Chapter 6 - THE UNCLE ROMAN TRUSTEDRoman did not remember getting into the rescue vehicle.
He remembered Rachel screaming Lily’s name.
He remembered Martin ordering Hart men toward Sophia’s property.
He remembered Daniel shouting into two phones at once.
Everything else became motion.
Rain.
Headlights.
Weapons.
Fear.
They reached Sophia’s estate in twelve minutes.
The main gate stood open.
One guard lay near the security booth.
Alive.
Bleeding from the shoulder.
Roman jumped from the SUV before it fully stopped.
“Where is she?”
The guard struggled upright.
“Mr. Calder… Dominic came through with credentials. We let him in.”
“Where’s Sophia?”
“House.”
Roman ran.
Rachel followed.
He turned.
“Stay back!”
“My daughter is in there.”
“Rachel—”
She pushed past him.
Roman almost grabbed her.
Then he saw her face.
There would be no stopping her.
“Stay behind me.”
They entered through the kitchen.
A broken glass lay on the floor.
Sophia’s husband, Michael, was crouched beside a security officer.
“He’s gone,” Michael said.
Roman scanned the room.
“Who?”
“Dominic.”
“Where are Sophia and the kids?”
“Upstairs.”
Rachel’s voice cracked.
“Lily?”
Michael looked at her.
His silence said everything.
Rachel ran toward the stairs.
Roman caught her.
“Michael.”
Michael stood.
“Dominic took her.”
Rachel made a sound Roman would never forget.
Not a scream exactly.
Something deeper.
“What do you mean took her?”
Sophia appeared on the landing.
Blood streaked one side of her forehead.
“I tried to stop him.”
Roman stared.
“Where?”
“He came inside alone. Said you’d been attacked at the chapel. We believed him.”
Sophia descended.
“He knew Lily was in the playroom.”
Rachel could barely breathe.
“Why my daughter?”
Sophia’s eyes filled with guilt.
“He said you had sent him to move her somewhere safer.”
Roman closed his eyes.
Of course.
Dominic had been family.
The children called him Uncle Dom.
His name opened every Calder door.
“How long ago?” Daniel asked.
“Maybe nine minutes.”
“Vehicle?”
“Black Range Rover.”
Daniel immediately began issuing orders.
Roadblocks.
Toll cameras.
Harbor surveillance.
Roman took Rachel’s hands.
She pulled away.
“This is because of you.”
The words cut.
Roman did not defend himself.
“You told her she was safe.”
“I know.”
“You promised her.”
“I know.”
Rachel slapped him.
Hard.
Everyone froze.
Roman took it.
Rachel’s entire body shook.
Martin stepped forward.
“That won’t help.”
Rachel spun toward him.
“You don’t get to speak.”
Martin stopped.
“My parents died because of your family. Evelyn tortured me because of your family. Now my daughter is gone because of both of you.”
Roman looked at Daniel.
“Find the vehicle.”
Daniel nodded.
Rachel sank onto a chair.
Roman crouched in front of her.
“I will bring Lily home.”
She looked at him through tears.
“Don’t promise me anything else.”
Roman absorbed that.
Then his phone rang.
Unknown number.
Every person in the kitchen went still.
Roman answered.
“Dominic.”
A familiar laugh came through the speaker.
“Still quick.”
Roman had heard that voice at birthday dinners.
Funerals.
Business meetings.
When he was thirteen and nightmares woke him after his mother’s death, Dominic had sometimes sat outside Roman’s bedroom until sunrise.
Now Roman wanted to kill him.
“Where is Lily?”
“Safe.”
Rachel lunged toward the phone.
Roman put it on speaker.
Lily’s voice came faintly.
“Mommy?”
Rachel covered her mouth.
“Baby?”
“Mommy, Uncle Dom says we’re going on a boat.”
Roman’s eyes closed.
Harbor.
Dominic took the phone back.
“She’s unharmed.”
“If you touch her—”
“You sound like your father.”
Roman’s rage nearly broke through.
“What do you want?”
“The box.”
Rachel stood.
“No.”
Dominic laughed.
“Rebecca.”
Rachel went pale.
“Don’t call me that.”
“You look exactly like Andrew when you’re angry.”
“Where is my daughter?”
“You bring the box to Pier Seventeen.”
Martin reacted.
“Pier Seventeen is abandoned.”
“Not anymore.”
Dominic continued.
“Roman brings the box. Rebecca comes with him.”
“No,” Roman said.
“Yes.”
“You get me.”
“I already have something you care about.”
Roman’s eyes darkened.
“Dominic.”
“Midnight.”
The call ended.
Rachel reached for the metal box.
Roman stopped her.
“No.”
“He has Lily.”
“That is exactly why we don’t walk into his plan.”
“What choice do we have?”
“A better one.”
Martin looked toward Daniel.
“Pier Seventeen belongs to an old dry-dock complex.”
Daniel nodded.
“Three entrances. Water access.”
“Underground service tunnel,” Martin said.
Roman looked at him.
“You know it?”
“I used it for smuggling in the nineties.”
Sophia muttered, “Charming.”
Martin ignored her.
“The tunnel starts under the old Hart cannery.”
Roman understood.
Dominic expected Roman from the road.
