Chapter 4 - Blood Is Not Loyalty
Roman’s face changed so completely that Claire almost stopped recognizing him.
The grief vanished first.
Then shock.
Then whatever remained of the brother who had listened to Julian laugh at family dinners, stood beside him at their father’s funeral, and trusted him with companies worth billions.
What remained was Roman Archer.
The man Charleston feared crossing.
He leaned close to Claire.
“When I move, take Eli through the rear hatch.”
“What rear hatch?”
Roman pointed beneath the captain’s desk.
A square seam in the floor.
“Old exhibit maintenance tunnel.”
Claire stared.
“Your family really loved secret passages.”
“Tonight you can thank them.”
Footsteps moved closer.
Malcolm.
Julian.
At least three others.
Roman whispered, “The tunnel exits near the river wall.”
“And you?”
“I’ll follow.”
Claire knew that tone.
“No.”
His eyes met hers.
“This isn’t a debate.”
“Good, because I wasn’t debating.”
She grabbed his sleeve.
“If you stay here shooting at five armed men, Eli loses his father even if I get him out.”
Roman’s jaw tightened.
“Claire—”
“He already thinks people disappear.”
That stopped him.
Eli was listening.
Roman looked at his son.
Then at the hidden hatch.
He changed the plan.
“Fine.”
He opened the trapdoor.
Cold damp air rose from below.
Eli climbed first.
Claire followed.
Roman lowered himself last and pulled the panel closed just as the cabin door opened.
They crawled through darkness.
Above them came Julian’s voice.
“Empty.”
Malcolm cursed.
Roman moved faster.
The tunnel dropped beneath the museum.
Water dripped from old pipes.
Claire whispered, “Where does this go?”
“Boat access.”
“Still usable?”
“We’re about to find out.”
Behind them something crashed.
“They found it,” Roman said.
They ran.
The tunnel ended at an iron grate overlooking the river.
Locked.
Roman tried the mechanism.
Rust.
“Move.”
Claire kicked it.
Nothing.
Roman kicked beside her.
The hinge cracked.
Footsteps echoed through the tunnel.
Eli started crying.
Roman hit the gate again.
It burst outward.
They emerged onto a narrow river walkway.
A small maintenance boat was tied below.
Roman looked at Claire.
“Can you drive that?”
“Probably badly.”
“Good enough.”
They climbed aboard.
Claire found the ignition.
No key.
Roman opened a storage box.
Empty.
Footsteps reached the grate.
Malcolm appeared.
Roman fired once.
The shot struck metal beside him.
Malcolm ducked.
Claire grabbed a metal emergency bar and jammed it beneath the ignition panel.
“What are you doing?”
“Having a criminal moment.”
“You know how to hot-wire a boat?”
“No.”
“That’s reassuring.”
She ripped two wires free.
Sparks.
The engine coughed.
Then roared.
Roman stared.
Claire shrugged.
“My father owned terrible boats.”
She threw the throttle forward.
The boat jerked away from the walkway as bullets struck water behind them.
Eli screamed.
Roman covered him with his body.
Claire steered beneath the bridge.
Only when the museum disappeared did Roman sit up.
His shirt sleeve was dark.
“You’re bleeding.”
“Glass.”
“Let me see.”
“Later.”
“No, now.”
Roman looked at her.
Claire pointed toward his arm.
“I pulled your son from a harbor. I am officially past being intimidated by you.”
Eli nodded.
“She is.”
Roman almost smiled.
Claire wrapped his forearm using part of the blanket.
They hid the boat beneath an old dock several miles upriver.
Roman destroyed Amelia’s old phone.
“They tracked us through it?” Claire asked.
“No. Julian knew where the evidence was.”
“How?”
“He must have known what Amelia meant by where I proposed.”
“Then why wait four years?”
Roman looked at the flash drives.
“Because he didn’t have the key.”
Claire thought about Eli.
“The note under his pillow.”
“Yes.”
“They used Eli because they believed Amelia had hidden the key somewhere connected to him.”
Roman’s expression darkened.
“And they were right.”
“Why was it behind a picture in your bedroom?”
Roman’s eyes shifted.
“The photograph was Amelia holding Eli the day he was born.”
Claire understood.
Amelia had hidden the key behind the image most likely to survive.
They reached a twenty-four-hour marina office and borrowed a phone.
Roman made one call.
Not police.
A woman answered.
“Roman?”
“Lena.”
Claire recognized the name of his private doctor.
“I need somewhere secure.”
Dr. Lena Park didn’t ask questions.
Forty minutes later they were inside her small clinic outside Mount Pleasant.
Eli slept in an examination room.
Roman and Claire sat at a desk.
Lena cleaned Roman’s arm.
“What happened?”
“My brother happened.”
She stopped.
“Julian?”
Roman nodded.
Lena looked stunned.
Then furious.
“That son of a—”
“Not around Eli.”
“He’s asleep.”
“Still.”
Claire liked her immediately.
Lena finished the bandage.
Roman inserted one of Amelia’s flash drives into an offline laptop.
Folders appeared.
Shipping manifests.
Bank transfers.
Photographs.
