Chapter 35 - Clara’s Rule
Roman wanted war.
Clara wanted information.
For six hours, they argued.
By sunrise, Clara won.
Not because Roman agreed.
Because Marcus locked the weapons vault.
Roman stared at him.
“You changed the code?”
“Yes.”
“Open it.”
“No.”
“I pay you.”
“Technically Duca Maritime pays me now.”
Roman looked toward Clara.
“You planned this.”
“Yes.”
Adrian drank coffee.
“I’m enjoying this.”
Roman pointed at him.
“You are not helping.”
“Correct.”
Clara spread photographs across the table.
Vincent Moretti.
Elena Moretti.
Their father Carlo.
Old businesses.
Dead companies.
Properties.
Charities.
“We’re missing motive,” Clara said.
“They kidnapped my son.”
“That is an action, not a motive.”
Roman paced.
“They want the Crown Reserve.”
“Why?”
“To expose my family.”
“Too simple.”
Marcus nodded.
Clara continued.
“If Vincent wanted the records, he could negotiate privately. Instead, they approached Sofia publicly and kidnapped Antonio dramatically.”
Roman stopped.
“They want me destabilized.”
“Exactly.”
Adrian looked up.
“They want the old Roman.”
Clara nodded.
“The violent Roman. The one who makes mistakes when family is threatened.”
Roman’s jaw hardened.
“I did not make mistakes.”
Everyone looked at him.
Roman sighed.
“Fine.”
Marcus received a message.
“Federal contact.”
Roman rolled his eyes.
“Please don’t say Rhodes.”
Marcus smiled.
“Rhodes.”
Emily Rhodes arrived thirty minutes later.
She was older now.
More senior.
Still unimpressed by Roman.
“I heard someone kidnapped your child.”
Roman glared.
“Your information network remains irritating.”
“It is called law enforcement.”
Clara showed her the files.
Rhodes immediately recognized Elena.
“Elena Moretti-Gaines.”
Marcus frowned.
“Gaines?”
“She married Senator Thomas Gaines eighteen years ago.”
Roman’s expression sharpened.
United States Senator Thomas Gaines was preparing a presidential campaign.
Clara understood immediately.
“The Crown Reserve includes political records.”
Rhodes nodded.
“If Antonio’s files document the Moretti-Kessler network, they may also document families who funded political influence for decades.”
“And Gaines?”
“His late father was a federal contracting official during the port reconstruction era.”
Marcus whistled.
“So Elena doesn’t want the truth released.”
Clara shook her head.
“Then why kidnap Antonio to make Roman find it?”
Rhodes looked at her.
“Because she needs to know where every copy is.”
Silence.
Roman stopped pacing.
“She wants us to assemble the entire archive.”
Clara nodded.
“And once we do…”
“She destroys it.”
Rhodes added, “And probably everyone who knows what it contains.”
Roman’s eyes went black.
Clara grabbed his hand.
“No.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You didn’t have to.”
Marcus placed a new satellite image on the screen.
“We found Pier Nine.”
The location was not the city docks.
It was a private industrial port seventy miles north.
Owned through a corporation linked to Gaines Holdings.
Roman stared.
“We go tonight.”
Rhodes shook her head.
“My people go.”
“No.”
“This is an active kidnapping.”
“My son.”
“And my jurisdiction.”
Roman leaned toward her.
“Emily.”
Rhodes did not move.
“Roman.”
Clara stepped between them.
“We cooperate.”
Roman stared at his wife.
“They will see federal teams.”
“Then we don’t use federal teams.”
Rhodes frowned.
Clara looked toward Marcus.
“Remember the foundation gala system?”
Marcus slowly smiled.
Roman did not.
“What system?”
“The volunteer medical vans.”
Adrian understood.
“Sofia House operates mobile clinics across three counties.”
Clara nodded.
“Unmarked vehicles. Medical equipment. Normal traffic patterns.”
Marcus said, “We can move teams without looking tactical.”
Roman looked at Clara.
“You have become disturbingly good at this.”
She smiled without humor.
“You trained me by making my life ridiculous.”
By evening, the plan was set.
Roman would arrive visibly.
Clara would accompany him because Vincent expected her.
Marcus would infiltrate through the eastern warehouse.
Rhodes’s agents would remain beyond the property line until Marcus gave the signal.
Adrian would coordinate medical extraction.
Before leaving, Roman went upstairs.
Sofia sat on Antonio’s bed holding his stuffed dinosaur.
Roman sat beside her.
“You’re going to get him?”
“Yes.”
“Can I come?”
“No.”
“I knew you’d say that.”
Roman almost smiled.
Sofia handed him the dinosaur.
“Give him this.”
Roman took it.
His daughter looked directly at him.
“And Dad?”
“Yes?”
“Don’t kill everybody.”
Roman blinked.
“Your mother told you to say that?”
“No.”
She looked down.
“Antonio doesn’t like scary stories.”
Roman kissed her forehead.
When he returned downstairs, Clara waited in a dark coat.
She saw the dinosaur in his hand.
Her eyes softened.
Roman placed it inside his jacket.
Then he looked at her.
“What is your rule?”
Clara took his hand.
“Tonight?”
“Yes.”
She squeezed his fingers.
“We bring our son home.”
“And Moretti?”
“We expose them.”
Roman’s mouth tightened.
“And if they make me choose?”
Clara stepped closer.
“You choose Antonio.”
“Even if the evidence disappears?”
“Yes.”
Roman looked surprised.
Clara touched his chest.
“We spent years learning that truth matters.”
May you like
She kissed him once.
“But our son matters more.”
