Chapter 6 - THE MAN OUTSIDE THE DOOR
Roman moved Amelia that night.
Not back to Baltimore.
He knew better than to ask.
Instead, Evelyn took them to a farmhouse owned by an old friend outside Easton.
Roman’s security team formed a discreet perimeter.
He slept in a vehicle outside.
Amelia discovered that the next morning.
“You’re ridiculous.”
Roman looked up from a cup of terrible gas-station coffee.
“I’ve been called worse.”
“There’s a guesthouse.”
“You told me you didn’t want me inside.”
“I meant the cottage.”
“I assumed the principle traveled.”
Amelia almost laughed.
Again.
Roman noticed.
Again.
Neither mentioned it.
For the next three weeks, something strange happened.
Roman stopped trying to win her back.
Instead, he started changing things she had never asked him to change.
He transferred control of several legitimate companies into independent management.
He ended financial arrangements that tied Vanessa to him personally, replacing them with a trust administered by a neutral attorney.
He began seeing a therapist in Washington under a false name.
Miles discovered that part accidentally.
“You’re paying someone to tell you you’re emotionally constipated?”
Roman looked at him.
“I could pay you.”
“I’ve been telling you free for fifteen years.”
Most importantly, Roman stopped demanding information about Amelia’s pregnancy.
If she wanted him to know something, she told him.
If she didn’t, he waited.
At twenty-four weeks, Amelia had an ultrasound.
Roman drove her.
He remained in the parking lot.
Amelia sat in the examination room staring at the empty chair beside her.
The technician smiled.
“Would you like the father to come in?”
Amelia hesitated.
Then she texted two words.
Room 4.
Roman appeared forty seconds later.
He stopped at the door.
“May I?”
Amelia nodded.
He entered quietly.
When their daughter appeared on the monitor, Roman forgot how to breathe.
The technician pointed.
“There’s her profile.”
Roman stared.
A tiny nose.
Tiny hands.
A heartbeat strong enough to fill the room.
His eyes became wet.
Amelia pretended not to notice.
Then the baby moved.
Roman laughed.
It was such an unguarded sound that Amelia turned toward him.
For several seconds, they were simply husband and wife again.
Not Roman Vale.
Not the betrayed Amelia.
Just two people looking at their child.
Then the technician left.
Roman stood.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Letting me see her.”
Amelia looked at him.
“You’re her father.”
“That doesn’t automatically give me access to you.”
The answer surprised her.
Roman walked toward the door.
“Roman.”
He stopped.
“You can have the ultrasound picture.”
He turned.
There were two copies.
Amelia handed him one.
Roman took it as though she had given him something priceless.
That evening, Miles called.
Gabriel had surfaced.
A security camera caught him outside a private airfield.
Roman immediately prepared to leave.
Amelia watched him put on his jacket.
“You’re going after him.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He has your medical information.”
“And?”
Roman paused.
Six months earlier, his answer would have been obvious.
Revenge.
Now he said, “Because as long as he’s free, you aren’t safe.”
“Those sound similar.”
“They aren’t.”
Amelia stepped closer.
“What happens when you find him?”
Roman understood the question beneath the question.
“I bring him to the police.”
She searched his face.
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
The answer startled her.
Roman continued.
“I expect to prove it.”
He left.
The operation took seven hours.
Gabriel was found in an abandoned marina warehouse north of the city.
Roman entered with Miles and two men.
Gabriel laughed when he saw him.
“There he is. Baltimore’s loyal dog.”
Roman said nothing.
Gabriel held a pistol.
“You finally figured it out, didn’t you? Anthony owned you from the grave.”
“You kidnapped my wife.”
“I showed her the truth.”
Roman’s jaw tightened.
“You made me choose.”
“No. I gave you the opportunity.”
Gabriel smiled.
“And you performed beautifully.”
Roman moved forward.
Miles whispered, “Roman.”
Gabriel laughed again.
“She’ll never forgive you.”
Roman stopped.
For the first time, the statement did not provoke him.
“Maybe not.”
Gabriel’s smile faded.
Roman continued.
“That’s her decision.”
Police sirens approached.
Gabriel looked toward the doors.
“You called cops?”
“Yes.”
“What happened to you?”
Roman thought of Amelia.
“I got tired of becoming the man everyone expected.”
Gabriel raised the pistol.
Miles moved.
A shot exploded.
Roman hit the floor.
Police stormed the building.
Minutes later, Gabriel was handcuffed.
Roman sat against a wall.
Blood covered his shirt.
Miles crouched beside him.
“You hit?”
Roman checked himself.
“No.”
The blood belonged to Gabriel, grazed by the bullet after Miles redirected his arm.
Roman’s phone rang.
Evelyn.
He answered.
Her voice was frantic.
“Roman, where are you?”
“What happened?”
“It’s Amelia.”
His blood turned cold.
“She collapsed.”
Everything inside him stopped.
“Is she conscious?”
“No.”
Roman stood.
“They’re taking her to Harbor Mercy.”
He ran.
Forty-five minutes later, he reached the hospital.
A nurse blocked him outside labor and delivery.
“Mr. Vale?”
“Yes.”
“The doctor is with your wife.”
“The baby?”
“We don’t know yet.”
Roman stared through the closed doors.
For the first time in his life, there was nobody to threaten.
Nobody to command.
Nothing to fix.
He could only wait.
Then a doctor emerged.
“Mr. Vale?”
Roman stepped forward.
“Your wife has severe placental bleeding.”
His face drained.
“And my daughter?”
May you like
The doctor hesitated.
“We’re trying to save them both.”
