Chapter 3 - Roman Came Face-to-Face With the Mother He Had Mourned for Eight Years—Then Emily Learned Her Own Mother Had Helped Luca Build a Trap That Could Destroy Five Criminal FamiliesRoman wanted Emily nowhere near Pier Seventeen.
Emily disagreed.
Loudly.
“My mother was involved.”
“So was mine.”
“Exactly.”
“Emily.”
“No.”
“You have no combat training.”
“I have four months of New York shelter experience.”
“That isn't remotely the same.”
“You'd be surprised.”
Roman rubbed his face.
“You are impossible.”
“You met me on my worst day.”
“I noticed.”
Ultimately, Emily went.
With a vest.
And Marco.
And enough hidden security to start a small war.
Sofia Moretti waited inside an abandoned warehouse.
She looked elegant.
Sixty-four.
Silver-streaked black hair.
Roman’s eyes.
She looked at her son.
“My beautiful boy.”
Roman did not move.
“You let us bury you.”
“I needed to disappear.”
“You let Luca believe you were dead.”
Pain crossed her face.
“Yes.”
“And then you killed him?”
“No.”
Roman’s voice cracked.
“Don't lie.”
“I didn't order Luca’s death.”
“Who did?”
Sofia looked at Emily.
“Your mother knew.”
Emily stepped forward.
“My mother is dead.”
“I know.”
“Then tell me.”
Sofia explained.
Luca discovered the Council was laundering redevelopment money.
He wanted to expose it.
Sofia tried stopping him—not by killing him, but by frightening him.
Marcus Sinclair went further.
“He sabotaged Luca’s car.”
Roman’s fists clenched.
“Vanessa warned him.”
“Yes.”
“Then why the letter said ask who betrayed Luca?”
“Because Vanessa wasn't the only betrayal.”
Sofia looked at Roman.
“Marco.”
Silence.
Emily turned.
Marco stood ten feet away.
Roman looked at his security chief.
“No.”
Marco’s face collapsed.
“Boss.”
“You?”
“I didn't know they would kill him.”
Same sentence Vanessa had used.
Roman drew his gun.
Marco didn't.
“I gave Marcus Luca’s route.”
Roman looked ready to shoot.
Emily stepped between them.
“Move.”
“No.”
“Emily.”
“You kill him now, you lose whatever else he knows.”
Marco looked at her gratefully.
“Don't.”
She turned.
“I'm not saving you.”
Roman lowered the weapon.
Barely.
Marco confessed.
Marcus paid him.
Not money.
His daughter had been sick.
Experimental treatment.
Vescari—no, here it was Sinclair-affiliated clinic—had leverage.
Luca promised to help.
Marcus threatened to withdraw treatment.
Marco gave Luca’s route.
His daughter survived.
Luca didn't.
Roman stared.
“You stood beside me at his funeral.”
Marco cried.
“Yes.”
“You watched me hunt strangers for three years.”
“Yes.”
Roman hit him.
Once.
Marco fell.
Roman didn't continue.
Emily saw the choice cost him everything.
Sofia did too.
“You're different from your father.”
Roman looked at her.
“Don't compliment me.”
Sofia possessed the Council ledger.
But she refused to release it.
“Thousands of people would die.”
Emily stared.
“Thousands are already suffering.”
“You don't understand.”
“I understand my mother died believing she had failed.”
“Lorraine was brave.”
“Don't use her name to justify yourself.”
Sofia’s expression hardened.
“You think courage fixes systems?”
“No.”
Emily stepped closer.
“But secrecy keeps them alive.”
Roman watched.
Sofia asked:
“What would you do?”
“Release evidence strategically.”
“To whom?”
“Federal prosecutors.”
“Corrupt.”
“Journalists.”
“Compromised.”
“Victims’ attorneys.”
“Vulnerable.”
Emily smiled.
“All of them.”
Sofia paused.
“Simultaneously.”
Emily nodded.
“Truth is easier to kill when only one person holds it.”
That had been Lorraine and Luca’s mistake.
They concentrated evidence.
Emily would distribute it.
Hundreds of copies.
Dozens of jurisdictions.
International servers.
No single assassination could stop it.
Roman looked at her.
“You've thought about this.”
“I've been homeless four months.”
“What does that have to do with it?”
“When you lose everything, you spend a lot of time thinking about systems that only work for people who already have something.”
Sofia smiled faintly.
“I like her.”
Roman sighed.
“So do I.”
Silence.
Emily turned.
“What?”
Roman realized what he said.
“Nothing.”
“No, you—”
Gunfire interrupted.
Marcus had found them.
Sofia was hit.
Roman dragged her down.
Emily grabbed the ledger.
Marco, still bleeding from Roman’s punch, shielded them.
Marcus entered.
“Give me the book.”
Emily ran.
Men chased her through shipping containers.
She crawled beneath one.
Lost a shoe.
Kept going.
A hand grabbed her.
Emily fought.
Samuel DeLuca.
The elderly man from the subway.
