Chapter 4 - SIX DAYS WITHOUT SUNLIGHT
The first thing Nora noticed was the smell.
Oil. Rust. Damp concrete.
The second thing was the pain in her wrists.
When she woke, her hands were tied behind a metal chair. Her head throbbed, and the room around her swayed in and out of focus beneath a single bare bulb.
She tried to scream.
A man sitting near the door looked up from his phone.
“Save your strength,” he said.
“Where am I?”
“You’ll find out.”
“Who are you?”
The man smiled without warmth. “Someone who gets paid not to answer questions.”
Nora tested the ropes. They cut deeper into her skin.
“Please,” she said. “I have a brother. He needs me.”
“Everybody needs somebody.”
The man walked out.
That was day one.
By day two, Nora knew she was somewhere near the water. She heard foghorns in the distance and the heavy groan of cargo machinery. Baltimore Harbor, she guessed. But the city was large, and the abandoned warehouses along the waterfront were countless.
By day three, she stopped asking for food.
By day four, she stopped hoping the door would open for rescue.
By day five, she began speaking to Caleb in her mind.
She imagined him at school, trying to understand why she had not come home. She imagined Mrs. Adler making him soup. She imagined him checking the window every few minutes.
She imagined him thinking she had left.
That thought hurt more than the ropes.
Across Baltimore, Roman Calder tore his city apart.
He found the driver of the black sedan within twenty-four hours.
The man had been paid through three intermediaries and had no idea who gave the final order. Roman’s men found the warehouse vehicle abandoned near Dundalk, then followed a chain of cameras, burner phones, and dockworker rumors.
Every lead ended with someone frightened enough to lie.
Roman had always been feared in Baltimore.
Now he became something worse.
Men who had worked for him for years stopped meeting his eyes. Rival crews closed their businesses early. A politician who owed Roman favors suddenly remembered every conversation he had ever had with Evelyn Sterling’s father.
Victor Sterling denied involvement.
Evelyn vanished.
And Nora remained missing.
On the sixth day, Roman went to Nora’s apartment.
Caleb sat by the window with his tin box in his lap.
Mrs. Adler opened the door cautiously, but when she saw Roman standing in the hallway, she stiffened.
“You,” Caleb said.
Roman looked at the boy.
“You know who I am?”
“You’re Mr. Calder.”
Roman stepped inside slowly. “Yes.”
Caleb hugged the box closer. “Where’s Nora?”
Roman had faced men with guns pointed at his chest. He had walked into rooms knowing someone planned to kill him.
Nothing had prepared him for that question.
“I’m looking for her.”
“You said she worked too much because of you.”
Roman looked at the child’s angry, frightened face.
“Yes,” he said. “She did.”
“Then bring her back.”
Roman’s throat tightened.
“I will.”
Caleb shook his head. “You don’t know that.”
“No,” Roman admitted. “But I will find her.”
Caleb looked at him for a long time, deciding whether to believe him.
Then he placed the dented tin box on the table and opened it.
Inside were coins, crumpled dollar bills, a small plastic ring, and dozens of folded notes in Nora’s handwriting.
“I was saving for her,” Caleb said. “To buy her something nice.”
Roman saw the note on top.
I love you more than all the stars.
Something inside him broke open.
He turned to Vincent. “Double the search teams.”
“We already have—”
“Triple them.”
Roman looked back at Caleb.
“I’m bringing her home.”
This time, it was not a promise made by a frightened child.
It was a vow made by a man who had spent his life making sure his promises were feared.
That night, a dockworker named Luis Morales called one of Roman’s men.
He had seen Evelyn Sterling near Pier 17 two days earlier. She had been escorted into an abandoned warehouse by men who worked for Victor Sterling’s private security company.
Roman did not wait for a full team.
He went himself.
Vincent tried to stop him. “Boss, this could be a trap.”
“It is a trap.”
“Then let us handle it.”
Roman loaded a handgun, checked the magazine, and looked toward the dark harbor.
“They took her because of me,” he said. “I handle it.”
At the warehouse, Evelyn stood over Nora with a pistol tucked neatly against her hip.
Nora barely had the strength to lift her head.
Evelyn looked immaculate in a cream-colored coat, her hair perfect, her diamond earrings shining under the warehouse light.
“You know what I admire about you?” Evelyn asked.
Nora said nothing.
“You still think goodness matters. You think if you work hard enough and love your brother enough, life will reward you.”
Nora’s lips cracked when she spoke. “You don’t know anything about love.”
Evelyn’s smile vanished.
“I know enough to understand that Roman Calder will never love you.”
Nora closed her eyes.
“You’re wrong,” she whispered. “He doesn’t love me.”
“Then why are you here?” Evelyn demanded.
Nora’s silence enraged her.
Evelyn crouched beside her.
“Any last wish before leaving?”
Nora thought of Caleb.
Not Roman.
Not herself.
Only Caleb.
“Tell Caleb,” she said, her voice shaking, “tell him I didn’t leave him.”
Then Evelyn smiled.
“Oh, sweetheart. By tomorrow, everyone will believe you did.”
Outside the warehouse door, Roman heard every word.
He had come alone until Vincent’s men secured the perimeter. He had intended to wait for the signal.
Then he heard Nora’s voice.
Weak. Broken. Still thinking about her brother.
Roman placed one hand against the cold steel door.
His face changed.
The man who entered that warehouse was no longer a boss looking for leverage.
He was a man coming for someone he loved.
The door exploded inward.
Gunfire shattered the air.
Evelyn screamed and grabbed Nora by the hair, dragging her chair backward as Roman’s men flooded the building.
Roman’s eyes found Nora instantly.
For one second, everything else disappeared.
Then Evelyn pressed the gun against Nora’s temple.
“Take one more step,” she said, “and she dies.”
Roman stopped.
His voice was quiet.
“Let her go.”
Evelyn laughed through tears. “You love her.”
Roman did not deny it.
“Yes.”
Nora’s eyes opened.
She looked at him as if she could not understand what she had heard.
Evelyn’s face twisted with grief and rage.
“You were supposed to love me.”
“I was never supposed to belong to anyone,” Roman said.
Then the lights went out.
May you like
And in the darkness, a gunshot rang through the warehouse.
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