Chapter 5 - A Debt More Dangerous Than Money
Roman had spent most of his life believing fear was more reliable than loyalty.
Naen made that belief increasingly difficult to maintain.
Leo followed Roman everywhere.
The boy was fascinated by his cane.
“Does it have a sword inside?”
“No.”
“Laser?”
“No.”
“Secret button?”
“No.”
Leo frowned.
“That's a boring cane.”
Roman looked genuinely offended.
Naen laughed.
It was the first time he had heard her laugh.
He stared a little too long.
She noticed.
The room suddenly felt smaller.
“Don't,” she said.
Roman understood.
“Don't what?”
“Look at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like I'm something you need to protect.”
“You are.”
“No. I'm somebody you need to help protect herself.”
Roman considered the distinction.
Then nodded.
“All right.”
Naen was beginning to understand why people followed him.
Roman listened.
Not always.
But when he respected someone, he listened.
That evening, he gave her a new phone, emergency contacts, and access codes.
Not jewelry.
Not money.
Tools.
She accepted them.
It was progress.
Their investigation of Marcus revealed something much larger than theft.
Marcus had been preparing to seize Roman's businesses.
The stabbing was supposed to create a leadership vacuum.
Roman's death would be blamed on a rival organization.
Marcus would step in as the reasonable successor.
But Naen had ruined the plan.
A waitress with a torn apron had changed the future of an empire.
“That's ridiculous,” Naen said.
Vincent smiled.
“History often is.”
Roman didn't.
Marcus remained free.
And increasingly desperate.
Naen wanted to leave the city.
Roman refused.
Then caught himself.
“You're right,” he said. “That isn't my decision.”
Naen was surprised.
“What would you recommend?”
“Stay until Marcus is caught.”
“Recommend?”
Roman almost smiled.
“I'm learning.”
That night, Leo fell asleep on the sofa.
Naen carried him upstairs.
When she returned, Roman was standing beside the window.
“You should sleep.”
“So should you.”
“I don't sleep much.”
“Why?”
Roman didn't answer.
Naen sat nearby.
After a while, he spoke.
“My mother died when I was nine.”
Naen looked up.
“My father told me crying wouldn't bring her back.”
“That's a terrible thing to tell a child.”
“Yes.”
“Did you cry?”
Roman looked through the glass.
“Not until twenty years later.”
Naen's chest tightened.
“What happened twenty years later?”
“My father died.”
“You cried for him?”
“No.”
Roman looked at her.
“For her.”
Silence settled between them.
Naen reached for his hand.
It was the first time she touched him when he wasn't bleeding.
Roman looked down at their joined hands.
Neither moved.
Then a gunshot shattered the window.
Roman threw Naen to the floor.
Glass exploded.
“DOWN!”
More shots.
Security alarms screamed.
Leo cried upstairs.
Naen tried to rise.
Roman held her down.
“Vincent!”
Armed guards rushed through the hallway.
Roman drew a weapon.
Naen stared at it.
For one terrible instant, the gentle man drinking coffee with her disappeared.
The other Roman emerged.
Focused.
Lethal.
Terrifying.
“Get Leo!”
Naen screamed.
Vincent ran upstairs.
The lights died.
Darkness swallowed the house.
Then came footsteps.
Inside.
Someone had opened a rear entrance.
A traitor.
Roman pushed Naen behind a stone column.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
“Naen.”
“My son is upstairs.”
“Vincent has him.”
Another shot.
Roman returned fire.
Naen covered her ears.
Seconds felt endless.
Then Vincent appeared carrying Leo.
“Garage!”
They moved.
Roman followed.
Halfway down the corridor, his injured leg buckled.
Naen caught him.
Blood appeared through the white bandage.
“You reopened it.”
“Later.”
They reached the garage.
Vincent put Leo into an armored SUV.
Naen climbed in.
Roman remained outside.
“What are you doing?”
“Ending this.”
“No!”
Marcus's men were inside the house.
Roman intended to stay.
Naen jumped back out.
“Get in the car.”
“Naen—”
“You promised me.”
“This is different.”
“No, it isn't.”
She grabbed his coat.
“Leo doesn't need to watch another man he cares about die.”
Roman froze.
Another gunshot echoed.
Naen's eyes filled.
“You don't get to decide your life has less value because you're used to violence.”
For perhaps the first time in Roman Moretti's life, someone wasn't afraid of losing his protection.
She was afraid of losing him.
Roman got into the SUV.
They escaped seconds before flames appeared in the upper windows.
From the rear seat, Leo reached forward and grabbed Roman's hand.
“Don't die.”
Roman closed his fingers around the child's.
“I'll try not to.”
Naen looked through the rear window at the burning house.
Roman followed her gaze.
Marcus had crossed the final line.
There would be no negotiation now.
But Roman intended to keep his promise.
He would not answer murder with murder.
He would destroy Marcus another way.
May you like
And Naen was about to discover that a man feared throughout the city could be even more dangerous when he decided to use the law.
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