Chapter 4 - The Empty Chair
I should have gone home.
Instead, Roman asked me to stay until morning.
Not ordered.
Asked.
That surprised me enough to agree.
At breakfast, Leo sat beside me eating pancakes.
Roman sat across from us reading messages on his phone.
“Dad.”
Roman looked up.
“Evelyn says pancakes taste better with strawberries.”
Roman glanced at me.
“Does she?”
“They do.”
Roman pressed a button beside the table.
Thirty seconds later, strawberries appeared.
I stared at him.
“You have a strawberry button?”
Leo laughed.
Roman actually smiled.
It transformed his face.
Then I noticed something behind him.
A child's drawing pinned beside the kitchen doorway.
Three people.
Leo.
Roman.
And a woman.
The woman's face had been crossed out.
Leo noticed me looking.
“My mom died.”
Roman's smile vanished.
“Leo.”
“It's okay.”
The boy pushed his pancake around.
“She died when I was five.”
“I'm sorry.”
Leo shrugged.
“Dad doesn't talk about her.”
Roman stood.
“Enough.”
He left.
I found him ten minutes later on the terrace.
“You're angry with me.”
“No.”
“You look angry.”
“I usually look angry.”
“That sounds exhausting.”
He looked toward the gardens.
“My wife was killed three years ago.”
I said nothing.
“She was supposed to be with me that night. Plans changed.”
His jaw tightened.
“Someone knew those plans.”
“Someone close to you.”
Roman looked at me.
Exactly.
Then his phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed.
“When?”
A pause.
“Keep Leo inside.”
He hung up.
“What happened?”
Roman looked toward the gates.
“The truck you saw was found abandoned.”
“And?”
“Registered to one of Victor's companies.”
My stomach dropped.
Before either of us could speak, glass shattered somewhere inside the mansion.
Roman moved instantly.
He grabbed my wrist and pulled me behind the stone wall of the terrace.
Men shouted inside.
Leo.
I didn't think.
I ran.
“Evelyn!”
Roman followed.
We reached the kitchen.
Empty.
“Leo!”
No answer.
Then I noticed the pantry door.
Slightly open.
I pulled it back.
Leo was crouched behind sacks of flour.
I dropped beside him.
“Hey.”
He grabbed me.
Roman stopped in the doorway.
For a moment, he simply watched his son clinging to me.
Something complicated crossed his face.
Relief.
Gratitude.
And fear.
May you like
Because someone had just proven that even Roman DeLuca's fortress wasn't untouchable.
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