Chapter 6 - THE GRAVE
Rain fell over St. Matthew’s Cemetery.
Harper arrived with Roman and Luca at 11:55.
Victor had demanded they come without visible security.
He had not demanded they come without invisible security.
Marco positioned teams outside the cemetery.
Roman wore no overcoat despite the cold.
Harper noticed his hands.
They were shaking.
Barely.
She moved beside him.
“You don’t have to do this.”
“Yes, I do.”
Victor waited beside a gray mausoleum.
He looked like someone’s wealthy grandfather.
That was the unsettling part.
No dramatic coat.
No visible weapon.
Just silver hair, a navy suit, and an umbrella.
“Roman.”
“Uncle.”
Victor smiled at Luca.
Then Harper.
“You are prettier than your employee photograph.”
Harper disliked him instantly.
“Your personality ruins the compliment.”
Victor laughed.
Roman did not.
“Where is Davis’s daughter?”
“Safe.”
“Isabella?”
“Also safe.”
Roman stepped forward.
Victor lifted one finger.
“You always move too quickly when emotion becomes involved.”
Harper saw Roman stop himself.
Victor noticed too.
His gaze shifted toward her.
“Interesting.”
“What do you want?” Roman asked.
Victor turned toward the grave of Antonio Rossi.
Roman’s father.
“Your father became weak.”
Luca’s jaw tightened.
“He wanted out,” Victor continued. “Not entirely, of course. Men like us rarely receive clean exits. But Antonio wanted to dismantle the narcotics business and move the family toward legitimate holdings.”
Roman stared at the headstone.
“That was never discussed.”
“Because I prevented it.”
Silence.
Harper felt Roman go still beside her.
Victor continued calmly.
“I arranged the meeting where your father died.”
Luca lunged.
Roman caught him.
The reversal shocked everyone.
“Don’t,” Roman said.
Luca stared at his brother.
Victor smiled.
“You see? She has already domesticated you.”
Harper expected Roman to react.
He didn’t.
“Continue.”
Victor’s smile faded slightly.
“The shooting was intended to frighten Antonio. Unfortunately, hired men sometimes lack precision.”
“You murdered him,” Luca said.
“I preserved what he built.”
Roman’s face contained nothing.
Harper knew him well enough to recognize the danger.
She touched his hand.
His fingers closed around hers.
Victor noticed.
Something ugly entered his eyes.
“You think she makes you stronger?”
“No,” Roman said.
Harper looked at him.
Roman continued.
“She makes me notice how weak I was.”
Victor’s face changed.
It was perhaps the first insult Roman had ever delivered that truly reached him.
“You built your life around fear,” Roman said. “Then convinced me fear was strength because you needed me to become like you.”
Victor lowered his umbrella.
“You ungrateful child.”
“There you are.”
Roman almost smiled.
“That’s what Harper called me.”
Despite everything, Harper felt laughter rise in her throat.
Victor’s composure cracked.
“You think this is amusing?”
“No,” Roman said. “I think I finally understand you.”
Victor reached inside his coat.
Harper saw the movement.
“Roman!”
A gun appeared.
Luca moved first.
He struck Victor’s arm.
The shot exploded through the cemetery.
Marco’s teams rushed from both entrances.
Victor fell.
Roman kicked the weapon away.
For one second, he stood over his uncle.
Victor looked up.
“Do it.”
Roman’s breathing became heavy.
“Do what?”
“Prove you’re still a Rossi.”
Roman stared at him.
Harper said nothing.
This decision had to belong to Roman.
Victor smiled.
“You need me dead.”
Roman slowly stepped backward.
“No.”
Victor’s smile disappeared.
Roman looked toward Marco.
“Turn him over with everything we have.”
Victor stared in disbelief.
“You would send me to prison?”
“You taught me consequences matter.”
Police sirens approached.
Victor began shouting.
Roman walked away.
Harper followed.
At the cemetery gate, Roman stopped.
His shoulders shook once.
Harper thought he was cold.
Then she realized.
Roman Rossi was crying.
Silently.
Twenty years late.
She did not tell him to stop.
She simply stood beside him.
After several minutes, Roman wiped his face.
“I hate this.”
“Most emotionally healthy things seem to annoy you.”
He laughed unexpectedly.
It was rough and broken.
But real.
Then his phone rang.
Marco.
Victor’s factory had been searched.
Davis’s daughter had been recovered safely.
Several kidnapped employees were found.
But Isabella was gone.
Again.
They returned to the hotel.
At 4:00 p.m., Harper found Roman alone near the window.
“Victor confessed enough to bury himself,” she said.
Roman nodded.
“Good.”
“And Davis?”
“Reinstated.”
Harper raised an eyebrow.
“With back pay.”
“Better.”
“And an apology.”
Harper stared.
Roman looked offended.
“I am capable of apologizing.”
“I’d like witnesses.”
Roman smiled faintly.
Then became serious.
“I’m dismantling the narcotics operation.”
Harper stopped.
“What?”
“My father wanted out.”
“Roman, you don’t have to complete his life.”
“I’m not.”
He looked at her.
“I’m trying to start mine.”
The words stayed between them.
Harper’s heartbeat changed.
Roman moved closer.
“I don’t expect you to come back.”
“Good.”
“I don’t expect you to forgive me.”
“Also good.”
“I do want to ask something.”
Harper waited.
“Dinner.”
She blinked.
“What?”
“Dinner. With me.”
“You’re asking me on a date while your criminal empire is collapsing?”
“I have poor timing.”
“That might be your most normal flaw.”
“Is that a yes?”
Harper considered him.
Then shook her head.
“No.”
Roman accepted it immediately.
“All right.”
He turned away.
Harper stared.
“That’s it?”
“You said no.”
No argument.
No pressure.
No manipulation.
Something unexpectedly warm moved through her chest.
Roman walked toward the door.
Harper stopped him.
“Roman.”
He turned.
“Ask me again when you’re no longer my boss.”
His eyes held hers.
May you like
For the first time, hope appeared there.
Then the hotel windows exploded.
