Chapter 6 - THE PHONE CALL FROM A DEAD BROTHER
The call came at 11:17 that night.
Unknown number.
I answered on the second ring.
No one spoke.
Then I heard breathing.
“Adrian?”
Claire looked up from across the study.
Silence.
Then a voice.
Older.
Weaker.
But unmistakable.
“You always did answer too fast.”
My knees nearly failed me.
“Adrian.”
Claire covered her mouth.
Zoe was asleep upstairs.
Thank God.
I put the call on speaker.
“Where are you?”
Adrian laughed softly.
“Still ordering people around.”
“Where are you?”
“I don’t know.”
“What can you see?”
“Walls.”
“Helpful.”
“You sound exactly the same.”
“You sound terrible.”
“Also true.”
Claire was crying silently.
Adrian heard it.
“Claire?”
She stepped toward the phone.
“I’m here.”
His breathing changed.
For several seconds, he could not speak.
Then:
“Is she okay?”
Claire closed her eyes.
“Zoe?”
“Yes.”
“She’s perfect.”
A broken laugh came through.
“I knew she’d be a girl.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“I hoped.”
Claire pressed both hands against her mouth.
Adrian whispered, “Does she know?”
“That you’re her father?”
“Yes.”
“She knows about you.”
“Does she hate me?”
Claire began crying harder.
“She’s six.”
“Children can be efficient.”
“She keeps your picture beside her bed.”
Silence.
Then Adrian made a sound I had never heard from him.
A sob.
He tried to hide it.
Failed.
I looked away.
“What does Gabriel want?” I asked.
Adrian pulled himself together.
“The drive.”
“We have it.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“Gabriel knows everything.”
“Then why call?”
“Because Vincent is not the only man inside your organization still working for him.”
My jaw tightened.
“Name.”
“I never learned.”
“Useful.”
“Still rude.”
Despite everything, I almost smiled.
Adrian continued.
“Listen carefully. Gabriel wants the original corporate trust records on that drive.”
“Why?”
“They prove his father owned half the company.”
“Then legally he has a claim.”
“He doesn’t want court.”
“What does he want?”
“To destroy the Romano name.”
“Why keep you alive?”
Silence.
“Adrian?”
“He wanted me to watch.”
My stomach turned.
“For seven years?”
“He moved me constantly.”
Claire gripped the table.
“You’ve been captive all this time?”
“Mostly.”
“Mostly?”
“I escaped twice.”
Of course he did.
“The second time I made it almost three months.”
“What happened?”
“I tried to contact Luca.”
I frowned.
“You never reached me.”
“I reached Vincent.”
The room went silent.
Adrian continued.
“He gave me back.”
Claire whispered, “Oh God.”
My rage returned.
Vincent had not simply hidden the truth.
He had delivered my brother back into captivity.
“Where is Gabriel now?”
“Nearby.”
“How do you know?”
“He visited today.”
“What did he say?”
“That tomorrow this ends.”
I looked at Marco.
He was already signaling technicians to trace the call.
Adrian’s voice became urgent.
“Luca, do not trade Zoe for me.”
“That’s not happening.”
“He will ask.”
“No.”
“Listen to me.”
“I am.”
“You spent your whole life thinking family means sacrificing yourself.”
“That sounds like something you would say.”
“It is.”
“You want me to leave you there?”
“I want my daughter safe.”
“So do I.”
“Then promise me.”
I looked at Claire.
She stared back.
“Zoe will not be traded.”
“Promise.”
“I promise.”
Adrian exhaled.
“Good.”
The call clicked.
Then another voice came through.
Gabriel.
“Touching.”
I stood.
“Where is my brother?”
“Alive.”
“For now.”
“You want the drive.”
“I want what belongs to my family.”
“Then take me to court.”
He laughed.
“Your father stole forty years from mine. Courts had their chance.”
“You kidnapped Adrian.”
“Your father started that.”
