Chapter 4 - THE SILVER WATCH
Screams echoed against the vaulted ceiling.
Guests scrambled backward, overturning expensive crystal centerpieces.
Vivienne threw herself in front of her parents, her wedding gown catching on a broken chair.
“Nobody moves!” Julian roared.
The two security guards by the doors drew their weapons, aiming them at the crowd.
They worked for Julian.
Sebastian didn't flinch.
He stared down the barrel of Julian’s gun.
“You’ve been stealing from my family for thirty years,” Sebastian said, his voice deadly quiet.
Julian scoffed.
“Antonio was weak. He wanted to run a legitimate business. But real empires are built in the dark, Sebastian.”
Julian gestured with the gun toward Frank.
“The old man saw me locking the doors to the factory floor before the fire started. He was supposed to burn with the rest of them.”
Frank trembled, tears spilling down his face.
“I tried to open them,” Frank cried. “I heard the men screaming!”
Ruth held him, sobbing.
Julian sneered.
“But your father, Antonio, ruined it,” Julian spat at Sebastian. “He found out I was running an illegal shipment through the mill using Walsh’s truck. Antonio showed up to stop me. But he was too late.”
I felt sick.
My father hadn't been a criminal.
He had been used.
“Antonio spent the rest of his life looking for proof that you started the fire,” Sebastian realized.
“And he never found it,” Julian smiled. “Because I controlled the money. I controlled the guards. I controlled you.”
Julian walked toward me.
I backed up against the wall.
“Your father was a loose end, Megan,” Julian whispered. “He drove the truck. He knew the cargo wasn't paper. I bankrupted him to make sure no one would ever believe a word he said.”
My hands shook.
“You ruined my family,” I choked out.
“I'm going to do much worse to you today,” Julian promised.
Vivienne suddenly stood up.
She stepped between Julian and her parents.
Her face was pale, but her chin was high.
“Let them go, Julian,” Vivienne said.
Julian laughed.
“You? The little diner girl who sold her soul for a zip code? You don't give orders here, Vivienne.”
Vivienne reached into her dress pocket.
She pulled out the small wooden box her father had given her.
“You’ve been blackmailing me for five years,” Vivienne revealed, her voice shaking.
Sebastian turned sharply.
“What?”
Vivienne looked at Sebastian, tears in her eyes.
“He found out about my parents, Sebastian. When we first met, Julian hired a private investigator. He knew I was lying to you about being an orphan.”
She looked back at Julian.
“He told me if I ever told you the truth, he would destroy my parents’ lives. Just like he did to Megan’s father.”
Ruth gasped.
“Oh, Vivienne.”
Vivienne sobbed.
“I didn't abandon you, Mom! I stayed away to protect you!”
The entire room fell completely silent.
Vivienne hadn't been acting out of pure shame.
She had been acting out of fear.
Julian smirked.
“A beautiful tragedy. But it ends tonight. The Romano empire is being transferred to a shell corporation as we speak.”
Julian raised the gun.
“And Sebastian Romano is going to die resisting a robbery.”
Julian pulled the hammer back.
But before he could pull the trigger, Sebastian reached into his pocket.
He pulled out a heavy silver pocket watch.
It was badly scorched.
Blackened by fire.
Julian froze.
The color completely drained from his face.
“Where did you get that?” Julian whispered.
Sebastian held it up by the chain.
“My father gave this to me the day before he died.”
Sebastian’s eyes were like ice.
“He told me it belonged to the man who truly started the fire. He found it in the ashes outside the factory doors.”
Sebastian popped the latch open.
Inside the lid, engraved in elegant script, were three words.
To Julian. Always.
Julian’s hand began to shake.
“Give it to me,” Julian demanded.
“Answer One, Open Two,” Sebastian said softly, quoting an old family proverb. “I just answered how you started the fire.”
Sebastian looked at the armed guards by the doors.
“But it opens two new questions, Julian.”
Julian grit his teeth.
“What questions?”
Sebastian smiled coldly.
“Why did the alarm system in this mansion just get disabled?”
Julian frowned.
“And,” Sebastian continued, “who is standing right behind you?”
Julian spun around.
The heavy mahogany doors crashed open, shattering the locks.
Julian’s two corrupt guards were thrown violently into the room.
And stepping over them, holding a massive shotgun, was a seventy-year-old man in a worn delivery uniform.
May you like
My father.
Thomas Walsh.
