The Shadow Gate
Chapter 8 - Dawn Over the Lake
By sunrise, Roman sat alone in the back of his idling car parked half a mile down the road from Elena’s house, watching the gray winter light spread across Lake Michigan.
The city of Milwaukee was waking up, its factories smoking, its streets filling with people who thought he was an untouchable titan.
Yet as he looked down at his empty hands—hands that could command armies but couldn't hold his daughter—he knew his life had fundamentally fractured.
The voicemail echoed in his memory, a permanent monument to his own arrogance.
He reached into his pocket, pulled out a fresh burner phone, and dialed a single number.
“Viktor,” Roman said quietly when the line connected.
“Boss?”
“Call off the search teams. And draft divorce papers.”
Roman hung up before Viktor could answer, leaning his head back against the leather headrest as the first tear he had shed in twenty years slipped quietly down his cheek."