“You continued it.”
“He became useful.”
Claire flinched.
I lowered my voice.
“You’ll answer for that.”
“Perhaps.”
Gabriel sounded almost bored.
“Tomorrow. Noon. Old Romano shipyard.”
Marco looked at me.
The shipyard had been abandoned for fourteen years.
“Come with the drive.”
“Adrian walks out first.”
“No.”
“Then no deal.”
Gabriel laughed again.
“This is the part you never understood, Luca.”
“What?”
“You think power means controlling the negotiation.”
“It helps.”
“No.”
His voice hardened.
“Power means knowing what the other man cannot afford to lose.”
I looked at Claire.
Then toward the ceiling where Zoe slept.
Gabriel continued.
“I know what you can’t lose now.”
The call ended.
Marco shook his head.
“We don’t go.”
“Yes, we do.”
“Boss.”
“With police?”
“No.”
“Federal?”
“No.”
Claire stared at me.
“You’re going to trade the drive?”
“I’m going to bring Adrian home.”
“You promised Zoe wouldn’t be traded.”
“She won’t.”
“What about you?”
I said nothing.
Claire’s expression changed.
“No.”
“This is not your decision.”
“Exactly.”
The words hit me.
She stepped closer.
“You don’t get to preach about choice for six hours and then decide your life belongs to everyone else.”
“I’m not preaching.”
“You were listening.”
“That was different.”
“No.”
Her eyes filled.
“Zoe met you yesterday and already loves you.”
I looked away.
“She called you Uncle Luca three times before bed.”
“Claire.”
“If you walk into that shipyard planning not to come back, what exactly do you think happens to her?”
“I’m not planning to die.”
“Men like you never are.”
That silenced me.
Marco looked away, wisely.
Claire lowered her voice.
“I spent seven years believing the man I loved was dead.”
She touched the phone Adrian had just called.
“I will not explain another Romano funeral to that child because the men in this family keep confusing sacrifice with love.”
I stared at her.
Then nodded.
“Fine.”
“Fine what?”
“We do it differently.”
For the next twelve hours, we built a plan around one principle.
No child anywhere near the exchange.
No unnecessary violence.
Evidence first.
Adrian alive.
Gabriel taken if possible.
I contacted a federal prosecutor Adrian had once tried to reach.
She initially hung up.
Marco called back.
Eventually, she listened.
By morning, federal agents knew everything.
The drive.
The old trust documents.
Vincent’s confession.
Keller’s cooperation.
Gabriel’s location request.
No one trusted me.
Reasonable.
I trusted very few of them.
Also reasonable.
At 11:40, I left for the shipyard.
Claire stopped me at the door.
She held something out.
The red crayon.
“I thought Zoe gave that to you.”
“She put another one in your coat.”
I looked at it.
“Apparently you used the first one.”
“For what?”
“She says luck needs replacing.”
I put it in my pocket.
Claire touched my arm.
“Bring him home.”
“I will.”
“And yourself.”
I looked at her.
There was something between us now.
Not romance.
Not yet.
Something built in fear and shared love for two people neither of us had expected to be fighting for together.
“I’ll try.”
She frowned.
“Wrong answer.”
I almost smiled.
“I’ll come home.”
Then I left.
At noon, I walked into the abandoned Romano shipyard carrying a metal case.
Gabriel stood beneath the rusted loading crane.
Three men surrounded him.
And ten feet behind them sat Adrian.
Thin.
Bruised.
Alive.
My brother looked at me.
For seven years, I had imagined what I would say if I ever got one impossible second with him again.
I had thought about apologies.
Anger.
Questions.
Instead, Adrian looked at my coat pocket where the red crayon was visible.
He raised an eyebrow.
“What the hell is that?”
I laughed.
Actually laughed.
Gabriel looked confused.
Adrian smiled.
And in that second, I knew one thing with absolute certainty.
May you like
I was taking my brother home.
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