Not beneath the pier.
Rachel wiped tears from her face.
“I’m coming.”
Roman started to object.
She stepped closer.
“If you try to lock me in a room, I will climb out a window.”
Sophia gave Roman a look.
“She means it.”
Rachel continued.
“He wants me. If I’m not there, he may hurt Lily.”
Roman hated the logic.
But she was right.
“Then you follow every instruction.”
Rachel nodded.
“Daniel.”
Daniel looked up.
“Make a copy of everything in the box.”
Martin added, “Send it to three attorneys.”
Roman looked at him.
“Five.”
Rachel said, “And the FBI.”
Everyone turned.
Martin’s face tightened.
Roman watched Rachel.
She had spent seventeen years afraid of powerful men.
That fear had cost her parents justice.
It had nearly cost her daughter.
Now she was done protecting anyone’s empire.
Roman nodded.
“FBI too.”
Martin exhaled.
“This ends our families.”
Rachel looked at him.
“Maybe they should end.”
No one argued.
At eleven thirty, they reached the abandoned cannery.
The tunnel entrance was hidden behind a rusted freezer door.
Daniel led.
Roman followed.
Rachel came next.
Martin remained outside coordinating crews loyal to him.
Roman was no longer certain what “loyal” meant.
The tunnel ran beneath the docks.
At 11:56, they heard voices.
Dominic’s.
And Lily’s.
Roman stopped.
Ahead, light seeped through a metal grate.
He looked through.
Pier Seventeen’s warehouse was enormous and mostly empty.
Dominic stood beside a speedboat tied to the interior dock.
Six armed men surrounded him.
Lily sat on a wooden crate holding a stuffed rabbit someone had given her.
She looked tiny.
Terrified.
But alive.
Rachel touched Roman’s arm.
Her whole body trembled.
Roman whispered, “We get her first.”
Daniel nodded.
They moved toward the exit.
Then Dominic spoke.
“I know you’re under the floor, Roman.”
Everyone stopped.
Dominic laughed.
“You think I forgot the tunnel?”
Roman closed his eyes.
Of course he hadn’t.
Dominic had taught him half the secret routes in Briarport.
A gun fired.
The bullet struck the grate inches from Roman’s face.
Lily screamed.
Dominic called out.
“Come upstairs.”
Roman looked at Rachel.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
“Rachel.”
“That’s my child.”
Another shot struck the floor.
Dominic shouted.
“Both of you.”
Roman knew the moment had come.
He climbed the ladder.
Rachel followed.
When Roman stepped into the warehouse, every gun pointed at him.
Dominic stood smiling.
He had gray hair now.
Roman suddenly remembered him much younger, carrying Roman on his shoulders after a baseball game.
The memory made everything worse.
“Hello, nephew.”
Roman held up the metal box.
“Let her go.”
Dominic looked toward Rachel.
“Rebecca.”
Rachel stared at Lily.
“Mommy!”
Rachel took one step.
A gunman blocked her.
Dominic touched Lily’s shoulder.
Rachel stopped instantly.
Roman’s voice lowered.
“Take your hand off her.”
Dominic smiled.
“The legendary Roman Calder, undone by a three-year-old.”
“You always underestimated children.”
Dominic’s smile faded slightly.
Roman continued.
“My mother taught me that.”
“Your mother made you soft.”
“You killed her too?”
The question silenced the warehouse.
Dominic stared at Roman.
For one second, Roman saw the answer.
Yes.
Roman’s jaw tightened.
“You did.”
“She was in the wrong car.”
Roman nearly moved.
A gun pressed against Rachel’s back.
Dominic raised one finger.
“Careful.”
Roman forced himself still.
“My father?”
Dominic shrugged.
“He stopped being useful.”
Roman felt thirty years of grief rearranging itself.
His family’s tragedies had never been random.
They had been managed.
Designed.
Profitable.
Rachel said, “And my parents?”
Dominic looked at her.
“Andrew had principles.”
“As though that were a disease.”
“In our world, sometimes it is.”
Rachel’s voice shook.
“My mother had nothing to do with it.”
“No.”
“You burned her alive anyway.”
Dominic’s face remained calm.
“I wasn’t there.”
Rachel laughed bitterly.
“You arranged it.”
“Yes.”
Lily began crying.
Dominic frowned at the sound.
Rachel instantly moved.
“Don’t.”
He looked down.
“Don’t what?”
“Don’t scare her.”
Something in Rachel’s tone shifted.
Not pleading.
Warning.
Dominic smiled.
“You think you can threaten me?”
Rachel looked at him.
“No.”
She looked toward the stuffed rabbit in Lily’s arms.
“I think you should ask yourself why my daughter suddenly has a toy she didn’t bring from Sophia’s house.”
Dominic looked down.
So did Roman.
The rabbit had a tiny blinking light beneath one ear.
Daniel.
Tracker.
And microphone.
Dominic’s expression changed.
Outside, engines roared.
Dozens of lights flooded the warehouse windows.
Martin’s voice came through loudspeakers.
“Dominic Calder!”
Dominic turned.
Rachel moved.
She slammed her shoulder into the gunman beside her.
May you like
Roman threw the metal box.
Chaos exploded.
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