Chapter 7 - THE WHOLE CITY TURNED AGAINST HER
By sunrise, Sadie Jenkins had become famous.
Not for anything she had actually done.
Online posts called her a gold digger.
A criminal girlfriend.
A manipulator.
Strangers found photographs from her social media.
Someone published her apartment address.
Someone else posted Emily’s college.
Reporters surrounded Harbor Logistics.
Sadie sat inside Roman’s office reading comments until Roman took the phone from her.
“Stop.”
“Give it back.”
“No.”
“Roman.”
“These people don’t know you.”
“But they think they do.”
One headline claimed Carmine had paid Sadie hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Another claimed she had manipulated Roman into turning against his father.
The medical debt Carmine had paid became “proof.”
Sadie felt sick.
“I took his money.”
“You took a salary.”
“He paid Mom’s hospital debt.”
“As part of your contract.”
“It doesn’t matter online.”
Roman crouched beside her.
“It matters to me.”
She looked at him.
“That’s not enough.”
The words hurt him.
Sadie saw it.
“I don’t mean—”
“I know.”
He stood.
Sadie buried her face in her hands.
“I spent my entire life trying not to owe anyone anything.”
Roman sat beside her.
“And now everybody thinks I sold myself.”
He wanted to fix it.
She could see that instinct immediately.
Roman solved problems with force, money, or intimidation.
This problem could not be punched.
So he did something harder.
He listened.
The warehouse employees began arriving.
Luis entered first.
Then the drivers.
Then loaders.
Then office workers.
Sadie expected awkward silence.
Instead Luis placed a paper bag on her desk.
“Breakfast.”
She looked at him.
“You okay?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Sadie frowned.
Luis smiled.
“Means you’re human.”
More employees entered.
Nobody quit.
Nobody avoided her.
At noon, reporters were still outside.
Roman walked toward the entrance.
Sadie followed.
“What are you doing?”
“Talking.”
“That seems dangerous.”
“For me?”
“For language generally.”
Roman almost smiled.
He stepped outside.
Microphones immediately surrounded him.
“Roman, did Sadie Jenkins receive money from your father?”
“Is she your girlfriend?”
“Did she convince you to cooperate with federal investigators?”
“Was she involved in Victor Marzano’s arrest?”
Roman waited.
Then spoke.
“Sadie Jenkins was a waitress when I met her.”
The cameras quieted.
“I destroyed part of the restaurant where she worked.”
Sadie watched from behind the glass.
“She was the only person there who treated me like a human being instead of a weapon.”
Roman looked directly into the cameras.
“My father hired her because I was destroying my own life.”
He paused.
“She didn’t seduce me for money.”
Sadie’s eyes filled.
“She taught me how to earn a paycheck without terrorizing everyone around me.”
A reporter shouted.
“Are you in love with her?”
Roman stopped.
Sadie stopped breathing.
He could have avoided it.
Instead he said:
“Yes.”
Every reporter erupted.
Roman continued walking.
Sadie met him inside.
“You’re an idiot.”
“Probably.”
“You just told the entire city.”
“I’ve done worse things publicly.”
Sadie laughed despite herself.
Then she kissed him.
Employees cheered.
Roman pulled away, embarrassed.
“Everyone back to work.”
Nobody listened.
For several days, the story continued.
But something unexpected happened.
Employees began speaking publicly.
Luis told reporters Sadie had fixed payroll.
A driver described Roman paying for his daughter’s surgery.
Restaurant workers from Toscano’s confirmed the first night.
Even David produced security footage showing Sadie calmly handing Roman the towel.
Public opinion did not become perfect.
It became complicated.
Real.
Sadie learned an important lesson.
A lie travels fast.
But sometimes truth keeps walking after it.
Two weeks later, federal prosecutors announced charges against Victor, Anthony, and several corrupt port officials.
Carmine entered negotiations concerning his own financial crimes.
He would lose property.
Money.
Possibly years of freedom.
He accepted it.
One evening, Roman and Sadie returned to Toscano’s.
David had repaired everything.
The Amalfi Coast painting hung in a new frame.
Roman stared at it.
“Four hundred dollars.”
Sadie smiled.
“You remember.”
“You charged me.”
“You deserved it.”
They sat at a small table.
Roman looked uncomfortable.
“What?”
Sadie asked.
“I’ve never done this.”
“Dinner?”
“A date.”
Sadie stared.
“You’re twenty-five.”
“My social life was unconventional.”
“That is the most alarming sentence you’ve ever said.”
Roman laughed.
Dinner lasted two hours.
No bodyguards.
No threats.
No broken furniture.
When the check arrived, Roman placed four hundred dollars on the table.
Sadie raised an eyebrow.
“That’s excessive.”
“I have history here.”
Outside, rain had begun.
Roman took her hand.
“What happens now?”
Sadie looked at him.
“We work tomorrow.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s how normal life works.”
Roman smiled.
“Sounds boring.”
“You need boring.”
He kissed her beneath the restaurant awning.
For the first time, Sadie believed they might actually get it.
A normal future.
But three months later, Roman received a letter.
May you like
Carmine’s sentencing date had been set.
And Roman would have to choose whether to testify against his own father.
