Chapter 4 - THE NIGHT BOSTON STOPPED FOR ROMAN CALDER
Roman read the message once.
That was enough.
The temperature in the room seemed to drop.
“Dante.”
“Already moving.”
Within thirty seconds, the hospital floor transformed.
Two Calder security teams sealed the elevators.
Another man positioned himself outside Nora’s room.
A woman in a gray suit arrived and introduced herself as Mara Quinn, Roman’s attorney.
Nora stared at all of them.
“You live like this?”
Roman looked at the threat on her phone.
“No.”
“What do you call this?”
“Tuesday getting worse.”
Despite everything, Nora almost laughed.
Then Roman crouched beside her.
“Listen carefully. Whoever sent that message knows about the pregnancy.”
“Selene knew.”
“So did everyone in that corridor after my spectacular failure at discretion.”
“You mean calling me your wife?”
“Yes.”
“You’re never escaping that.”
“I’m beginning to understand.”
His brief smile vanished.
“I need to move you somewhere secure.”
“I’m not becoming your prisoner.”
“You won’t.”
“I decide where I go.”
“Yes.”
Nora searched his face.
He meant it.
That mattered.
“Where?”
“My house in Beacon Hill.”
“No.”
“Fine.”
Roman didn’t argue.
“My mother’s place in Brookline.”
“You have a mother?”
Roman stared at her.
“That sounded insulting.”
“It was surprise.”
Dante returned before Roman could answer.
“We found Julian.”
Roman stood.
“Where?”
“Logan Airport.”
Nora’s stomach dropped.
“He’s running?”
“Private terminal. Flight plan filed for Montreal.”
Roman checked his watch.
“When?”
“Twenty-six minutes.”
Roman took out his phone.
“What are you doing?”
“Changing his evening.”
Within minutes, the motorcade left the hospital.
Nora should have stayed behind.
Instead she insisted on coming.
Roman argued exactly once.
Nora stared at him.
He stopped.
“Fine.”
Boston rain hammered the SUVs as they moved through traffic.
Then Nora noticed something strange.
Police cruisers were appearing ahead.
Not chasing them.
Clearing intersections.
“Roman.”
“Yes?”
“Why are the roads being closed?”
“A favor.”
“From whom?”
“Someone who owes me several.”
She looked through the windshield.
Cars stopped.
Traffic lights changed.
Their convoy swept toward Logan through a corridor that seemed to open specifically for Roman Calder.
At the private aviation terminal, Julian was halfway up the stairs of a white Gulfstream.
Then black SUVs surrounded the aircraft.
Doors opened.
Men in dark suits emerged.
Julian froze.
Roman stepped from the lead vehicle.
No shouting.
No theatrical threats.
He simply buttoned his jacket and walked across the rain-slick tarmac.
Nora followed more slowly beneath an umbrella held by Dante.
Julian came down the stairs.
“This is insane.”
Roman stopped ten feet away.
“You left quickly.”
“I have business.”
“In Montreal?”
“Yes.”
“With no luggage?”
Julian’s eyes flicked toward Nora.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
Nora stepped forward.
“Why did you recognize my mother’s necklace?”
“I didn’t.”
“You looked terrified.”
“You imagined it.”
Roman said nothing.
That silence worked better than a threat.
Julian’s face tightened.
Finally he said, “Celeste found something.”
Nora’s chest constricted.
“What?”
“I don’t know.”
“Stop lying.”
Julian looked toward Roman.
“I want protection.”
Roman almost smiled.
“From me?”
“From March.”
Nora stared.
Julian swallowed.
“Not Selene. Edmund.”
The rain intensified.
“Edmund paid me to marry Nora.”
Nora stopped breathing.
Roman’s expression became deadly calm.
Julian rushed on.
“Years ago. Celeste had started asking questions. Edmund wanted someone close to the family.”
Nora felt physically sick.
“Our marriage?”
“At first.”
“At first?”
Julian looked ashamed.
“I did love you eventually.”
Nora laughed once.
It sounded broken.
“You left debt in my name.”
“I was trying to keep them satisfied.”
“You destroyed my credit.”
“They would have done worse.”
Roman stepped closer.
“You have approximately ten seconds to stop explaining your cowardice and tell us what Celeste discovered.”
Julian looked at Nora.
“Your mother found records sewn into the lining of a dress.”
“What records?”
“Names. Payments. Judges. Police. Businesses.”
Roman’s eyes hardened.
“And my father?”
Julian nodded.
“His name was there.”
Roman went completely still.
“Not as a recipient.”
Julian spoke quickly.
“As a target.”
Nora covered her mouth.
Julian continued.
“Celeste copied everything. She told me she had insurance.”
“The microfilm,” Nora whispered.
Julian stared.
“You found it?”
Roman gave him nothing.
Julian’s fear deepened.
“Then you need to leave.”
“Why?”
“Because the list isn’t sixteen years old.”
“What does that mean?”
“It’s still active.”
Headlights appeared beyond the terminal fence.
One vehicle.
Then another.
Then ten.
Dante touched his earpiece.
His face changed.
“Roman.”
Black vehicles were entering from both ends of the service road.
Roman’s men moved instantly.
Nora’s pulse exploded.
Julian backed toward the plane.
“I told you.”
Roman pulled Nora behind him.
Across the runway, the approaching vehicles stopped.
Doors opened.
Men stepped out.
But nobody raised a weapon.
Instead, an elderly man emerged from the center sedan.
Edmund March.
No police.
No lawyers.
He looked directly at Nora.
Then at Roman.
“You’ve misunderstood everything.”
Roman’s voice carried through the rain.
“Then explain.”
Edmund smiled sadly.
“I wasn’t the man Celeste Bellamy was hiding from.”
Nora’s blood went cold.
Edmund looked past them.
Toward Julian.
“She was hiding from her own husband.”
Nora whispered, “My father is dead.”
Edmund shook his head.
“No, Nora.”
May you like
Then he said a name she had not heard since childhood.
“Thomas Bellamy is alive.”
