Chapter 17 - The Man Who Started It All
Arthur looked older than the video.
Thinner.
But the eyes were the same.
Roman remembered fearing those eyes as a child.
Claire stepped in front of Sophie.
Arthur raised the gun.
“Move.”
Claire did not.
Roman stared at his father.
“You’re alive.”
Arthur looked at him.
“So are you.”
“You let me bury you.”
“It was necessary.”
Roman almost laughed.
“That seems to be everyone’s favorite sentence.”
Arthur glanced at the open vault.
“You found the ledger.”
“Sophie found it.”
Arthur’s expression softened when he looked at her.
“Birdie.”
Sophie moved behind Roman.
Arthur noticed.
The softness disappeared.
Roman said.
“Put the gun down.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because Evelyn is not who she says she is.”
Roman turned slightly.
Evelyn did not move.
Arthur continued.
“She works for the Justice Department.”
Evelyn sighed.
Roman stared.
“True?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because we believed Vale Holdings was compromised.”
Roman shook his head.
“Another lie.”
Arthur stepped closer.
“Give me the ledger.”
Evelyn raised her weapon.
“No.”
Arthur aimed at her.
Roman moved between them.
“Stop.”
Arthur’s jaw tightened.
“Get out of the way.”
“You’re not shooting anyone.”
“You don’t know what she represents.”
“I know exactly what this family represents.”
Roman looked at the ledger.
“Thirty years of corruption.”
Arthur’s eyes hardened.
“You think I’m proud of it?”
“I don’t care.”
“I built Vale Holdings from nothing.”
“And you built the Circle with it.”
Arthur looked at Helena’s absence.
“She told you.”
“Enough.”
“Not enough.”
Arthur lowered the gun slightly.
“The Circle was supposed to protect the company.”
“Bribes became leverage.”
“Leverage became blackmail.”
“Blackmail became violence.”
“Victor enjoyed the violence.”
Roman responded.
“And you enjoyed the power.”
Arthur did not deny it.
Claire spoke.
“You killed Dr. Hill.”
Arthur looked at her.
“He was going to sell Sophie’s location.”
“You shot him.”
“Yes.”
Sophie flinched.
Roman’s voice sharpened.
“Not in front of her.”
Arthur finally seemed ashamed.
He lowered the gun.
Claire whispered.
“Marianne?”
Arthur looked away.
Roman understood.
“You killed her too.”
“She killed three people.”
“That wasn’t your decision to make.”
“She was going to take Sophie.”
“You don’t get to call murder protection.”
Arthur looked at Roman.
“You think you can keep your hands clean while protecting people you love?”
“Yes.”
Arthur smiled sadly.
“Then you still know nothing.”
Roman stepped closer.
“I know Sophie will never grow up believing love means lying, kidnapping, and killing for her.”
That struck Arthur.
Sophie looked up at her father.
Arthur stared at Roman for a long time.
Then he placed the gun on the floor.
“Take the ledger.”
Evelyn moved toward it.
Arthur said.
“But if you turn it over, Helena goes to prison.”
Roman glanced toward Claire.
“Claire may too.”
Arthur continued.
“Vale Holdings collapses.”
“Thousands lose jobs.”
“Governments open investigations.”
“People you have known your entire life go down.”
Roman looked at the book.
“Good.”
Arthur smiled faintly.
“You finally became stronger than me.”
Roman shook his head.
“No.”
“I just became a father.”
A gunshot exploded.
Arthur jerked.
Blood spread across his chest.
Sophie screamed.
Roman pulled her down.
Victor stood in the chapel doorway.
Gun smoking.
Claire fired.
Victor ducked behind the stone wall.
Another shot shattered a window.
Daniel’s team returned fire from outside.
Roman crawled to Arthur.
His father was alive.
Barely.
Arthur grabbed Roman’s coat.
“Ledger.”
“I have it.”
“Don’t let Victor—”
“I won’t.”
Arthur coughed blood.
“Page forty-one.”
“Helena destroyed it.”
Arthur stared at him.
“No.”
Roman frowned.
“What?”
“She lied.”
“Where is it?”
Arthur struggled.
“Inside…”
His eyes moved toward Sophie.
Roman’s blood ran cold.
“Inside what?”
Arthur whispered.
“The yellow blanket.”
Roman stopped.
The ugly yellow blanket he had bought for infant Sophie.
The one memory Victor could not have known unless someone told him.
Arthur closed his eyes.
Roman pressed his hand against the wound.
“Stay with me.”
Arthur whispered.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
His eyes opened one last time.
“For making you think Sophie disappeared because of you.”
Roman froze.
“What?”
Arthur’s grip weakened.
“It was me.”
Then his hand fell.
Sophie began crying.
Roman stayed beside his father until the medic reached him.
Arthur was rushed away alive but critical.
Outside, Victor had vanished again.
But this time Roman barely cared.
He finally understood the deepest lie.
Roman had not caused Sophie’s disappearance.
Arthur had ordered it.
Arthur had manipulated everyone.
Even his own son.
Roman hugged Sophie tightly.
She whispered.
“What’s the yellow blanket?”
Roman closed his eyes.
Something he had not seen for eight years.
Something buried with Sophie.
Or supposedly buried.
Then he remembered.
The cemetery file.
The grave had been opened three years ago.
By Helena.
Roman looked toward Claire.
“She wasn’t checking whether the grave was empty.”
Claire understood.
May you like
“She was retrieving the blanket.”
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