Chapter 10 - THE WOLF COMES HOME
The evidence against Roman was almost perfect.
That was the problem.
Bank transfers.
Phone records.
Surveillance photographs.
Witness statements.
Three murders.
Two disappearances.
One bombing.
All linked to Roman Vescari.
All committed during the eight months Roman had been eating discarded sandwiches behind restaurants.
"That's impossible," Mia said.
Tomas spread the documents across the conference table.
"Obviously."
"Then prove it."
"We need proof Roman wasn't human."
Silence.
Mia blinked.
"Oh."
Try explaining that to federal investigators.
Roman sat at the end of the table.
"Matteo planned this before Saint Agnes."
Vittorio nodded.
"Long before."
"Why murder people under Roman's name?" Mia asked.
"Because if Roman ever returned," Tomas said, "he'd either go to prison or run."
Roman looked toward Matteo's locked room.
"He knew me."
Mia turned.
"What does that mean?"
"Old me would've run."
"Why?"
Roman smiled bitterly.
"Because old me didn't trust the law."
"And new you?"
Roman looked at her.
"Has been yelled at by a waitress for four days."
"Character development."
Rosa laughed.
The answer came from an unexpected place.
Mr. Doyle.
Police found him trying to cross into Canada.
Tomas's people learned before Matteo's remaining loyalists did.
Within six hours Doyle sat in the safehouse basement.
Mia entered first.
His face changed.
"You."
"Me."
Doyle looked toward the door.
"Where's the dog?"
Mia smiled.
"Which one?"
He stopped.
Roman entered behind her.
Human.
Doyle went white.
Roman wore a charcoal suit.
His old clothes, Tomas said.
The effect was immediate.
Mr. Doyle stopped being a violent landlord.
He became a frightened employee.
"Boss."
Roman sat across from him.
"You shot at me."
Doyle swallowed.
"I didn't know."
"You knew exactly who I was."
"I thought—"
"You burned her apartment."
Doyle looked at Mia.
"Matteo ordered it."
Roman leaned forward.
"That sentence isn't helping you."
Doyle's hands trembled.
"Please."
Mia watched Roman carefully.
This was the man Matteo described.
The feared boss.
The man Roman himself admitted he had once been.
She wondered what he would do.
Roman placed a recorder on the table.
"Tell the truth."
Doyle blinked.
"What?"
"Everything."
"Then you'll let me go?"
"No."
Doyle's face tightened.
"But you'll stay alive."
Mia stared at Roman.
He met her eyes briefly.
Then looked back at Doyle.
"That's more than the old Roman would've offered."
Doyle talked.
For three hours.
He had worked for Matteo for five years.
After Roman disappeared, Doyle controlled several low-level properties used to track unusual reports.
Large black stray dog.
Silver medallion.
Abnormal behavior.
Matteo believed Roman might attempt to contact people in neighborhoods connected to the old organization.
Doyle's apartment building was one of several surveillance points.
Mia had accidentally carried Roman directly into one.
The murders were worse.
Matteo hired men wearing Roman's clothes.
Used Roman's old cars.
Copied signatures.
Moved money through accounts only Roman supposedly controlled.
Elias arranged the digital evidence.
"Where is Elias?" Roman asked.
Doyle hesitated.
"I don't know."
Roman's voice lowered.
"Doyle."
"South America."
"Where?"
"Buenos Aires maybe."
Roman stared.
"Maybe?"
Doyle swallowed.
"He disappeared after Matteo cursed you."
"Why?"
"He was scared."
"Of Matteo?"
"No."
Doyle looked at the medallion.
"Of Serafina."
Roman leaned back.
Mia noticed something.
"Doyle."
He looked at her.
"You said Matteo cursed Roman."
"Yes."
"You saw it?"
His face changed.
Roman noticed too.
"Were you at Saint Agnes?"
Silence.
Roman's expression became cold.
"Doyle."
"I drove."
"Who?"
"Elias."
Roman stopped.
Doyle looked terrified.
"Afterward he made me go back."
"Why?"
"He wanted something from the chapel."
"What?"
Doyle's mouth opened.
Then a gunshot shattered the basement window.
Doyle jerked backward.
