Chapter 5 - The Price of Her Mother
Carlo Rosetti did not threaten Bee.
That would have been easier.
Instead, he told her a story.
“Your father was a brave man,” Carlo said through the speaker. “Stupid, but brave.”
Bee's fingers tightened around Maxim's hand.
“You killed him.”
“No.”
The answer came too quickly.
“I ordered his death.”
Maxim stood so violently his chair struck the wall.
Carlo continued calmly.
“My brother had become sentimental. Patrick discovered records he was never supposed to see. They both became liabilities.”
“You killed my father,” Maxim said.
“I saved your empire.”
“You poisoned him.”
“I prepared you to inherit.”
Maxim looked ready to tear the room apart.
Bee squeezed his hand.
He looked at her.
She shook her head.
Listen.
Carlo wanted anger.
Angry men made mistakes.
Bee had spent her entire life watching angry men.
Carlo spoke again.
“Adelaide, your mother is safe tonight.”
Bee's blood turned cold.
Maxim signaled security.
Men immediately began making calls.
“If you touch her—”
“Threats already? Maxim must be rubbing off on you.”
Bee forced herself to breathe.
“What do you want?”
“The ledger.”
“What ledger?”
Carlo laughed.
“Your father really did choose well.”
The call ended.
Within minutes they learned Margaret was still secure.
But Bee understood Carlo's message.
He could reach them.
Or wanted them to believe he could.
That night, Maxim found Bee alone in the townhouse kitchen making grilled cheese.
He leaned against the doorway.
“You have a chef.”
“Your chef looked offended when I asked for American cheese.”
“He's French.”
“Exactly.”
Maxim watched her.
“You should leave New York.”
“No.”
“I can put you and your mother anywhere.”
“No.”
“He killed your father.”
“Which is why I'm staying.”
“He'll use you against me.”
Bee turned.
“Why would that work?”
Silence.
There it was.
Something neither had named.
Maxim crossed the kitchen slowly.
“Because I care what happens to you.”
Bee's heart beat once, hard.
“That sounds inconvenient.”
“It is.”
She almost laughed.
He stopped before her.
“I've spent my life knowing exactly what everyone wanted from me. Money. Protection. Access. Fear. You walked into my life wanting me to stop yelling.”
“You were being an ass.”
“I was.”
“You called me a cow.”
His eyes lowered.
“I know.”
“You pointed a gun at me.”
“Russo did.”
“You let him.”
Maxim accepted the correction.
“I did.”
Bee searched his face.
“I don't forget things because a handsome man develops feelings.”
His eyebrow lifted.
“Handsome?”
“Don't ruin the moment.”
For the first time, Maxim Rosetti smiled at her without cruelty.
It transformed him.
Bee hated how much she liked it.
He reached toward her face, then stopped before touching her.
“May I?”
That mattered.
More than flowers would have.
More than money.
Bee nodded.
His fingers brushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
No one had touched her that gently in years.
She looked down.
Maxim tilted her chin up.
“I am sorry.”
“For what?”
“The diner.”
“All of it?”
“Every word.”
She believed him.
That did not erase it.
But it mattered.
Then the townhouse alarm screamed.
The lights went out.
Maxim pulled Bee against him.
Gunfire erupted downstairs.
Security shouted.
Bee heard breaking glass.
“Safe room,” Maxim ordered.
“No.”
“Adelaide.”
“You said someone inside your house is helping Carlo. Your safe room is exactly where they'll expect you.”
Maxim paused.
She pointed toward the service stairs.
“Kitchen delivery exit.”
They ran.
Bee knew service architecture.
Every restaurant worker did.
Rich people entered buildings through marble lobbies.
Workers knew how buildings actually breathed.
They moved through a laundry corridor, crossed the basement and emerged behind the neighboring property.
Thirty seconds later, an explosion shook Maxim's townhouse.
Flames burst from a second-floor window.
Maxim stared.
His safe room was on the second floor.
Bee whispered, “They knew.”
His phone buzzed.
A photograph appeared.
Carlo sitting beside Margaret Callahan.
Bee nearly collapsed.
Her mother looked confused but unharmed.
Beneath the photograph was an address.
And a message.
BRING THE LEDGER ALONE.
Maxim caught Bee's arm.
“No.”
She looked at him.
“That's my mother.”
“He'll kill you.”
“Then we make sure he doesn't.”
“We?”
Bee stared at the burning townhouse.
Then at Maxim.
“You hired me because people underestimate me.”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
May you like
She took his phone.
“Let's make your uncle do it too.”
