised his gun.
Then Leo’s small voice carried across the warehouse.
“Roman?”
Roman looked at him.
That changed everything.
Slowly, Roman lowered the weapon.
“No.”
Sebastian laughed weakly.
“Soft.”
Roman handed the gun to Marcus.
“No.”
His eyes remained on Sebastian.
“Different.”
Federal agents arrested Sebastian Marchesi at 12:07 a.m.
Leo did not let go of me for the next six hours.
Neither did I.
Roman was taken to the hospital.
His stitches had torn.
Two cracked ribs.
A concussion.
Blood loss.
Nothing fatal.
When I entered his room the next morning, he was awake.
Leo ran to him.
“You got hurt again.”
Roman looked offended.
“It seems to be becoming a habit.”
“You need armor.”
“That is a good suggestion.”
I stood near the door.
Roman looked at me.
“You okay?”
I laughed.
“You’re in a hospital bed asking me?”
“Yes.”
“I’m not sure.”
“Fair.”
Leo climbed carefully onto the chair beside him.
“You saved me.”
Roman glanced at me.
“Your mom did most of it.”
“No. You fought the bad guy.”
“Your mother kicked one of his men in the face.”
Leo looked impressed.
“You did?”
“Not now.”
Roman smiled.
The federal investigation exploded across Chicago.
Judges resigned.
Police officers were arrested.
Businesses were raided.
Sebastian’s public empire collapsed in forty-eight hours.
And so did parts of Roman’s.
DeLuca Holdings shares crashed.
Banks froze accounts.
News helicopters surrounded the estate.
Commentators called Roman a criminal, whistleblower, heir, traitor, reformer.
Sometimes all in the same hour.
He surrendered the original ledgers voluntarily.
Everything.
Even evidence that exposed his own father.
By the end of the week, Roman had lost control of three companies.
Within a month, he would lose more.
One evening, I found him watching the news.
“They’re saying you could lose half your fortune.”
“Probably.”
“You don’t seem upset.”
“I have another half.”
“That is an extremely billionaire answer.”
He laughed.
Then his face grew serious.
“Money can be rebuilt.”
I thought of my father.
“Time can’t.”
“No.”
Luca entered.
His expression was strange.
“What?”
He looked at me.
“Federal agents found a storage warehouse registered to Sebastian.”
Roman stood.
“And?”
“They found Daniel’s personal effects.”
My heart stopped.
Luca held out an evidence bag.
Inside was my father’s watch.
And beneath it, an envelope.
My name again.
This one had never been delivered.
Natalie,
If Roman DeLuca ever stands beside you, tell him something for me.
He is not his father.
He gets to choose what his name means.
My eyes filled.
Roman read the words over my shoulder.
For once, he had nothing to say.
May you like
So I took his hand.
And this time, he did not let go.
