Chapter 2 - The Name on the Bracelet
The train entered Washington at 6:42 p.m.
It was supposed to be the end of Roman Vale's journey.
Instead, it became the beginning of a war.
The moment the train slowed, six men in dark suits appeared on the platform.
They weren't police.
They weren't railroad security.
Roman knew every face.
Victor knew them too.
"Two exits," Victor said quietly. "North platform and service corridor."
Roman nodded.
"Take the babies."
Victor reached for the stroller.
Roman stopped him.
"No."
Victor frowned.
"Boss?"
"Naomi stays with them."
Naomi looked up.
"I do?"
Roman met her eyes.
"You got them to stop crying."
"That doesn't mean—"
"It means something."
Victor interrupted.
"Roman, we need to move."
A sharp metallic sound came from somewhere outside.
Victor's hand went beneath his jacket.
Naomi immediately understood.
Gun.
Her stomach dropped.
Roman stepped in front of her.
"Stay behind me."
"I don't even know you."
"No."
His eyes remained fixed on the door.
"But someone out there knows exactly who you are."
The door opened.
One of Roman's men entered.
"Clear."
Roman moved immediately.
Victor pushed the stroller.
Naomi followed with Jude.
They moved through the service corridor beneath the station.
The babies remained strangely quiet.
Then Jude began crying.
Naomi looked down.
"Wait."
She stopped.
Roman turned.
"What?"
Naomi touched Jude's wrist.
There was something beneath his sleeve.
A thin silver bracelet.
She hadn't noticed it before.
She lifted it carefully.
There was an engraving on the inside.
Her blood went cold.
M.B.
Roman saw it.
His face changed.
"Where did you get that?"
"It was on him."
"That bracelet was never supposed to leave the Vale family."
Naomi looked at him.
"Why?"
Roman didn't answer.
Victor did.
"Because it belonged to Roman's mother."
Naomi stared at the bracelet.
"No."
Roman reached for it.
Naomi pulled back instinctively.
Roman stopped.
He didn't force her.
Instead, he whispered:
"My mother gave that bracelet to your mother."
Naomi's heart pounded.
"Why?"
Before Roman could answer, gunfire erupted somewhere above them.
Three shots.
Then screaming.
The babies began crying.
Roman pulled Naomi behind a concrete pillar.
Victor drew his weapon.
"Move!"
They ran.
At the end of the corridor was a black SUV.
Roman opened the rear door.
"Get in."
Naomi climbed inside.
Roman entered after her.
Victor drove.
They sped through Washington traffic.
Naomi held Jude tightly.
"Tell me the truth."
Roman stared out the window.
"About what?"
"Why did my mother know your family?"
Roman was silent.
Naomi's voice sharpened.
"Why does your son have her bracelet?"
Nothing.
"Roman."
He finally looked at her.
"My mother disappeared twenty-nine years ago."
Naomi froze.
"What?"
"Everyone believed she was dead."
"Was she?"
Roman's eyes hardened.
"No."
The vehicle fell silent.
"My mother wasn't dead," he continued. "She was hiding."
"From whom?"
Roman looked toward Victor.
Victor's jaw tightened.
"Kincaid."
Naomi stared at them.
"Who is Kincaid?"
Roman answered.
"The man who just tried to kill my children."
Her blood ran cold.
Then Roman said something even worse.
"Kincaid wasn't looking for me."
Naomi frowned.
"Then who?"
May you like
Roman looked at Jude.
"You."