“Quiet.”
“You!”
“I'll explain.”
“You have approximately three seconds.”
He led her through a maintenance tunnel.
Roman followed minutes later carrying Sofia.
They escaped by boat.
Sofia survived.
Barely.
The ledger survived too.
That night Emily began copying everything.
Roman found her at four in the morning.
“You need sleep.”
“So do you.”
He sat.
“Thank you.”
“For?”
“Stopping me from killing Marco.”
“You may hate me for that tomorrow.”
“No.”
He looked exhausted.
“I've killed men.”
Emily knew.
“I won't pretend otherwise.”
“Good.”
“Does that scare you?”
“Yes.”
He nodded.
“I don't want you to stop being scared of things that should scare you.”
She looked at him.
That answer mattered.
Roman continued.
“My world destroyed your life.”
“Marcus did.”
“My family helped build the system.”
“Yes.”
“You should hate me.”
“I don't assign inherited guilt.”
His eyes lifted.
“But I do assign inherited responsibility when you keep benefiting from it.”
Roman almost smiled.
“That's fair.”
“What will you do?”
“I don't know yet.”
“Figure it out.”
He laughed softly.
Then became serious.
“Emily.”
“Yes?”
“I meant what I said.”
She knew.
“I like you too.”
He looked surprised.
“But.”
“There’s always a but.”
“You're engaged.”
“Not anymore.”
“You haven't officially ended it.”
“Vanessa and I are finished.”
“Tell Vanessa before you tell me.”
He nodded.
“And you're currently my security problem.”
“That is the least romantic description possible.”
“Good.”
“I also have no home, no job and approximately zero dollars.”
“I don't care.”
“I do.”
Roman understood.
Emily didn't want to move from dependence on shelters to dependence on him.
She wanted her life back first.
“I'll wait.”
She looked at him.
“For what?”
“For you to decide what you want when survival isn't making the decision.”
Emily’s eyes filled unexpectedly.
Her mother’s voice seemed to return.
Never let desperation choose your future.
“Thank you.”
Roman stood.
At the door he stopped.
“Emily?”
“Yes?”
“When this is over, I'm asking you to dinner.”
She smiled.
“You can ask.”
“Is that a yes?”
“No.”
He laughed.
Then left.
The Council struck first.
News broke the following morning.
EMILY CARTER WANTED IN $12 MILLION CHARITY FRAUD.
Old accusations returned.
Fabricated documents.
Photographs.
Her face everywhere.
Roman watched television.
Emily went pale.
“They're doing it again.”
“No.”
She looked at him.
“This time you're not alone.”
Within hours, Roman’s attorneys released evidence disproving the allegations.
But Emily stopped them.
“Not just me.”
“What?”
“Release every victim.”
The medical bills.
Housing fraud.
Foreclosures.
Shell companies.
Everything.
Roman hesitated.
His own companies were implicated.
“If we do that—”
“You lose money.”
“A lot.”
“How much?”
“Hundreds of millions.”
Emily waited.
Roman looked at Luca’s photograph.
Then pressed SEND.
The Moretti empire began collapsing before lunch.
Stocks in partner companies plunged.
Banks froze accounts.
Federal agents raided offices.
Politicians denied everything.
Marcus Sinclair disappeared.
Sofia agreed to cooperate.
Marco surrendered.
Vanessa provided testimony from her hospital bed.
Roman relinquished control of three companies under investigation.
Emily watched billions of dollars move because one man finally chose truth over inheritance.
That evening Roman stood on his balcony.
Emily joined him.
“Regret it?”
“Ask me when I'm poor.”
She smiled.
“You won't be poor.”
“Comforting.”
“Maybe only regular rich.”
“Horrifying.”
She laughed.
Roman looked at her.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You're staring.”
“I've never heard you laugh like that.”
Emily became quiet.
“Neither have I.”
They stood close.
Too close.
Roman leaned slightly.
Then stopped.
“Can I kiss you?”
Emily stared.
A Mafia boss asking.
Not taking.
Asking.
“Yes.”
The kiss was gentle.
Brief.
Then Emily stepped back.
“That's all.”
“I know.”
“Good.”
His phone rang.
Sofia.
Roman answered.
Listened.
Then his face hardened.
“Marcus contacted her.”
Emily’s smile disappeared.
“What does he want?”
Roman looked at her.
“You.”
“Why?”
“He says Lorraine Carter didn't only hide the Council records.”
Emily’s stomach tightened.
“What else?”
Roman repeated Marcus’s words.
“She hid the account key.”
“What account?”
“The Council reserve.”
“How much?”
Roman stared.
“Two point four billion dollars.”
Emily almost laughed.
“Of course.”
“What?”
“I finally get out of eighty-four thousand dollars in debt and apparently inherit access to two billion.”
Roman did not smile.
Because Marcus had added one more message.
Bring Emily Carter to me by midnight tomorrow.
Or the first person to die will be Samuel.
May you like
The second will be Vanessa.
And the third will be Roman’s father.
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