Chapter 4 - The Sister Who Betrayed Her Brother to Save His Daughter
Roman refused the exchange.
He wouldn't trade Mia.
Tommy suggested a tactical team.
Nora insisted they find Elise first.
They located her at an abandoned church.
Roman arrived with six men.
Nora stayed behind with Mia.
Inside the church, candles burned near the altar.
Elise sat alone.
Older than Roman remembered.
Thinner.
Exhausted.
She smiled when he entered.
“You look like Dad.”
Roman stopped.
“I don't want to.”
“I know.”
“Where were you?”
“Running.”
“From whom?”
“You.”
Roman's jaw tightened.
“Why?”
“Because every time I tried to tell you the truth, someone tried to kill me.”
She looked at him.
“You never knew how many people around you belonged to Father.”
Roman's eyes hardened.
“How many?”
“Twenty-three.”
Tommy inhaled sharply.
“Twenty-three?”
“Inside your organization.”
Roman sat.
Elise continued.
“Our father built the Ash Crown before you were born.”
“Why?”
“To control the city.”
“Then why attack Mia?”
“Because you stopped following his rules.”
Roman shook his head.
“Father died.”
“The organization didn't.”
Elise pulled out documents.
After Roman took over, he began dismantling the criminal side.
The Ash Crown wanted him dead.
But killing Roman wasn't enough.
They needed leverage.
Mia was the perfect target.
Elise had discovered the plan.
She altered the hospital records.
She moved Mia.
She created the trust.
She disappeared.
She became an enemy in Roman's eyes so the Ash Crown would believe she was hiding something.
“You could have told me.”
“I tried.”
“You lied.”
“So did you.”
Roman looked down.
She was right.
“We're both terrible at this.”
For the first time, he smiled.
Elise handed him a key.
“The Ash Crown has a headquarters.”
“Where?”
“Under the old courthouse.”
Roman froze.
“That's impossible.”
“Nothing is impossible anymore.”
She continued.
“There is one person you must avoid.”
“Who?”
“Arthur Bell.”
Roman's face went cold.
Arthur was a respected judge.
A family friend.
He had attended Roman's father's funeral.
He had helped Roman bury several legal problems.
He had also visited Mia's hospital.
Roman realized the judge's child was one of the others taken.
Maybe he had surrendered information to get her back.
Maybe he had joined willingly.
Either way, the betrayal ran deep.
Back at the penthouse, Nora told Mia a bedtime story.
Roman watched from the doorway.
He had never imagined happiness could make him more afraid than violence.
He had spent years accepting death.
Now he feared losing people.
He approached Nora.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Yes.”
“Why did you really leave?”
She looked down.
“The night I disappeared, I saw a photograph.”
“What photograph?”
“You were kneeling beside a body.”
Roman frowned.
“Whose?”
“I didn't know.”
“Then why?”
“The photograph had your signature.”
He stared.
“That wasn't me.”
“I know that now.”
“Who did it?”
“Elise thinks it was Victor.”
Roman froze.
Victor had been dead.
At least officially.
“He's alive,” Nora said.
Roman's stomach tightened.
“Victor was your father's old adviser.”
“Yes.”
“Everyone said he died.”
“They were wrong.”
A message arrived.
Roman opened it.
A video.
Victor appeared.
Older.
Smiling.
Beside him was the missing judge's daughter.
The child was unharmed.
Victor looked at the camera.
“Roman.”
Roman stared.
“You've always been difficult.”
Victor smiled.
“Your father understood that.”
“What do you want?”
“Everything.”
“Meaning?”
“The Black Crown.”
Roman laughed.
“You already have nothing.”
Victor leaned closer.
“I have your daughter.”
Roman's eyes changed.
Victor continued.
“And I have something better.”
A second image appeared.
Nora.
Taken that afternoon.
At the school.
While she was buying Mia's backpack.
Roman's blood turned cold.
The message ended.
Nora stared at the screen.
“He was following me.”
“Yes.”
Roman looked at Tommy.
“Find every camera within twenty blocks.”
“We will.”
Then Mia came running.
“Daddy!”
Roman turned.
She handed him a small red toy car.
“I found this outside.”
Roman looked at it.
A tracking device was hidden inside.
He immediately understood.
Victor knew their location.
He had been inside the penthouse.
The family was compromised.
Roman closed his hand around the device.
“No one leaves.”
Nora looked worried.
“Roman.”
He looked at her.
“I promised I'd protect you.”
She shook her head.
“Don't become the man I ran from.”
Roman took a breath.
“I won't.”
He looked at Mia.
“I'll become the man she needs.”
Then the lights went out.
A child's scream echoed through the hallway.
Nora turned.
“Mia!”
The bedroom door was open.
The bed was empty.
A red toy car rolled slowly across the floor.
May you like
And on the wall, written in black:
COME ALONE.
