Chapter 2 - The Price of Doing the Right Thing
Naen spent the next morning sitting at her kitchen table with twelve dollars and thirty-seven cents spread in front of her.
Leo sat across from her wearing dinosaur pajamas.
His cheeks were flushed.
“Mommy?”
Naen looked up.
“Yeah, baby?”
“Are you sad?”
“No.”
It came too quickly.
Leo tilted his head.
Five-year-olds could detect lies better than adults.
Naen smiled.
“Just tired.”
She finally bought his medicine using part of her final paycheck.
Rent would become tomorrow's problem.
Food would become next week's.
She had learned not to be frightened by every disaster simultaneously.
One disaster at a time.
Her phone rang.
Unknown number.
Naen answered.
“Hello?”
“Naen Walker?”
A man's voice.
“Yes?”
“My name is Vincent.”
She immediately remembered the man with the broken nose.
Her body stiffened.
“Roman's associate?”
A pause.
“Yes.”
“Is he alive?”
Another pause.
Then:
“He is.”
Naen closed her eyes.
Relief surprised her.
“Good.”
“Mr. Roman would like to see you.”
“No.”
Vincent seemed unprepared for that answer.
“Excuse me?”
“I helped him because he was dying. I don't need anything.”
“He didn't say you did.”
“Then tell him we're even.”
“We aren't.”
Naen looked at Leo.
“I have a child. Whatever business Roman is involved in, I want no part of it.”
Vincent's voice softened.
“Understood.”
The call ended.
Naen thought that would be the last time she heard Roman's name.
She was wrong.
That afternoon, she applied at eleven restaurants.
Four weren't hiring.
Three took her résumé.
Two recognized Laura's name and immediately called Kesler for a reference.
Neither called her back.
At the tenth restaurant, the manager disappeared into his office for five minutes.
When he returned, his friendliness had vanished.
“We've filled the position.”
“You had three vacancies posted ten minutes ago.”
“Sorry.”
Naen understood.
Kesler was poisoning her name.
By Friday, she had thirty-eight dollars left.
Then her landlord taped a late-rent warning to her door.
Naen stood in the hallway staring at it.
Leo tugged her sleeve.
“Are we moving?”
Her heart broke.
“No.”
“Promise?”
Naen crouched.
“Promise.”
That evening, elsewhere in the city, Roman Moretti was learning exactly what Naen's kindness had cost her.
He sat in a dark office while a physician changed the bandage around his leg and another around his abdomen.
Vincent placed a folder on the desk.
“Naen Walker. Twenty-six. Single mother. Son named Leo. Five years old.”
Roman looked up.
“I asked why she was late to work.”
“This explains why she couldn't afford to be.”
Roman opened the folder.
The facts were ordinary.
Which somehow made them worse.
Rent.
Daycare.
Hospital bills.
Restaurant wages.
No criminal history.
No wealthy relatives.
No safety net.
Then Roman saw the termination report.
Laura.
Signed by David Kesler.
Time of dismissal: 5:31 p.m.
Reason: chronic unreliability and failure to maintain professional standards.
Roman read it twice.
“She saved my life at approximately four-thirty?”
“Yes.”
“And he fired her an hour later?”
“Yes.”
Roman leaned back.
Pain tightened his jaw.
Vincent watched him carefully.
“There's something else.”
Roman waited.
“Kesler has been telling other restaurants not to hire her.”
Silence.
The doctor stopped wrapping Roman's leg.
Even he sensed the temperature change.
Roman looked toward the city beyond the glass.
“How long has Kesler managed Laura?”
“Seven years.”
“And who owns the building?”
“You.”
“The restaurant?”
“You.”
“The holding company that employs Kesler?”
Vincent almost smiled.
“You.”
Roman picked up his cane.
“Get the car.”
“You're supposed to remain off that leg.”
Roman stood.
Pain flashed through him.
His face showed almost nothing.
“Then I'll limp.”
Forty minutes later, Naen received another call.
This time it was Kesler.
“You need to come to Laura.”
She almost laughed.
“You fired me.”
“Come immediately.”
“No.”
His breathing sounded strange.
“Naen.”
For the first time since she had known him, David Kesler sounded afraid.
“Please.”
That word changed everything.
Naen found a neighbor to watch Leo.
Then she took the bus downtown.
Rain had started again.
When she reached Laura, a black SUV waited at the curb.
The rear door opened.
Roman stepped out.
Naen froze.
He looked different standing upright.
Bigger.
More dangerous.
His dark suit fit perfectly, although his movements revealed pain.
A thick white bandage covered part of his lower leg.
A black cane struck the pavement.
Once.
Twice.
Roman looked at her.
“You came.”
“You're alive.”
“Because of you.”
Naen glanced toward the restaurant.
“What is happening?”
Roman offered his arm.
She didn't take it.
“Roman.”
“Yes?”
“Who are you?”
He studied her.
Then said quietly:
“A man who owes you a debt.”
The restaurant doors opened.
Kesler rushed outside.
“You!”
He pointed at Naen.
“She was fired. She doesn't work here anymore.”
Roman stopped.
The employees gathered behind Kesler.
Chefs.
Waiters.
Hosts.
Nobody spoke.
Roman turned his head slowly.
“You fired her?”
Kesler's face changed.
Recognition.
Fear.
“Mr. Moretti.”
Naen looked at Roman.
Moretti.
She knew that name.
Everyone in the city knew it.
Whispers about construction.
Nightclubs.
Shipping.
Politicians.
And darker things nobody printed without lawyers.
Kesler swallowed.
“I didn't know she was with you.”
Roman's expression hardened.
“She wasn't.”
He moved closer.
“She saved my life.”
Kesler went pale.
Roman looked past him into the glittering restaurant.
Then back at Naen.
“And you fired her inside my restaurant.”
Naen stopped breathing.
My restaurant.
Kesler stared at Roman.
“Sir, I can explain.”
Roman's eyes remained cold.
“Good.”
He entered Laura.
His cane struck the marble floor.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Everyone moved aside.
Naen remained outside.
Roman stopped.
Looked back.
“Naen.”
She hesitated.
“Come inside.”
She followed.
And for the first time, David Kesler understood that the waitress he had humiliated the night before had returned beside the one man he could not intimidate.
But what none of them yet knew was that Naen saving Roman had created a much larger problem.
Because whoever had stabbed Roman knew exactly who she was.
May you like
And they were already watching her.
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