Chương 2
“The diapers?”
“Yes.”
Roman almost smiled.
It disappeared quickly.
“Do it.”
Victor stared.
“Roman.”
“Do it.”
The man left without another word.
I adjusted Jude slightly.
“He might be having trouble feeding.”
“We tried everything.”
“I believe you.”
Roman looked at me.
That seemed to matter more than I expected.
“You believe me?”
“Yes.”
“Most people don’t.”
I looked at the man sitting across from me.
The billionaire.
The criminal rumor.
The person whose name made strangers nervous.
And suddenly I wondered how many times in his life people had looked at him and decided they already knew everything.
“I’m not most people,” I said.
“No.”
His voice became quieter.
“You’re not.”
For a few minutes, neither of us spoke.
Jude’s breathing became steadier.
Not better.
Just steadier.
Outside the window, towns passed by in pieces.
Parking lots.
Backyards.
Small houses with toys scattered across lawns.
Normal lives.
I wondered if Roman ever looked at those houses and imagined what it would be like to live without guards, threats, and people waiting for him to make one mistake.
Probably not.
Some people became trapped by the lives they built.
Others became trapped by the lives they inherited.
A few minutes later, Victor returned holding his phone.
“The diaper count was worse than we thought.”
Roman closed his eyes briefly.
“How much?”
“Enough that we need to stop.”
Roman immediately shook his head.
“No.”
“Roman.”
“No hospitals.”
“Your sons need doctors.”
“And Kincaid knows that.”
The name hung in the air.
I looked between them.
Nobody explained.
Nobody needed to.
There was another problem.
One bigger than three hungry babies.
One that had been sitting beside us the entire train ride.
Roman Vale was afraid someone would find him before he could save his children.
I looked down at Jude.
His tiny hand had wrapped around my finger.
A reflex.
Nothing more.
But Roman noticed.
His expression changed.
“You have children?”
The question came softly.
I almost lied.
I almost gave him the easy answer.
Instead, I said, “I had one.”
Something passed across his face.
Not pity.
Recognition.
“When?”
“Two years ago.”
He nodded once.
The kind of nod people gave when they understood something but did not know how to respond.
“I’m sorry.”
Two simple words.
Most people said them because they had to.
Roman said them like they cost him something.
I looked down at Jude.
“I thought I would forget how this feels.”
“How what feels?”
“Knowing exactly what a baby needs.”
The train continued forward.
Three men in expensive clothes stood outside the cabin.
Passengers avoided looking in.
A city waited at the end of the tracks.
And somehow, in the middle of all that noise, I found myself holding the son of a man everyone feared.
Then Roman’s phone began ringing.
He looked at the screen.
The color left his face.
Not much.
Just enough.
“Who is it?” Victor asked.
Roman did not answer.
He handed the phone to him.
Victor read the message.
His expression changed.
“What?”
I asked without meaning to.
Neither man responded.
That frightened me more than an answer would have.
Roman slowly took the phone back.
Then he looked at his three sons.
Then at me.
“The person who sent this knows we’re on this train.”
The cabin became silent.
“What did they say?” I asked.
Roman looked at the message again.
His jaw tightened.
“They said I should enjoy the last hour I have with my children.”
The baby in my arms shifted.
A second earlier, I had been thinking about feeding problems, dehydration, and hospital care.
Now I was thinking about something else.
A man with enemies.
Three newborn sons.
And a stranger who had just stepped into the middle of a war she did not understand.
Roman looked at me.
“You need to leave this cabin.”
I knew he meant it as protection.
I also knew something else.
Leaving would be the easiest thing I could do.
And I had spent the last two years running away from everything that hurt.
I looked down at Jude.
Then at the other two babies.
Then back at the man who thought he could carry every burden alone.
“No,” I said.
Roman stared at me.
“No?”
I shook my head.
“I’m not leaving.”
Victor looked almost angry.
“You have no idea what you just involved yourself in.”
“I know.”
“You don’t.”
“No,” I said quietly. “I don’t.”
I adjusted Jude in my arms.
“But I know what happens when adults are afraid and children pay the price.”
Nobody answered.
Because there was nothing to say.
And for the first time since I entered the cabin, Roman Vale looked at me like I was not a problem.
He looked at me like I was someone he might need.
The next few minutes passed in a strange kind of silence.
Roman did not tell me to leave again.
That was the first thing I noticed.
The second was that everyone in the cabin had started watching the babies instead of watching him.
Power changed the way people looked at a room.
For most of the train ride, everyone had been watching Roman Vale.
They watched because they feared him.
Now they watched because he was a father trying not to lose control.
Victor moved toward the door and lowered his voice.
“I need to make a call.”
Roman nodded.
“Not through the usual line.”
“I know.”
“And do not tell anyone where we are.”
Victor looked at him.
“You think I would?”
“No.”
The answer came too quickly.
Victor seemed almost offended by the lack of doubt.
“I’ve spent fifteen years keeping you alive.”
Roman looked away.
“And I’m trying not to make you spend another fifteen keeping me from burying my sons.”
Victor had no response to that.
He stepped outside.
The door closed.
For the first time since I entered the cabin, Roman and I were alone with the babies.
May you like
Not completely alone.
The train was still full of people.
