Chapter 16 - Blood Does Not Make Brothers
Adrian refused protection.
Roman assigned him twelve guards anyway.
“You are unbelievably controlling,” Adrian said.
Roman looked at him across the safehouse kitchen.
“I have been told.”
Clara hid a smile.
The brothers had known each other less than twenty-four hours and were already fighting like family.
Outside, Marcus coordinated the rescue operation.
Inside, Adrian opened Sofia’s sealed letter.
Catherine had sent it to him electronically through a dead-man protocol moments before her abduction.
Adrian read silently.
Then sat down.
Roman remained across the room.
“What did she say?”
Adrian did not answer.
Roman waited.
Finally Adrian slid the tablet over.
My Adrian,
If you are reading this, then the life I wanted for you has collided with the life I feared.
You have a brother.
His name is Roman.
He was a serious child who pretended he did not need comfort. He watched every door because his father taught him danger before he taught him joy.
Do not hate him for what our family became.
If anything survives me, let it be this: neither of my sons belongs to the sins of his father.
Clara watched Roman’s eyes move across the words.
His jaw trembled once.
Only once.
The letter continued.
Elias Vane helped me save you.
Antonio accused him of betrayal, but Elias never betrayed our family.
He betrayed Antonio’s crimes.
For that, he paid terribly.
I do not know whether Elias survived.
But if his family ever comes to you with hatred, understand that their hatred began with truth.
Adrian looked at Roman.
“Your father ruined them.”
Roman nodded.
“Yes.”
“No excuse?”
“No.”
Adrian seemed almost frustrated.
“I expected you to defend him.”
“I buried my illusions yesterday.”
Marcus entered.
“We located Catherine.”
Roman stood.
“How?”
“The video metadata was scrubbed, but Kessler made a mistake. There was a train horn in the background. Specific three-tone pattern. Freight line south of the river.”
He opened a map.
“Only two Kessler properties within audible range.”
Adrian pointed.
“That one.”
Roman looked at him.
“Why?”
“It’s an abandoned rehabilitation hospital. Kessler donated equipment from my trauma center there during a disaster drill.”
Marcus nodded.
“Good.”
Roman reached for his coat.
Adrian did the same.
“No.”
Adrian looked at him.
“Not this again.”
“You are the target.”
“And Catherine is there because of me.”
Roman stepped closer.
“I have spent my entire life walking into rooms where men wanted me dead. You have spent yours keeping people alive.”
“Exactly.”
Adrian’s voice sharpened.
“If Catherine is injured, you need me.”
Roman hated that.
Clara could tell.
But he could not argue.
They drove south under freezing rain.
The abandoned hospital stood beside the freight tracks like a corpse.
Roman’s teams entered from three sides.
No guards.
No alarms.
Too easy.
Clara stayed in the armored command vehicle, watching body-camera feeds.
“Second floor clear.”
“Third floor clear.”
Then Marcus spoke.
“Movement in surgical wing.”
Roman and Adrian moved together through the corridor.
They found Catherine strapped to a gurney.
Alive.
Adrian ran to her.
“Cat!”
Her eyes opened.
“Adrian…”
Roman scanned the room.
“No Kessler.”
Catherine grabbed Adrian’s wrist.
“Run.”
A red light began blinking beneath the gurney.
Bomb.
Roman reacted instantly.
“MOVE!”
Adrian lifted Catherine.
Roman shoved them toward the exit.
Marcus yelled into his radio.
“EVERYBODY OUT!”
They reached the stairwell as the operating room exploded.
The blast threw Roman through a doorway.
Clara screamed his name over the radio.
Smoke swallowed the feed.
Then Roman’s voice came through.
“I’m fine.”
Clara nearly collapsed with relief.
Outside, Catherine clung to Adrian.
“He didn’t want to kill me,” she whispered.
Roman approached, blood running from a cut above his eyebrow.
“Then why the bomb?”
“To kill both of you.”
She looked between the brothers.
“He kept asking me one question.”
“What question?” Adrian asked.
Catherine trembled.
“He wanted to know where Elias hid the ledger.”
Roman’s face changed.
“What ledger?”
“The proof.”
Catherine’s eyes filled with old fear.
“Proof that Antonio Duca wasn’t the only man who started the war.”
She turned toward Roman.
“Daniel Kessler’s grandfather did too.”
And suddenly revenge was no longer the whole story.
May you like
Daniel Kessler was not merely trying to expose the past.
He was trying to erase part of it.