Blood spread across his shirt.
Mia screamed.
Roman pulled her down.
Another bullet struck the wall.
"Sniper!" Tomas shouted upstairs.
Roman crawled toward Doyle.
"Who?"
Doyle coughed blood.
"Elias."
Roman grabbed his jacket.
"What did he take?"
Doyle's eyes fluttered.
"The book."
"What book?"
"Orsini."
Then he died.
Roman stared.
Mia touched his shoulder.
"We need Serafina."
They found her gone.
Her room was empty.
So was Matteo's.
The reinforced door wasn't broken.
Someone had opened it.
On the table lay a note.
Roman read it aloud.
Your brother was never the end of this.
Underneath:
Saint Agnes. Midnight. Bring the first medallion.
Mia checked the clock.
11:11 p.m.
Roman looked exhausted.
"No."
Everyone turned toward Mia.
"No more abandoned churches."
Tomas nodded.
"I support that."
Roman almost smiled.
Mia took the note.
"Elias wants us somewhere isolated."
"Yes."
"So we don't go."
Roman frowned.
"Matteo—"
"Matteo tried to kill you."
"He's my brother."
"And?"
Roman's face hardened.
Mia stepped closer.
"He made his choice."
Roman looked away.
"Did you?"
His eyes returned.
"What?"
"Did you choose who you are?"
Silence.
"You told me you can't change what you were."
Roman watched her.
"So stop acting like you still owe the old version of yourself."
He breathed slowly.
"What would you do?"
Mia smiled.
"I'd make Elias come somewhere cameras already exist."
Tomas understood.
"Vescari Tower."
Mia nodded.
"We tell the press Roman is surrendering."
Roman stared.
"You're serious."
"Very."
"Federal agents will arrest me."
"Probably."
"Comforting."
"But Elias has spent eight months building evidence because he wants Roman Vescari destroyed publicly."
Roman's expression shifted.
Mia continued.
"So give him the biggest public moment possible."
At 11:45 p.m., every major local station received the same message.
Roman Vescari was alive.
At midnight he would enter Vescari Tower and surrender voluntarily.
By 11:58, the street was packed.
Reporters.
Police.
Federal agents.
Cameras.
Roman stood inside the vehicle with Mia.
"You don't have to come."
She looked at him.
"We've covered this."
"Mia."
"Roman."
He sighed.
Then reached into his coat.
A small box.
Her eyes narrowed.
"If that's jewelry—"
"It's not."
He opened it.
Inside was the green piece of her mother's broken coffee mug.
Mounted inside a simple metal frame.
Mia stared.
"I found it after you left."
Her eyes burned.
Roman looked almost embarrassed.
"I thought you might want it."
Mia picked it up.
"You had this made?"
"Maybe."
"In two days?"
"I know people."
She laughed through tears.
"Of course you do."
Roman's expression softened.
"If I go to prison—"
"Don't."
"If I do."
Mia looked at him.
"Don't wait."
Her smile disappeared.
"That's not your decision."
"I could be convicted."
"Then I'll yell at you through prison glass."
"Mia."
"Stop trying to protect me by leaving first."
Roman went still.
She leaned closer.
"You don't get to decide what hurts me less."
His eyes held hers.
Something shifted.
Roman touched her face.
Slowly enough to give her time to move.
She didn't.
He kissed her.
Not dramatic.
Not desperate.
Gentle.
Careful.
Almost uncertain.
Mia gripped his coat.
For three seconds the noise outside disappeared.
Then someone knocked on the window.
Tomas.
"Terrible timing," Mia muttered.
Roman rested his forehead against hers.
"Extremely."
They stepped outside.
Cameras exploded with light.
Roman raised his hands.
Federal agents approached.
Then a shot rang out.
Everyone ducked.
A man appeared on the steps above them.
Elias Vane.
Gray suit.
Gun in one hand.
A leash in the other.
At the end of it—
Matteo.
Still trapped in wolf form.
Elias smiled.
"Roman."
Roman stared.
Elias lifted the gun.
"Let's finally finish what your family started."
Behind him, Serafina stepped into view.
May you like
Blood covered one side of her face.
And in her hands was an ancient black book.
