Chapter 2 - Roman Gave the Homeless Woman a Locked Room in His Penthouse for Protection—But Emily Found Her Mother’s Hidden Code and Discovered Luca Had Been Investigating Someone Inside the Moretti FamilyEmily hated Roman’s penthouse.
Not because it was ugly.
It was beautiful.
That was the problem.
Floor-to-ceiling windows.
Central Park in the distance.
Furniture that probably required insurance.
A bathroom larger than Emily’s former apartment.
Roman opened a guest bedroom.
“You'll stay here.”
“No.”
He turned.
“No?”
“I'll take a shelter bed.”
“Marcus Sinclair tried to have you killed.”
“I noticed.”
“He knows every shelter you've used.”
Emily stopped.
Roman immediately regretted saying it that way.
“You investigated me.”
“I needed to know where you'd be vulnerable.”
“You mean where I sleep.”
“Yes.”
“Where I eat?”
“Yes.”
“My mother’s grave?”
He hesitated.
Emily’s expression hardened.
“You don't get to turn protecting me into owning my life.”
Roman nodded.
“You're right.”
That surprised her.
“I'll have Marco delete anything unrelated to security.”
“You'll show me.”
“Yes.”
“And nobody enters this room without knocking.”
“Yes.”
“No guards inside.”
“Outside.”
“Fine.”
“No tracking my phone.”
Roman sighed.
“Emily.”
“No.”
“Fine.”
She entered.
Then turned.
“And I need clothes.”
“I'll have someone—”
“I choose them.”
“Of course.”
“And I'm paying you back.”
“For clothes?”
“Yes.”
“You have four dollars.”
“Zero now.”
Roman almost smiled.
“Put it on a tab.”
“I hate you.”
“You barely know me.”
“Strong first impression.”
The door closed.
Roman stood outside smiling for the first time in weeks.
Marco noticed.
“Don't.”
“I didn't say anything.”
“Good.”
The flash drive required a password.
Emily spent the night studying Lorraine’s letter.
Her mother loved puzzles.
Crosswords.
Number games.
Dates.
Then Emily remembered the sewing box.
The numbers weren't account references.
They were page numbers from Lorraine’s favorite novel.
First letter from each referenced line.
LUCA.
Second sequence.
CARLO.
Roman went still.
“My uncle.”
Carlo Moretti.
His father’s younger brother.
Family consigliere.
The man who had helped raise Roman and Luca.
Emily looked at him.
“Could be coincidence.”
“No.”
“Do you trust him?”
Roman didn't answer.
That was answer enough.
The final sequence produced a password.
ORPHEUS.
The drive opened.
Hundreds of files.
Contracts.
Emails.
Property transfers.
Photographs.
Audio.
Luca had built a case.
Marcus Sinclair bought distressed properties through Hudson.
City inspectors declared neighboring buildings unsafe.
Families were forced out.
Sinclair companies purchased land cheaply.
Moretti construction companies later received redevelopment contracts.
Roman stared.
“My businesses.”
“Did you know?”
“No.”
Emily believed him.
Not because he was charming.
He wasn't.
Because his anger looked directed at himself.
“How did Luca discover it?”
They opened a recording.
Luca’s voice filled the room.
“Roman, if you're hearing this, I probably waited too long.”
Roman closed his eyes.
Three years since hearing his brother.
Emily quietly sat beside him.
Luca continued.
“Dad built dirty businesses. We always knew that. But this is different. They're targeting civilians who never agreed to be part of our world.”
Roman’s jaw tightened.
“Marcus has help inside our family.”
A pause.
“I thought it was Carlo.”
Roman opened his eyes.
“But I was wrong.”
Emily leaned forward.
Luca continued.
“The person signing the transfers is using Carlo’s credentials, but he isn't the one authorizing them.”
Then static.
File corrupted.
Emily cursed.
Roman stared at the screen.
“Someone framed Carlo.”
“Or Luca changed his mind.”
They searched further.
A photograph appeared.
Luca meeting Lorraine.
Another.
Luca with the elderly man who had given Emily the letter.
Roman pointed.
“Samuel.”
“Who?”
“Samuel DeLuca. My father’s former driver.”
“He disappeared after Luca died.”
“Apparently not.”
Emily looked at Roman.
“Why did he choose me?”
“Because he knew your mother.”
