Chapter 7 - The Man Beside the Driver
Carmine had served Roman for seventeen years.
He had taken bullets for him twice.
He knew every safe house, every account, every weakness.
Including Tessa.
Roman refused to believe it without proof.
Tessa found the proof.
She returned to the accounting records she had managed for three years.
Small payments.
Fuel reimbursements.
Maintenance invoices.
Nothing suspicious individually.
Together they formed a pattern.
Every time Meridian moved cargo, one of Carmine’s security companies billed Valorie Logistics for unrelated work.
“He hid it inside legitimate expenses,” Tessa said.
Roman stared at the screen.
“He knew you reviewed these.”
“He assumed I wouldn’t know what I was seeing.”
Roman’s expression hardened.
“He underestimated my secretary.”
Tessa glanced at him.
“Your secretary?”
Roman corrected himself.
“Tessa.”
“Better.”
They created a trap.
Roman appeared to obey the demand and traveled alone to the address.
Tessa remained at the mansion with Matteo.
Or so Carmine was meant to believe.
Instead, Tessa and Matteo followed through an underground service route.
The building was an old customs facility.
Claire sat tied to a chair in the center.
Carmine stood behind her.
Tessa’s heart broke.
Roman entered alone.
Carmine smiled.
“You actually came.”
Roman stopped twenty feet away.
“You knew I would.”
“I knew the moment she called you Roman.”
Roman’s face remained blank.
Carmine had heard the warehouse call.
He had known then exactly how much Tessa mattered.
“Why?” Roman asked.
Carmine laughed.
“Because your father was weak.”
“Vittorio?”
“He wanted legitimacy. Patrick Quinn poisoned him with ideas about cleaning the docks.”
Carmine had been Meridian’s architect.
Not Matteo.
Not Daniel.
Carmine.
He had arranged Patrick’s crash.
He had corrupted Daniel years later.
He had manipulated Hodges.
And when Tessa accidentally discovered the stolen archive, he ordered men to eliminate her before realizing who she truly was.
Roman’s voice became deadly.
“You ordered them to kill her.”
“For six minutes.”
Carmine smiled.
“Then I discovered her identity and changed the order.”
Roman took one step forward.
Carmine pressed a gun against Claire’s head.
“Stop.”
Roman stopped.
Claire was crying.
“I’m sorry, Tess.”
Carmine froze.
Roman did not react.
But Carmine understood.
He looked toward the shadows.
“Tessa?”
Too late.
Matteo killed the lights.
Chaos erupted.
Roman moved.
Tessa crawled toward her mother.
Gunfire cracked through the darkness.
She reached Claire and cut the restraints with a utility blade.
“Tessa?”
“I’ve got you.”
A flashlight beam swept toward them.
Carmine.
He grabbed Tessa by the hair and pulled her upright.
Roman stopped instantly.
Carmine pressed the gun beneath her jaw.
“There she is.”
Tessa trembled.
Roman’s face became terrifyingly calm.
“Let her go.”
“Open the Meridian account.”
“I can’t.”
“She can.”
Carmine dragged Tessa toward a laptop.
Claire screamed.
Carmine struck her.
Something inside Tessa changed.
Fear remained.
But beneath it came anger.
She looked at the laptop.
Authentication required her name, Social Security number, biometric scan, and a phrase Patrick had created.
Carmine knew everything except the phrase.
“Enter it.”
Tessa sat.
Roman watched her.
She typed.
CAN YOU PLEASE COME GET ME
Carmine laughed.
“How sentimental.”
Tessa pressed Enter.
The screen changed.
TRANSFER AUTHORIZED.
Carmine smiled.
Then alarms erupted.
His smile disappeared.
Tessa looked at him.
“I manage tax returns for a criminal empire.”
She swallowed.
“You really thought I wouldn’t recognize a financial trap?”
The account had not transferred funds.
It had transmitted Meridian’s complete transaction history to federal investigators Patrick had designated years earlier.
Carmine raised the gun.
Roman moved.
The shot exploded.
Tessa screamed.
Carmine fell.
Roman remained standing.
Matteo’s weapon smoked from across the room.
Carmine looked down at the wound in his chest.
Shock replaced arrogance.
Roman approached.
Carmine tried to lift his weapon.
Roman kicked it away.
“You ruined everything,” Carmine whispered.
Roman looked toward Tessa.
“No.”
His voice was calm.
“You did.”
Police sirens approached.
Carmine smiled weakly.
“You think this ends Meridian?”
Roman’s expression shifted.
Carmine began laughing.
“I wasn’t the architect.”
Tessa froze.
Carmine looked toward Claire.
“I was the accountant.”
Then his eyes closed.
Claire began sobbing.
Tessa turned toward her mother.
Claire looked terrified.
Not relieved.
Terrified.
“Mom?”
Claire shook her head.
“Tessa, we need to leave.”
“Why?”
Claire stared toward the approaching lights.
“Because the man who built Meridian is coming.”
Roman crouched beside her.
“Who?”
Claire looked directly at him.
“Your father.”
Roman stopped breathing.
“Vittorio is dead.”
May you like
Claire’s answer came quietly.
“No.”
