Chapter 7 - The Price of Gabriel
Roman positioned himself between Silas and Sophia.
“You’re going to leave without the child.”
Silas sighed.
“You still think this is about kidnapping.”
“You sent men into a house.”
“To retrieve documents.”
“You accessed a newborn’s medical records.”
“To confirm something your father should have prevented.”
Roman’s expression hardened.
Silas looked toward Sophia.
“I imagine Vincent told you he loved you.”
Sophia said nothing.
“He probably did.”
“My nephew has always been sincere in the moment.”
Roman stepped forward.
“Keep her out of this.”
“She gave birth to this.”
Silas pointed toward Gabriel.
“She is the center of this.”
Sophia’s voice was steady.
“Then explain it to me.”
Silas smiled faintly.
“Your son inherited a voting block worth approximately five billion dollars.”
“You believe I want the money.”
“I don’t.”
“I want control.”
“At least that part is honest.”
Silas looked back at Roman.
“Your father built an empire using fear, favors, and debts.”
“Then he became old and guilty.”
“He decided blood mattered more than competence.”
“So he wrote a trust that could one day hand enormous power to an infant.”
Roman glanced toward the catwalk exits.
Silas had men positioned at both ends.
There was no easy route.
Silas continued.
“Vincent complicated everything by surviving.”
Sophia flinched at the casual admission.
Roman said, “You killed Jonah.”
Silas’s expression barely changed.
“No.”
That answer was too quick.
Roman pressed.
“Then who did?”
“Your father.”
The words seemed to stop the air.
Roman stared at him.
Silas nodded toward the ledger.
“You found the payments.”
“Did you also find the pages your father removed?”
Roman said nothing.
“He discovered Jonah was preparing to expose the family.”
“He confronted him.”
“They fought.”
“Jonah fell from the loading platform.”
Silas pointed toward the river behind them.
“Right there.”
Roman looked toward the black water.
Silas continued.
“Dominic panicked.”
“Vincent saw everything.”
“Your father decided one dead boy could solve two problems.”
Sophia whispered.
“He put Jonah in Vincent’s car.”
Silas nodded.
“The crash burned the body badly enough to make identification difficult.”
“And you identified him anyway.”
Roman’s voice was full of contempt.
Silas looked almost offended.
“Your father ordered me to.”
“Vincent?”
“He ran.”
Roman felt something inside him break.
Their father had not been protecting Vincent.
He had used Jonah’s death to erase him.
Roman remembered Dominic telling him Vincent had become reckless before the accident.
He remembered being angry at his brother for dying.
All of it had been manufactured.
Sophia asked the question Roman could not.
“Why did Vincent stay dead for eleven years?”
Silas looked at Gabriel.
“Because he believed Roman was safer if he remained buried.”
Roman frowned.
Silas smiled.
“That is the part your brother never understood.”
“He wasn’t protecting you from me.”
“He was protecting you from your father.”
A sharp noise came from the side entrance.
Silas’s men turned.
Roman did not.
He recognized the distraction for what it was.
Davis had triggered the old loading machinery.
Roman grabbed Sophia’s hand.
“Run.”
They sprinted toward the river door.
Silas shouted.
Two men moved to intercept them.
Davis drove a forklift between the aisles, blocking the passage.
“Go.”
Roman, Sophia, and Gabriel reached the dock.
A small maintenance boat was tied below.
Roman lowered Sophia into it.
Davis appeared behind them with the ledger.
A gunshot cracked against the metal railing.
No one was hit.
Roman pulled Davis into the boat.
They pushed away from the dock.
Silas reached the platform too late.
Roman looked back.
His uncle stood beneath the warehouse lights.
No panic.
No rage.
Only patience.
Roman knew that expression.
Silas believed he still had leverage.
Roman looked at Davis.
“What haven’t you told me?”
Davis looked toward Sophia.
Then Gabriel.
“Silas filed something this morning.”
“What?”
“An emergency family protection petition.”
Roman’s stomach tightened.
Davis swallowed.
“He’s asking a judge to place Gabriel under temporary Callaway guardianship.”
Sophia stared at him.
“He can’t do that.”
Davis looked at Roman.
“He can if he proves Sophia is homeless, unemployed, and unable to provide a safe residence.”
Sophia went pale.
The stairwell.
The hospital records.
The photographs.
Silas had not merely been watching her.
May you like
He had been building a case.
And the hearing was scheduled for nine o’clock the next morning.