Scanned signatures.
Claire leaned closer.
“This is huge.”
Roman stared at the names.
“I know three senators on this list.”
“Friends?”
“Not anymore.”
Another folder was labeled ARROWHEAD.
Roman opened it.
Inside were photographs of shipping containers.
One showed Malcolm meeting a customs supervisor.
Another showed Julian leaving Terminal 14.
Then came an image of Amelia.
Taken from a distance.
She was walking toward her car.
A timestamp appeared at the bottom.
The night she died.
The next photograph showed a black SUV following her.
Roman stopped breathing.
Claire whispered, “Was that vehicle investigated?”
“No.”
Another file appeared.
A repair invoice.
For the SUV.
The company owner field read:
ARCHER EXECUTIVE SERVICES.
Roman stared.
“Julian controlled that fleet.”
The next document was worse.
A wire transfer.
Three hundred thousand dollars.
Sent two days after Amelia’s death.
Recipient:
DAPHNE ROWE.
Claire sat back.
“So Daphne was paid.”
Roman rubbed his face.
“Or she was being silenced.”
“Then why come back?”
“To find these drives.”
“Or destroy them.”
Roman opened another folder.
A password prompt appeared.
Claire frowned.
“Any idea?”
Roman tried Amelia’s birthday.
Wrong.
Eli’s birthday.
Wrong.
Their wedding date.
Wrong.
Claire noticed a clue at the bottom.
THE FIRST THING YOU PROMISED ME.
Roman went still.
Claire looked at him.
“What did you promise her?”
He stared at the screen.
“That I would never lie.”
He typed:
NOTHINGHIDDEN
Access granted.
Claire looked at him.
“Good promise.”
“Apparently I failed.”
“No. Someone else lied to both of you.”
The folder contained one video.
Amelia appeared on screen.
She sat in the blue room.
Her eyes were red.
“If Roman finds this, I’m sorry.”
Roman leaned closer.
“Daphne came to me tonight. She told me Julian is involved.”
Roman’s face tightened.
“But she also told me Julian isn’t the one in charge.”
Claire looked at him.
Amelia continued.
“She heard Malcolm talking to someone he called ‘sir.’ Someone whose authority he fears more than Roman’s.”
Roman whispered, “Who?”
Amelia looked off camera.
“I think this started before Roman inherited the company.”
Roman’s father.
Charles Archer.
But Charles had been dead two years.
The video continued.
“Daphne says there is a second ledger. One that proves everything. Malcolm keeps it somewhere no police search would ever touch.”
The recording glitched.
Then Amelia said something almost inaudible.
Claire replayed it.
Again.
Finally Roman heard.
“St. Matthew’s.”
Lena frowned.
“The church?”
Roman nodded.
“My family funded the restoration.”
Claire asked, “Would there be somewhere private?”
Roman’s face changed.
“The crypt.”
Lena stared.
“You have a family crypt?”
“Old Charleston money.”
Claire rubbed her forehead.
“Of course you do.”
Roman stood.
“We go at daylight.”
“No,” Lena said.
Everyone looked at her.
“You are exhausted. Eli nearly drowned. Claire has hypothermia risk. You have a cut that needed twelve stitches.”
Roman opened his mouth.
Lena pointed a finger at him.
“I have treated senators, CEOs, and one prince who thought money exempted him from antibiotics. Sit down.”
Claire laughed.
Roman looked offended.
“Five hours,” Lena said. “Then you can continue dismantling your criminal dynasty.”
Roman stared at her.
“My dynasty isn’t criminal.”
“Parts appear enthusiastic.”
Claire laughed harder.
Even Roman smiled.
For two hours, peace almost existed.
Eli slept.
Claire drank coffee.
Roman sat beside his son.
Then Lena entered carrying an envelope.
“This was pushed under the front door.”
Roman stood.
“By who?”
“No idea.”
He opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
Taken through Lena’s clinic window.
Roman sitting beside Eli.
Claire standing behind them.
Fresh.
Less than ten minutes old.
On the back someone had written:
YOU CAN’T HIDE HIM FOREVER.
Roman turned toward the window.
A black sedan started across the street.
Claire ran for the door.
Roman caught her.
“No.”
“That could be Daphne.”
“It could also be a trap.”
The sedan disappeared.
Roman looked down at the photograph again.
Then he noticed something.
A reflection in the clinic glass.
The person taking the photograph had been visible.
A woman.
Dark hood.
Silver star ring.
Daphne.
Eli woke behind them.
“Dad?”
Roman crossed the room.
“I’m here.”
Eli looked at the photograph.
His eyes widened.
“That’s her.”
Claire crouched beside him.
“Daphne?”
Eli shook his head.
Roman froze.
“What?”
“That isn’t the woman from the river.”
Claire stared.
“Eli, you said the ring—”
“She had the same ring.”
Roman looked at the photograph.
Two women.
Same ring.
Same necklace connection.
Same conspiracy.
And suddenly the case became even darker.
Because Daphne Rowe might not have been the woman who kidnapped Eli at all.
May you like
Someone else had copied her.
Someone else wanted Roman hunting the wrong person.
