Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN HE COULDN’T SEND AWAY
Roman insisted Sadie leave Harbor Logistics.
Sadie refused.
They argued for eleven minutes.
Roman threatened to fire her.
Sadie reminded him that Carmine technically controlled her employment contract.
Roman called his father.
Carmine sided with Sadie.
Roman hung up on him.
Sadie returned to her computer.
“You people are impossible,” Roman muttered.
“Payroll is Friday.”
“Someone planted a listening device in the warehouse.”
“And fifty-eight employees still expect checks.”
Roman stared at her.
“How are you not scared?”
Sadie’s fingers stopped above the keyboard.
“I am.”
That answer surprised him.
She looked up.
“I’m scared all the time.”
Roman said nothing.
“I was scared when my mother got sick. I was scared every time another hospital bill arrived. I was scared my sister would have to quit school. I was scared when your father appeared at my apartment.”
“Then why do you keep doing this?”
“Because being afraid and being helpless aren’t the same thing.”
Roman had no response.
That afternoon he moved a chair beside Sadie’s office door and remained there while she worked.
He claimed he was reviewing security.
Sadie knew better.
At six, she shut down her computer.
Roman stood immediately.
“I’m driving you home.”
“I have a car.”
“Your car looks like it survived an artillery strike.”
“It has character.”
“It has three different-colored doors.”
“Character.”
Roman almost smiled.
Almost.
They walked outside.
Sadie stopped.
Her car’s windshield had been smashed.
Across the driver’s seat lay a single white rose.
Roman went completely still.
Attached to the stem was a card.
He removed it.
Two words were written on it.
ASK CARMINE.
Roman crushed the card in his fist.
“Get in my truck.”
This time Sadie did not argue.
Twenty minutes later, Roman’s black pickup stopped outside Sadie’s apartment building.
“You’re not staying here.”
“I live here.”
“Not tonight.”
“My sister is upstairs.”
Roman looked toward the third-floor window.
“Then she comes too.”
Sadie studied him.
“This is my life, Roman.”
“And somebody just smashed your windshield because of mine.”
“You didn’t do it.”
“It happened because of me.”
There it was again.
The guilt.
Sadie touched his arm.
Roman looked down at her hand.
“Not everything bad that happens is your fault.”
He said nothing.
Sadie called her sister, Emily.
Within fifteen minutes, the three of them were heading toward the Costa estate.
Emily sat in the back seat clutching an overnight bag.
She leaned toward Sadie.
“So this is your boss?”
Roman glanced into the mirror.
Sadie sighed.
“Yes.”
“The scary one?”
“Emily.”
“What? You said he was scary.”
Roman’s mouth twitched.
“I am scary.”
Emily considered him.
“You don’t look that scary.”
“Thank you.”
“You look tired.”
Roman blinked.
Sadie covered her mouth.
Roman glanced at her.
“Is everyone in your family like this?”
“Yes.”
The Costa estate appeared beyond iron gates twenty minutes later.
Sadie had expected luxury.
She had not expected a fortress.
Security cameras tracked the truck.
Armed guards stood beside the entrance.
Carmine waited inside the library.
Roman threw Victor’s photographs onto his desk.
“Tell me.”
Carmine looked at them.
His face changed.
“Where did you get these?”
“Marzano.”
Carmine closed his eyes.
Roman stepped closer.
“You told me Luca went alone.”
“I was protecting you.”
“From what?”
“From becoming exactly what you became anyway.”
Roman knocked a lamp from the desk.
Sadie flinched.
Carmine did not.
“You want the truth?” Carmine asked.
“Yes.”
“Luca was trying to leave.”
Roman froze.
Carmine continued.
“He wanted nothing more to do with the family business. He had collected evidence against people who would never have allowed him to walk away.”
“Against you?”
Carmine’s silence answered.
Roman stepped backward.
“My own brother was going to turn you in?”
“He was going to expose everyone.”
“Did you kill him?”
Sadie stopped breathing.
Carmine looked at his son.
“No.”
Roman’s shoulders dropped slightly.
“But I knew he was in danger.”
Carmine’s voice became quieter.
“And I let him go to that pier because I believed he could handle it.”
Roman stared at him.
“I was wrong.”
For the first time, Sadie saw Carmine Costa look old.
Not powerful.
Not dangerous.
Old.
“Victor Marzano was there,” Carmine said. “So were two men who worked for me.”
“Who?”
“One is dead.”
“And the other?”
Carmine looked toward the window.
“Anthony Bellini.”
Roman knew the name.
Sadie could tell.
“Uncle Anthony?”
“Not your uncle.”
Roman laughed bitterly.
“He practically raised us.”
“And he betrayed Luca.”
Roman turned away.
Carmine opened a drawer and removed a small brass key.
“Luca left something behind.”
Roman stared at it.
“A safe-deposit box.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because after he died, you became uncontrollable. If I had given you this then, you would have killed everyone named inside before sunrise.”
Roman said nothing.
Carmine slid the key across the desk.
“I kept waiting for my son to come back.”
His eyes moved toward Sadie.
“Maybe he finally has.”
Roman took the key.
Later that night, Sadie found Roman sitting alone beside the estate’s swimming pool.
She sat beside him.
Neither spoke for several minutes.
“I hate him,” Roman finally said.
“Your father?”
“I don’t know.”
Sadie looked at the water.
“You can love someone and still hate what they did.”
Roman turned toward her.
“You always have an answer?”
“No.”
“What don’t you have an answer for?”
Sadie considered it.
“Why I’m sitting beside a swimming pool at two in the morning with a man who destroyed a restaurant three weeks ago.”
Roman laughed.
A real laugh.
Quiet but genuine.
Sadie smiled.
Then his expression softened.
“You should leave.”
“You keep saying that.”
“I mean leave all of this. Take your sister. Take the money. Go somewhere safe.”
“What about you?”
Roman looked away.
Sadie understood.
He did not include himself among the people worth saving.
She reached over and took his injured hand.
Roman looked down.
For once, there was no blood.
The cuts were healing.
“Maybe,” Sadie whispered, “I’m tired of watching you leave yourself behind.”
Roman lifted his eyes.
The distance between them disappeared.
For one dangerous second, Sadie thought he might kiss her.
Instead, Roman gently squeezed her hand.
Then headlights appeared beyond the gates.
Three black cars entered the estate.
Roman stood.
Carmine emerged from the house.
May you like
His face was grim.
Anthony Bellini had arrived.
