Chapter 2 - The Song
Roman stayed.
Not for twenty minutes.
Not for an hour.
All night.
Noah initially refused to talk to him.
Instead, he tested him.
“Do you know dinosaurs?”
“No.”
“Space?”
“A little.”
“Video games?”
“No.”
Noah frowned.
“What do you know?”
Roman loosened his cuffs.
“People.”
“That sounds boring.”
“It usually is.”
I watched from the doorway.
Noah eventually pushed the toy piano toward him.
“Play something.”
“I don't play.”
“Everybody plays something.”
Roman stared at the red plastic keys.
Then he pressed three notes.
The exact same three Noah had been playing.
Noah's eyes widened.
“You know my song.”
Roman's face went completely still.
“Where did you learn it?”
“My mom.”
Roman leaned forward.
“What was her name?”
“Anna.”
The room changed.
I felt it.
Roman did too.
“Anna what?”
“Reed.”
Roman stood so quickly his chair nearly fell.
I stepped forward.
“Mr. DeLuca?”
He walked into the hallway.
His bodyguard immediately approached.
“Boss?”
Roman lifted one hand.
The man stopped.
I followed Roman toward the windows.
“What happened?”
“Nothing.”
“That wasn't nothing.”
He stared through the glass at Philadelphia glowing below us.
Then he asked quietly:
“How old was Noah's mother?”
“Thirty-four when she died.”
Roman closed his eyes.
For perhaps three seconds, the terrifying Roman DeLuca looked completely defenseless.
“Cause?”
“Car accident.”
“When?”
“Two years ago.”
His jaw tightened.
“Was her maiden name Bell?”
My stomach dropped.
I hadn't told him that.
“Yes.”
Roman turned away.
I grabbed his arm before thinking better of it.
His bodyguard moved.
Roman stopped him with a glance.
I released Roman.
“How did you know?”
He didn't answer.
Instead, he returned to Noah.
May you like
And stayed beside him until sunrise.
---
