Chapter 8 - THE DAY ROMAN LOST EVERYTHING
The federal indictment arrived in February.
Roman faced charges involving racketeering, financial conspiracy, and obstruction connected to years before Vincent’s betrayal.
His attorneys gathered in the library.
“We can fight.”
Roman looked at the paperwork.
“How long?”
“Years.”
“And what happens to Norah and the children?”
“Public scrutiny.”
Roman already knew.
Reporters had discovered the twins.
Photographers gathered outside the estate.
Norah could barely take them to pediatric appointments.
Roman hated it.
His lawyers offered another path.
A cooperation agreement.
Roman would surrender illegal assets, testify against several figures, and accept responsibility for financial crimes the government could prove.
Prison remained possible.
Norah found him alone afterward.
“How bad?”
“I could lose everything.”
“The money?”
He shook his head.
“Time.”
She understood.
“How much?”
“Maybe years.”
Norah sat beside him.
Roman stared at his hands.
“I finally meet them, and now I could miss them growing up.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I deserve consequences.”
She looked at him.
“That doesn’t mean your children deserve to lose their father.”
Roman turned.
It was the first time Norah had called him that without hesitation.
Their father.
He reached for her hand.
Stopped.
Norah closed the distance herself.
Their fingers intertwined.
“Testify,” she said.
“My enemies—”
“Stop organizing your life around enemies.”
Roman smiled faintly.
“You make that sound easy.”
“I raised twins alone while hiding from organized crime. I’ve earned the right to make things sound easy.”
He laughed.
Then grew serious.
“I loved you.”
“Loved?”
“Love.”
Her breathing changed.
“I never stopped.”
“Roman.”
“You don’t have to say it back.”
She looked away.
“I’m scared.”
“Of me?”
“Of believing you.”
That hurt more.
Roman nodded.
“Then don’t believe promises.”
He squeezed her hand.
“Watch what I do.”
So she did.
Roman testified.
For twelve hours.
Then another nine.
He surrendered properties purchased with criminal proceeds.
He dissolved shell companies.
He identified corrupt intermediaries.
His legitimate company lost clients.
His estimated fortune fell by more than half.
Roman never complained.
Then came sentencing.
The courtroom was packed.
Norah sat behind him with Elena.
The twins remained home with a nanny.
The judge acknowledged Roman’s cooperation but refused to erase his history.
Roman received eighteen months in federal custody, with credit considerations and supervised release afterward.
Norah stopped breathing.
Roman simply nodded.
Outside, reporters shouted questions.
He ignored them.
He had three weeks before surrender.
Those weeks became the strangest and sweetest of Norah’s life.
Roman woke for every midnight feeding.
He learned lullabies.
Badly.
He took Lily and Luca on walks around the estate.
He sold the mansion.
Norah stared when she learned.
“Why?”
“Too many ghosts.”
“Where will Elena live?”
“She already bought a condo.”
“And you?”
Roman smiled.
“I’m about to receive government housing.”
She hit his arm.
He laughed.
Three days before surrender, they moved Norah and the babies into a modest house outside Chicago.
Four bedrooms.
A backyard.
No marble.
No guards visible from the kitchen.
Roman loved it immediately.
On his final night, Norah found him assembling two cribs.
“You could pay somebody.”
“I did.”
“What happened?”
“I fired him.”
“Why?”
“He was doing it wrong.”
Norah inspected the perfectly assembled crib.
“You’ve become extremely domestic for a terrifying crime boss.”
“Former terrifying crime boss.”
“Still terrifying.”
“Good.”
She smiled.
Then silence settled.
Tomorrow.
Roman looked at her.
“If you meet someone while I’m gone—”
“Don’t.”
“You deserve a life.”
“So do you.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
Norah approached.
“I spent a year running because I thought the only way to survive you was to disappear.”
Her hand touched his face.
“Then you spent months showing me I could stand in front of you and say no.”
Roman closed his eyes.
“That matters.”
She kissed him.
Not his cheek.
His mouth.
Slow.
Uncertain.
Real.
Roman did not grab her.
He waited.
Norah kissed him again.
When they separated, his forehead rested against hers.
“I love you,” she whispered.
Roman’s eyes opened.
“But I’m still angry with you.”
He almost laughed.
“Fair.”
“And we’re not remarried.”
“Devastating.”
“And when you come home, we’re doing counseling.”
Roman frowned.
“I preferred prison.”
Norah laughed through her tears.
The next morning Roman kissed both babies goodbye.
Then Norah.
He walked toward the waiting federal vehicle.
Luca began crying.
Roman stopped.
His shoulders tightened.
Norah wanted to tell him to run back.
Instead, she lifted Luca’s tiny hand.
“Daddy’s coming home.”
Roman looked at her.
She smiled through tears.
“Go finish becoming the man you want them to remember.”
Roman got into the vehicle.
May you like
For the first time, losing his freedom did not feel like losing everything.
Because everything that mattered was waiting for him to come back.
