Chapter 6 - The Betrayal Roman Never Saw Coming
“Get down!”
Noah fired first.
Roman pulled Mara behind a ventilation unit as a suppressed shot struck metal.
Ethan disappeared through the rooftop door.
Noah fired toward the neighboring building.
“Shooter’s moving!”
Roman grabbed Mara’s face.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Stay here.”
She grabbed his wrist.
“Stop saying that.”
“Mara—”
“Every time you say stay here, someone tries to kill us.”
Roman stared at her.
“That is disturbingly accurate.”
Despite terror, she laughed.
Then Noah shouted.
“Can you flirt after we survive?”
Mara glared.
“We’re not flirting.”
Roman said, “Apparently we are.”
“This is not the time.”
“Agreed.”
Another shot struck concrete.
They escaped through the eastern stairwell.
Mercer loyalists retook the mansion floor by floor.
Ethan escaped.
Three guards were injured.
One died.
By dawn, Roman stood beside the body bag in his garage.
His name was Luis Ortega.
Thirty-four.
Married.
Two children.
Mara watched Roman kneel beside Luis’s widow when she arrived.
He did not send an assistant.
He did not hide.
He apologized.
Then promised Luis’s children would never need anything.
The widow slapped him.
Roman accepted that too.
Mara understood something then.
Roman was dangerous.
But cruelty and danger were not always the same thing.
Noah joined her.
“Don’t romanticize him.”
“I’m not.”
“You’re looking at him differently.”
“He saved my life.”
“He’s still Roman Mercer.”
“And you infiltrated a criminal syndicate without telling me.”
“Fair.”
Mara folded her arms.
“Explain Ethan.”
Noah sighed.
Six years earlier, Ethan had secretly partnered with Silas Vale to steal from Mercer businesses. David Bennett discovered irregularities.
Ethan panicked.
He manipulated Roman’s uncle Vincent into arranging David’s death.
“Roman killed Vincent believing Vincent acted alone,” Noah explained.
“But Ethan started it.”
“Yes.”
“And Roman has blamed himself for six years.”
“Yes.”
Mara looked toward Roman.
“Does he know?”
“Not all of it.”
She walked to him.
Roman was alone now.
“I know who killed my father.”
Roman looked at Noah.
Then back at Mara.
“Ethan?”
She nodded.
Something dark moved across his face.
Mara stepped closer.
“If you go after him angry, Vale wins.”
Roman’s jaw flexed.
“He murdered your father.”
“And Luis died tonight.”
“Yes.”
“How many more people die if everyone keeps answering blood with blood?”
Roman stared at her.
“You think I can simply forgive him?”
“No.”
She held his gaze.
“I think you can decide what kind of man you become next.”
For once, Roman Mercer had no answer.
Noah interrupted.
“I have something.”
They gathered in the library.
Noah had memorized Vale’s internal security system.
Silas was hosting a private charity auction the following night.
Half Chicago’s political elite would attend.
“He keeps the master ledger on an offline server,” Noah explained. “During large events, Vale accesses it from his office.”
Roman understood.
“You want to steal it.”
“No. I want Mara to steal it.”
Roman stood immediately.
“No.”
Mara looked at Noah.
“Why me?”
“Because Vale knows every Mercer operative. He doesn’t see you as a threat.”
Roman’s voice sharpened.
“She nearly got shot because Vale sees her as a threat.”
Noah shook his head.
“Vale thinks she has the backup card. He doesn’t know Mara understands any of this.”
Roman paced.
“Absolutely not.”
Mara watched him.
“Do I get a vote?”
“No.”
She raised an eyebrow.
Roman closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
“Good.”
“No.”
“Still doing it wrong.”
Noah almost smiled.
The plan was simple.
Mara would attend as Roman’s guest.
Everyone would expect gossip about the mafia boss bringing a waitress to Chicago’s most exclusive charity auction.
That attention was useful.
Roman would deliberately create a confrontation downstairs.
Mara would enter Vale’s office and connect Noah’s device.
Ninety seconds.
Then leave.
“What happens if Vale catches me?” Mara asked.
Roman answered before Noah could.
“We cancel.”
“No.”
“Mara.”
“You’ve been trying to protect me for six years.”
“Yes.”
“Did it stop tonight?”
Roman said nothing.
“Maybe protecting me doesn’t mean hiding me.”
His expression shifted.
“What does it mean?”
“Standing beside me while I protect myself.”
That silenced him.
The next evening Mara stood before a mirror wearing a midnight-blue gown Roman’s stylist had brought.
She barely recognized herself.
A knock sounded.
Roman entered.
He stopped.
For perhaps the first time in his life, Roman Mercer appeared to forget language.
Mara smiled.
“That bad?”
“No.”
His voice was lower.
“Quite the opposite.”
He approached.
A diamond necklace lay in his hand.
“I’m not wearing something worth my apartment.”
“You mean the apartment I own?”
She glared.
Roman smiled.
“Too soon?”
“Extremely.”
He fastened the necklace.
His fingers brushed her neck.
Mara’s breathing changed.
So did his.
Their eyes met in the mirror.
“This is dangerous,” Roman whispered.
“The plan?”
“No.”
Neither moved.
Mara turned.
They were inches apart.
Roman lifted a hand toward her cheek, then stopped.
He waited.
For permission.
Mara noticed.
And that mattered more than she wanted it to.
She closed the distance herself.
Their kiss was brief.
Soft.
Nothing like the man she had expected Roman Mercer to be.
When they separated, Roman looked stunned.
Mara whispered, “One, two, three.”
He smiled.
Then Noah’s voice crackled through her earpiece.
“I unfortunately heard that.”
Mara closed her eyes.
Roman laughed.
Noah continued.
“And if Mercer is kissing my sister, I suddenly support the sniper.”
“Not funny, Noah.”
“A little funny.”
Twenty minutes later, they entered Silas Vale’s mansion.
Vale waited at the top of the staircase.
Silver-haired.
Elegant.
Smiling.
His eyes settled on Mara.
Then on Roman.
“Well,” Vale said.
“The waitress survived.”
Roman’s hand tightened around hers.
May you like
Vale smiled wider.
“That complicates everything.”
