Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN VINCENT COULDN’T LEAVE BEHIND
The fire started near the vestibule.
Matteo broke a stained-glass panel using the metal box.
Vincent tore away enough decorative ironwork to create an opening.
“Clara first.”
“No.”
Vincent stared.
“You're arguing now?”
“Anthony's evidence.”
“I have it.”
“The ledger.”
Vincent looked back.
It remained near the altar.
Flames were spreading.
“Leave it.”
“Your brother died for it.”
Before Vincent could stop her, Clara ran.
“CLARA!”
She wrapped her coat around her hand, grabbed the ledger and turned.
A burning beam fell between them.
Vincent swore.
Matteo tried to move through.
Too hot.
Clara disappeared behind smoke.
Vincent did not think.
He went through the flame.
Matteo shouted after him.
Vincent found Clara on the floor.
A piece of wood had struck her shoulder.
Conscious.
Barely.
He lifted her.
“Put me down.”
“No.”
“The evidence.”
“I have you.”
“The ledger—”
“I don't care about the ledger.”
She stared at him through smoke.
Vincent carried her back.
They escaped through the broken window seconds before part of the chapel roof collapsed.
Outside, Vincent lowered Clara onto the snow.
His sleeve was burned.
Skin reddened beneath it.
Clara stared.
“You went back.”
“Yes.”
“That was stupid.”
“I've been told.”
Sirens approached.
Romano security swept the grounds.
A camera showed someone leaving the chapel minutes earlier.
Face hidden.
But the person used an internal staff route.
An insider.
Again.
The recovered ledger contained encrypted payment records.
Clara’s accounting background finally became essential.
For three days, she worked from Vincent's library while recovering from bruised ribs and smoke exposure.
Vincent never asked her to clean again.
She noticed.
“Am I fired?”
“No.”
“Then why is Maria doing my rooms?”
“You have a degree in forensic accounting.”
“You knew that before.”
“I was trying not to interfere with your elaborate espionage career.”
She almost smiled.
“Very funny.”
By night three, Clara decoded Anthony's abbreviations.
Payments went to police officers.
Customs officials.
Shipping executives.
Judges.
One repeated recipient:
NERO CONSULTING.
Vincent knew the name.
“Owned by Dominic Romano.”
Clara looked up.
“Family?”
“My uncle.”
His father's younger brother.
Dominic had retired from active Romano business years ago.
He lived in Florida.
Or supposedly did.
Matteo checked travel records.
Dominic had been in Chicago for six weeks.
Quietly.
Vincent stared at the ledger.
“My father trusted him.”
Matteo replied:
“Your father trusted the wrong people.”
“So did I.”
Clara looked at him.
That sentence had become easier for Vincent to say.
The next record hurt worse.
Monthly payments to Ryan Calder continued after he left Romano employment.
Five years.
Through shell companies.
Clara's marriage had been funded.
Her rent.
Vacations Ryan insisted on.
Even the down payment on their suburban house.
The consortium financed the life Ryan built around her.
“Why?” Clara whispered.
Vincent answered carefully.
“Because you had Anthony's key.”
“They knew?”
“Maybe suspected.”
“Then Ryan married me to find it.”
Clara stared at nothing.
Vincent sat across from her.
“Clara.”
“Don't tell me it wasn't real.”
He stopped.
“Everyone wants to make betrayal easier by saying none of it was real.”
She looked at him.
“But it felt real to me.”
“Yes.”
“That's the humiliating part.”
“No.”
His answer surprised her.
“The humiliating part belongs to the person who used something real against you.”
Clara's eyes filled.
“You're strangely good at this.”
“What?”
“Comforting people.”
“Don't tell anyone.”
She laughed.
It was the first genuine laugh since the bruise appeared.
Vincent stared for half a second too long.
Clara noticed.
The air changed.
Then Matteo entered.
“Found Elena.”
Clara shot up.
“Where?”
“A private clinic outside Milwaukee.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
Clara began crying before he finished.
Vincent drove personally.
No convoy.
Just Vincent, Clara, Matteo and two vehicles behind them.