“Then why wait?”
Good question.
They found the answer in another recording.
Samuel’s voice.
“If Lorraine dies before this is finished, Emily becomes the failsafe.”
Emily stopped.
“No.”
Roman looked at her.
“You were part of the plan.”
“I didn't agree to be.”
“I know.”
Anger flooded her.
“My mother knew I could become a target.”
Roman said nothing.
“She kept this from me.”
“She was trying to protect you.”
“And look where protection got me.”
Homeless.
Disgraced.
Hunted.
Roman understood too well.
“Sometimes people confuse secrecy with protection.”
Emily looked at him.
“You?”
“My father did.”
“And?”
“I became very good at secrets.”
“Maybe stop.”
He smiled sadly.
“Working on it.”
The next afternoon, Emily demanded to see Vanessa.
Roman refused.
Emily went anyway.
Vanessa survived surgery.
Police officially believed the shooting resulted from an attempted robbery at a storage facility.
Roman’s influence still existed.
Emily disliked that.
But she needed answers.
Vanessa looked pale.
“You saved me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“We covered this.”
Vanessa smiled weakly.
“You don't like me.”
“No.”
“Fair.”
Emily sat.
“Who is above Marcus?”
“I don't know.”
“What did your father call them?”
“The Council.”
Roman, standing near the door, stiffened.
“What?”
Vanessa looked at him.
“You know it?”
Roman did.
The Council was an old alliance between five criminal families.
Supposedly dissolved twelve years earlier.
Moretti.
Sinclair.
Bellini.
Costa.
Rourke.
Roman’s father had claimed it ended after a war.
Apparently it continued quietly.
“Who represents Moretti?” Emily asked.
Roman stared at the floor.
“If Luca was right, someone using Carlo’s identity.”
Vanessa whispered:
“Your father?”
Roman looked at her.
“My father left the organization.”
“Did he?”
They visited Antonio Moretti that evening.
Seventy-two.
Retired.
Living in Westchester.
He hugged Roman.
Then looked at Emily.
“So you're the woman.”
“What woman?”
“The one my son brought home.”
Emily nearly choked.
Roman sighed.
“Dad.”
“What?”
“She's a witness.”
Antonio smiled.
“Of course.”
Emily liked him immediately.
That worried her.
Then Roman played Luca’s recording.
Antonio’s smile disappeared.
When it ended, he sat.
“The Council never dissolved.”
Roman stared.
“You lied.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To keep you out.”
“Luca wasn't out.”
“No.”
Antonio’s eyes filled.
“He found them.”
“Who represents us?”
Antonio looked toward the window.
“Carlo.”
Emily noticed something.
He answered too quickly.
Roman did too.
“Luca said Carlo was framed.”
Antonio went silent.
Roman stood.
“Dad.”
Nothing.
“Who?”
Antonio whispered:
“Your mother.”
Roman stopped.
Emily stared.
Roman’s mother, Sofia Moretti, had supposedly died of cancer eight years earlier.
Another dead parent.
Another secret.
Roman laughed once.
“She's dead.”
Antonio looked at him.
“No.”
Roman backed away.
“No.”
“I told you she died.”
“Why?”
“Because she became something I didn't recognize.”
Roman’s face changed completely.
Antonio explained.
Sofia Moretti had built the Council’s financial network.
When Antonio wanted out, she refused.
She disappeared instead.
Luca discovered she was alive.
That was why he died.
Roman’s own mother had ordered the cover-up.
Maybe the murder.
Emily watched Roman absorb it.
His brother.
His fiancée.
His uncle.
Now his mother.
Everything he knew was collapsing.
“Where is she?”
Antonio shook his head.
“I don't know.”
Emily’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
A woman spoke.
“Emily Carter.”
Emily froze.
“Yes?”
“I knew your mother.”
Roman looked at her.
The voice continued.
“And if Roman wants to know why Luca died, bring him to Pier Seventeen tomorrow at midnight.”
A pause.
“Come without Antonio.”
Roman took the phone.
“Who is this?”
The woman laughed softly.
“My son.”
Roman went white.
“Mom?”
The call ended.
Emily stared at him.
Roman stared back.
May you like
And somewhere beneath twenty years of power, anger and discipline, Emily saw something heartbreakingly simple.
A son who had just heard his dead mother’s voice.
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