Chapter 5 - The Woman Who Refused to Hide Behind His Money
Victor moved quickly.
Mara's brother was kidnapped.
The message arrived at 3:00 a.m.
BRING THE NOTEBOOK.
NO POLICE.
Mara wanted to go.
Roman refused.
“You're not going.”
“My brother.”
“We'll get him.”
“Then let me help.”
“You don't understand.”
“I understand perfectly.”
She stepped closer.
“You keep trying to protect me by locking me out.”
Roman stared.
He knew she was right.
“I don't want you hurt.”
“You don't get to decide whether my life matters.”
He smiled faintly.
“Neither do you.”
She understood.
They went together.
The warehouse sat on the south side of Chicago.
Victor was waiting.
Mara's brother was alive.
Bound.
Terrified.
Victor smiled.
“You have the notebook?”
Mara held it up.
“Yes.”
“Give it to me.”
“No.”
Victor laughed.
“You think you have power now?”
“No.”
She looked at Roman.
“I think we have evidence.”
Victor's expression changed.
“You won't leave here.”
Roman stepped forward.
“You're right.”
Victor looked confused.
“Because I'm not leaving without my family.”
Gunfire erupted.
Security moved.
Mara pulled her brother down.
Roman confronted Victor.
The fight was brief.
Victor escaped.
But the notebook was gone.
Mara looked at Roman.
“He took it.”
Roman nodded.
Then smiled.
“No.”
“What?”
“I gave him a fake.”
She stared.
“You planned that?”
“Yes.”
She laughed.
“You're impossible.”
He smiled.
“You're learning.”
The fake notebook contained false accounts.
Victor would expose himself trying to access them.
The real notebook stayed with Mara.
They returned to the estate.
Roman was exhausted.
Mara helped him into bed.
He caught her hand.
“Stay.”
She looked at him.
“I'm here.”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“I mean stay.”
She understood.
“You're not asking me as your nurse.”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“As the woman I love.”
Her breath caught.
She sat beside him.
“You know you make that very difficult.”
“I know.”
“I was supposed to be temporary.”
“You're not.”
He kissed her hand.
“I don't want you to leave.”
She smiled.
“I don't.”
They kissed.
Their relationship became known to everyone.
The newspapers noticed.
The city noticed.
And the people hunting Roman noticed most of all.
They called Mara his weakness.
They were wrong.
She was his anchor.
She noticed details others ignored.
She saw how people behaved around Victor.
She noticed patterns in financial records.
She remembered names.
She knew what hospitals kept in trash bins.
She understood ordinary people.
And that made her dangerous.
She found the missing connection.
Victor was not working alone.
He was financed by a woman named Celia Grant.
A respected philanthropist.
A donor to the hospital.
A person no one would suspect.
Celia had been Roman's father's secret partner.
She had orchestrated the original attack.
But why?
Because she believed Roman had stolen what belonged to her son.
Her son.
A man Roman had never met.
A hidden heir.
A secret branch of the Calder family.
His name was Adrian Calder.
And he wanted Roman dead.
The final war was coming.
May you like
But this time Roman had Mara beside him.
And he had no intention of letting her face it alone.
