Chapter 8 - The Woman He Would Not Hide
Three months changed Adelaide Callahan's life.
They did not change her into someone else.
That surprised everyone except Bee.
She still lived in Queens while renovations were completed on a small house near her mother's new care facility.
She still visited Gina's.
She still carried plates when the diner got busy.
But every Wednesday she also walked into Rosetti Tower and chaired the Employee Trust Committee.
Executives learned quickly not to mistake her kindness for softness.
One manager tried.
He proposed eliminating health benefits for six hundred warehouse workers while increasing executive bonuses.
Bee read the proposal.
Then looked across the table.
“No.”
He blinked.
“Ms. Callahan, perhaps you don't understand—”
“No.”
“The savings—”
“Come from people making forty-eight thousand dollars so men making two million can make two-point-three.”
Maxim leaned back, hiding a smile.
The proposal died.
Their relationship grew differently.
Slowly.
Maxim took Bee to dinner.
Not private clubs.
Her favorite Queens Italian restaurant.
He met Margaret on one of her clear days.
Margaret studied him suspiciously.
“You're too skinny.”
Bee nearly choked.
Maxim looked at himself.
“I've never been told that.”
“You need pasta.”
“Yes, ma'am.”
Bee fell a little in love with him right there.
But peace did not last.
Carlo Rosetti had survived arraignment and begun cooperating with federal investigators.
Then one morning, Maxim received a photograph.
Bee leaving her mother's house.
Crosshairs had been drawn over her chest.
The message beneath it contained four words.
CARLO WASN'T THE LAST.
Maxim doubled security.
Bee became furious.
“You cannot lock me inside.”
“Someone wants you dead.”
“Someone always wants somebody dead in your world.”
“My world?”
The words hit harder than intended.
Bee looked at him.
“Yes. Your world.”
Maxim stepped back.
She regretted it immediately but did not retract it.
That was the problem between them.
He had changed.
But the empire around him had not.
“I don't want bodyguards forever,” she said.
“I don't want to bury you.”
“And I don't want to become a prisoner because you love me.”
Silence.
Maxim froze.
Bee froze too.
Neither had said it before.
He whispered, “You know?”
She swallowed.
“Yes.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
He stepped closer.
“Do you love me?”
Bee's eyes burned.
“That isn't the question.”
“It is to me.”
She touched his face.
“Yes.”
Maxim closed his eyes.
For a second he looked less like a mafia boss than a man who had waited his entire life to hear one word.
Then Bee pulled her hand away.
“But love isn't enough.”
His eyes opened.
“You need to leave the criminal side.”
Maxim said nothing.
“I won't raise children around guns.”
His gaze sharpened at the word children.
Bee almost smiled.
“Hypothetical children.”
“Right.”
“Don't get excited.”
“Too late.”
She sighed.
“Maxim.”
“I know.”
For the first time, he understood what she was asking.
Not money.
Not protection.
A future.
A real one.
That evening, Maxim summoned every senior member of the Rosetti organization.
Bee did not attend.
She learned later what happened.
Maxim placed his father's ring on the table.
Then he announced that Rosetti Holdings would sever every remaining criminal operation.
Some men accepted.
Others walked.
One reached for a weapon.
Russo stopped him.
By midnight, Maxim had surrendered records to attorneys who would negotiate lawful cooperation with investigators.
By morning, he had made enemies across New York.
At 7:03, he arrived at Gina's diner.
Bee was behind the counter.
He sat in his old booth.
She poured coffee.
“Steak?”
“Pancakes.”
She smiled.
“Toast?”
He looked up.
“Yes.”
Bee laughed.
Then a motorcycle passed the diner window.
The glass exploded.
Maxim threw himself across Bee.
A bullet struck the wall.
Customers screamed.
When the shooter disappeared, Bee found Maxim on the floor.
Blood covered his shirt.
“Maxim?”
May you like
He looked at her.
Then collapsed.
