Chapter 4 - THE MAN ROMAN CALLED UNCLE
Anthony Bellini walked into the Costa library as though he still belonged there.
He was sixty-two, broad-shouldered, silver-haired, and immaculately dressed.
He hugged Carmine.
Carmine did not hug him back.
Then Anthony saw Roman.
“My boy.”
Roman remained motionless.
Anthony opened his arms.
Roman stared at him.
“Were you at Pier Nine?”
Anthony’s smile faded.
Carmine closed the library doors.
Sadie and Emily had been asked to remain upstairs.
Sadie lasted approximately four minutes.
She quietly descended and stopped outside the library.
Roman’s voice carried through the wood.
“Answer me.”
“Yes.”
Sadie’s stomach tightened.
Anthony spoke calmly.
“Luca asked me to meet him.”
“Why?”
“He wanted help.”
“With what?”
“Leaving.”
Roman’s voice became quieter.
“Did you betray him?”
Anthony did not answer immediately.
That silence was enough.
Something crashed.
Sadie opened the door.
Roman had Anthony pinned against the wall.
Carmine’s guards had drawn their weapons but did not know whom they were supposed to protect.
“Roman!”
Sadie crossed the room.
Anthony was choking.
Roman’s forearm pressed against his throat.
“Roman, look at me.”
Nothing.
She touched his face.
His eyes found hers.
“Let him go.”
His arm trembled.
“Roman.”
Slowly, he stepped backward.
Anthony coughed.
Carmine dismissed the guards.
Roman stared at Sadie.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
“Probably.”
“You could’ve gotten hurt.”
“So could he.”
“I don’t care.”
“I know.”
Anthony rubbed his throat.
Then he laughed.
“You really are different.”
Roman turned.
Anthony was looking at Sadie.
“I heard stories.”
Sadie disliked him immediately.
“What stories?”
“That the uncontrollable Roman Costa suddenly became housebroken.”
Roman moved forward.
Sadie blocked him.
Anthony smiled.
“There. Exactly that.”
Carmine slammed his cane against the floor.
“Enough.”
Anthony’s smile vanished.
Carmine looked at him.
“Tell him everything.”
Anthony poured himself a drink.
“Luca discovered Victor Marzano was using Costa shipping routes to move illegal weapons without Carmine’s approval.”
Roman’s face hardened.
“He discovered something else too.”
Anthony looked toward Carmine.
“Victor wasn’t acting alone.”
“Who helped him?” Roman asked.
Anthony drank.
“Me.”
The room went silent.
Roman stepped forward again.
Sadie held his wrist.
This time he stopped immediately.
Anthony noticed.
“I had gambling debts,” he said. “Victor owned them. I gave him schedules, routes, names.”
“You sold us.”
“Yes.”
“You sold Luca.”
Anthony’s face tightened.
“I never intended for him to die.”
Roman laughed.
“You expect me to care about your intentions?”
“No.”
Anthony placed his glass down.
“I expect you to care about finishing what Luca started.”
He removed a flash drive.
“Victor has spent a year rebuilding. He has people inside your father’s organization. Judges. Police officers. Port officials.”
Carmine looked stunned.
“How many?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why come here now?”
“Because Victor intends to kill Roman.”
Sadie felt cold.
Anthony looked directly at her.
“And he intends to use her to do it.”
Roman stepped in front of Sadie.
Anthony continued.
“Victor understands you now. He knows you have a weakness.”
“She isn’t a weakness.”
Anthony smiled sadly.
“Then you’re already in more trouble than you realize.”
Roman’s jaw tightened.
Sadie spoke.
“Why would Victor care about me?”
“Because Roman Costa used to have nothing he was afraid to lose.”
Anthony’s eyes moved between them.
“Now he does.”
That night, Carmine doubled security.
Roman refused to sleep.
At three in the morning, Sadie found him in the kitchen making coffee.
“You’re terrible at that,” she said.
Roman looked at the overflowing machine.
“I noticed.”
Sadie unplugged it.
“You put the filter in wrong.”
“I can dismantle a handgun blindfolded.”
“Congratulations. Coffee defeated you.”
Roman leaned against the counter.
Sadie fixed the machine.
“You shouldn’t joke about guns around normal people,” she said.
“Are you normal?”
“No. I accepted a job from your father.”
Roman smiled.
Then it vanished.
“Anthony’s right.”
“About?”
“You.”
Sadie turned.
“You are a weakness.”
The words hurt more than she expected.
Roman saw it.
“That came out wrong.”
“Impressive.”
“I mean…”
He struggled.
Roman Costa, who could intimidate an entire warehouse without raising his voice, suddenly could not construct a sentence.
Sadie waited.
“If something happened to you,” he finally said, “I don’t know what I would become.”
Sadie’s anger disappeared.
Roman looked down.
“That scares me.”
She approached him.
“Then don’t become anything.”
“What?”
“You keep talking like anger is something that happens to you. Like Roman disappears and some monster takes over.”
Sadie touched his chest.
“You’re still there.”
His eyes dropped to her hand.
“You always have a choice.”
“What if I make the wrong one?”
“Then make the next one better.”
Roman stared at her.
This time, when he leaned down, he did not stop.
He kissed her.
It was not aggressive.
It was careful.
Almost uncertain.
Sadie’s fingers curled into his shirt.
For a few seconds, the dangerous world surrounding them disappeared.
Then a window shattered.
Roman pulled Sadie to the floor.
A bullet struck the cabinet where her head had been.
Guards shouted outside.
Roman covered Sadie with his body.
Another shot.
Then silence.
Carmine rushed in.
Roman looked at the hole in the cabinet.
A red laser dot appeared briefly on the wall.
Then vanished.
Roman’s face changed.
Sadie grabbed him before he could stand.
“No.”
“He tried to kill you.”
“And that’s exactly what Anthony said Victor wants.”
Roman breathed hard.
Sadie held his face.
“Don’t give him what he wants.”
Roman looked at her.
Then at the bullet hole.
Slowly, painfully, he remained on the floor.
May you like
For the first time in his life, Roman Costa chose not to answer violence with violence.
And somewhere beyond the estate walls, Victor Marzano realized Sadie Jenkins was far more dangerous than he had imagined.