Elena was in a secured room.
Thinner.
Hair shorter.
A cut along her forehead.
But alive.
Clara entered.
For six years, she had imagined this impossible moment.
She stopped at the doorway.
Elena looked up.
“Sis.”
Clara crossed the room and hit her.
Elena stared.
Then Clara hugged her so hard both cried.
“I hate you.”
“I know.”
“I buried you.”
“I know.”
“You missed my wedding.”
“That one may have been good luck.”
Clara laughed through tears.
Vincent watched from the doorway.
Then Elena saw him.
Her face changed.
“Vincent.”
He entered.
“Why didn't you contact me?”
“Because Anthony told me not to.”
“My dead brother continues to irritate me.”
Elena smiled weakly.
“He thought you would declare war.”
“He was probably right.”
“Exactly.”
Vincent sat.
“Dominic.”
Elena's smile vanished.
“You know.”
“We found the ledger.”
“Then you're in danger.”
“We've noticed.”
Elena explained.
Dominic Romano had created the modern consortium with Salvatore.
When Anthony tried to dismantle it, Dominic ordered the hit.
Ryan coordinated Anthony's route.
Elena escaped because Anthony forced her into a second vehicle before he confronted Ryan.
Matteo helped her disappear.
“Why return now?” Vincent asked.
“Dominic is selling the network.”
“To who?”
“A private criminal group operating through international medical supply chains.”
Vincent's face hardened.
“If they acquire it, Romano routes become part of it.”
“Yes.”
“Not happening.”
Elena looked at Clara.
“And Ryan?”
Clara's body tightened.
“He found me because Dominic thinks Clara has Anthony's records.”
Vincent glanced at her.
“Does Ryan know the ledger is recovered?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Clara knew that tone.
“No.”
Vincent looked innocent.
She almost laughed.
“You're planning something.”
“Yes.”
“No using me as bait.”
“I wasn't.”
Matteo coughed suspiciously.
Vincent glared.
Clara crossed her arms.
“What?”
Vincent sighed.
“We let Ryan believe you still haven't found the lock.”
“That sounds exactly like bait.”
“You don't meet him alone.”
“No.”
“Clara.”
“No.”
He looked irritated.
She smiled slightly.
“You don't like hearing it.”
“I dislike it tremendously.”
“Practice.”
Then Elena interrupted.
“There's something you both need to know.”
She looked at Clara's bruised face.
“Ryan didn't hit you because of the key.”
Clara frowned.
“What?”
“He hit you because he knows something changed.”
“What changed?”
Elena looked toward Vincent.
“He thinks you're getting close to Vincent.”
Silence.
Clara's face warmed.
Vincent stared.
“That is absurd.”
Elena smiled.
“Is it?”
Both answered:
“Yes.”
Too quickly.
Matteo turned away to hide his expression.
Elena continued.
“Ryan has always been possessive. But Dominic encouraged it because emotional control kept Clara predictable.”
Clara felt sick.
“He watched me.”
“For years.”
“What happens now?”
Elena's expression became serious.
“Now he knows you're not afraid enough.”
The clinic door suddenly opened.
A nurse entered.
“Mr. Romano?”
Vincent turned.
“You have a call.”
“Who?”
“She said she is your aunt.”
Vincent frowned.
He had no living aunt.
Then the nurse added:
“She said her name is Evelyn Romano.”
Vincent stopped breathing.
His father's sister Evelyn had vanished thirty years earlier.
Family story said she died overseas.
Elena went pale.
“No.”
Vincent picked up the phone.
A woman's elderly voice spoke:
“Vincent?”
“Yes.”
“You need to leave the clinic.”
“Who are you?”
“Your aunt.”
“That isn't possible.”
“It is.”
“Prove it.”
She said three words from Vincent's childhood.
A private nickname nobody outside the family knew.
Vincent's face changed.
Then she whispered:
“Dominic isn't your uncle.”
Silence.
“He's your father.”
Vincent's hand went completely still.
May you like
And somewhere inside the family history he thought he understood, another wall collapsed.
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