Chapter 6 - Blackwood
Blackwood had been abandoned for fifteen years.
Snow surrounded the old hotel.
Federal vehicles stopped beyond the trees.
Roman watched from the rear SUV.
Once he would have entered with armed men and settled everything privately.
Sophia changed that.
Mara did too.
Agent Helen Brooks explained the plan.
“Wait for confirmation.”
Roman nodded.
She looked surprised.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You expected me to argue.”
“Yes.”
“Reasonable.”
Mara sat beside him.
“You’re learning.”
“Everybody is becoming unbearably pleased about this.”
Then Luca appeared from the tree line.
Alive.
Bleeding from one shoulder.
Roman opened the door.
“You look terrible.”
“Nice to see you too.”
“Where’s Elena?”
Luca looked at him.
“Alive.”
Roman stopped breathing.
“Where?”
“Third floor.”
“Anthony?”
“Inside.”
“Guards?”
“Six.”
Federal agents moved.
Roman grabbed Luca’s arm.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because Anthony monitored communications.”
“That answer is insufficient.”
“Then be angry later.”
Fair.
The operation took seventeen minutes.
Roman remembered every second.
Gunfire inside.
Shouting.
Glass.
Then Agent Brooks said:
“Third floor secure.”
Roman ran.
Not elegantly.
Not like a crime boss.
Like a husband.
Room 317.
Of course.
He opened the door.
Elena stood beside the window.
Thin.
Hair shorter.
Scar near her temple.
Alive.
Roman stopped.
She turned.
Their eyes met.
Her mouth opened.
“Roman.”
He crossed the room.
Elena reached him halfway.
He held her.
No speech.
No questions.
Just eighteen months of grief breaking at once.
She cried into his chest.
“You buried me.”
“I know.”
“I tried to call.”
“I know.”
“Sophia?”
“Safe.”
Elena collapsed against him.
“Thank God.”
Mara entered.
Elena saw her sister.
The second reunion broke everyone.
“Mara.”
“You idiot.”
Elena laughed through tears.
“You came.”
“Of course I came.”
They embraced.
Roman looked away because some moments did not belong to him.
Anthony was captured alive.
Barely.
He attempted escape through an upper window.
Luca stopped him.
Roman saw Anthony afterward.
Handcuffed.
Bleeding.
The doctor smiled.
“You won.”
Roman stared.
“No.”
Anthony frowned.
“My daughter is alive. My wife is alive. You’re going to prison.”
A pause.
“That isn’t winning.”
“What is?”
Roman looked toward Elena and Mara.
“Getting out of this without becoming you.”
Anthony laughed.
“You think you're different?”
“I’m trying.”
Anthony’s smile disappeared.
Roman walked away.
That hurt him more than violence would have.
Back at the mansion, Sophia waited in the foyer.
Elena entered.
Sophia froze.
Children understand impossible things faster than adults.
“Mommy?”
Elena fell to her knees.
Sophia ran.
Their embrace brought every staff member to tears.
Roman stood behind them.
Mara beside him.
For a moment everything seemed complete.
Then Elena looked up at Roman.
Their eyes met.
Love remained.
So did eighteen months.
So did lies.
So did unanswered questions.
Being alive did not mean their marriage returned automatically.
Roman knew.
Elena knew.
Mara saw.
May you like
The happy ending was not here yet.
First they had to survive the truth.
