Chapter 3 - The Word That Changed the Room
Vincent recovered first.
“She’s a baby.”
Roman didn’t blink.
“She called you Papa.”
“Children make sounds.”
“Not that sound.”
I held Lily tighter.
“Lily, sweetheart, do you know him?”
Vincent stepped toward us.
Roman immediately moved between him and my daughter.
“Don’t.”
Vincent stopped.
That was when I understood something important.
Roman Callahan frightened everyone.
Even Vincent.
Lily buried her face against me.
“Papa gone.”
My heart lurched.
“What did you say?”
She pointed toward Vincent.
“Papa.”
Then shook her head.
“Gone.”
Vincent’s composure cracked.
“Enough.”
Roman pressed another intercom button.
“Bring security footage from every employee entrance for the last eighteen months.”
Vincent laughed once.
“You’re building a conspiracy from baby talk?”
“No.”
Roman picked up Caleb’s photograph.
“I’m building it from your signature.”
Vincent’s eyes hardened.
He claimed the recovery facility had been one of Callahan Holdings’ medical investments. Caleb had suffered an accident eighteen months earlier and died shortly afterward.
“Then why was this photograph taken six weeks ago?” I demanded.
“Because dates can be wrong.”
“His watch isn’t.”
Everyone looked at me.
I pointed.
“I gave Caleb that watch for his birthday.”
Roman studied the photograph again.
Vincent’s expression changed almost imperceptibly.
That was enough.
Roman ordered his guards to escort Vincent to another office.
“You’re detaining me?”
“I’m asking you to remain.”
“And if I refuse?”
Roman smiled without warmth.
“Then we stop pretending I asked.”
After Vincent left, I finally demanded the question burning through me.
“What exactly does your family do?”
Roman looked toward the rainy Chicago skyline.
“Things you are better off never knowing.”
“I stopped having that luxury when your dead brother became my daughter’s father.”
His eyes returned to me.
Fair.
He opened the remaining contents of the folder.
Medical invoices.
Property records.
Payments.
Most meant nothing to me.
Then I saw my own name.
Emily Parker.
My address.
Lily’s pediatric clinic.
My employer.
Someone had been monitoring us.
For over a year.
My hands began shaking.
“Why?”
Roman read the payment authorization.
The signature wasn’t Vincent’s.
It belonged to someone named Sebastian Callahan.
“Who’s Sebastian?”
Roman didn’t answer immediately.
“My father.”
I frowned.
“You said your uncle raised you.”
“He did.”
“Where’s your father?”
“Dead.”
I stared at him.
Roman noticed.
“Yes,” he said coldly. “Apparently death has become negotiable tonight.”
One guard entered carrying security files.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“We found something.”
He placed a tablet down.
Footage from four months earlier showed Lily and me entering Callahan Tower.
Across the street, a man watched us from a parked car.
Roman enlarged the image.
My mouth went dry.
Caleb.
Alive.
Watching his daughter.
But he wasn’t alone.
Someone sat beside him.
May you like
Roman zoomed further.
Vincent Callahan.
