Chapter 6 - She Walked Into the Lion's Den
Frederick Lane did not look like a murderer.
That was Alina's first thought.
He looked tired.
Thin.
Old before his time.
He sat in a service room beneath the Old Harbor Hotel with his hands zip-tied in front of him.
Roman watched through a security feed from an empty office across the street.
Marcus had planted two cameras.
The plan was simple.
Which meant Alina distrusted it immediately.
Gabriel was expected to arrive.
Serrano's men would bring Lane.
Roman would intercept the transfer after they confirmed why Lane mattered.
Alina was supposed to stay in the surveillance room.
That part lasted fourteen minutes.
Then the hotel fire alarm activated.
"That's not us," Marcus said.
Roman stood.
On the monitor, men moved through the hallway.
Gabriel entered Lane's room.
Alina leaned closer.
The microphone crackled.
Gabriel shut the door.
"You look terrible, Freddie."
Lane stared.
"You said I'd be safe."
"You were safe."
"For twelve years?"
Gabriel smiled.
"That's longer than most people get."
Alina's fingers curled.
Roman watched without blinking.
Lane lowered his voice.
"I did what you asked."
"What exactly did I ask?"
"Don't do this."
Gabriel leaned against the wall.
"Say it."
Lane swallowed.
"You paid me to damage Thomas Hale's brake line."
Alina stopped breathing.
Roman reached toward her.
She pulled away.
Not from him.
From everything.
She needed to stand alone.
Lane continued.
"You said nobody would get hurt if he couldn't drive."
Gabriel smiled coldly.
"And you believed that?"
"You told me they were going to scare him."
"Freddie."
Gabriel crouched.
"We both know I never promised that."
Alina covered her mouth.
Proof.
After twelve years.
Gabriel had killed her father.
Then another voice came through the microphone.
Victor Serrano.
He entered the room.
He was older than the photographs.
Silver hair.
Tailored suit.
A grandfather's face.
"Enough nostalgia."
Gabriel stood.
"You're early."
"You moved the meeting."
"Because Roman found the station."
Serrano's expression changed.
"Did he get the files?"
"I gave you the drive."
"A fake drive."
Gabriel went still.
Alina looked at Roman.
Roman almost smiled.
Serrano slapped Gabriel.
Hard.
Roman's smile disappeared.
"Your cousin outplayed you."
Gabriel's face turned red.
"I can get the real one."
"How?"
"The girl."
Roman's whole body changed.
Serrano noticed something on his phone.
He looked toward the camera.
Alina's heart dropped.
"Marcus."
"I'm checking."
The video feed flickered.
Serrano smiled directly at the camera.
"Hello, Roman."
The screen went black.
"Move," Roman said.
Everyone reacted.
Marcus grabbed equipment.
Security men headed for the stairwell.
Then the office door locked automatically.
Roman tried it.
Nothing.
Smoke began entering through the ventilation system.
Alina coughed.
"They knew this location."
"Backup exit."
Roman kicked open a maintenance panel.
They moved into the adjoining building.
By the time they reached street level, the hotel was evacuating hundreds of guests.
Serrano's people disappeared into the crowd.
Lane was gone.
So was Gabriel.
Roman swore.
Marcus spoke into his radio.
"No visual."
Alina scanned the crowd.
Waitressing.
Watch people.
Not faces.
Hands.
Movement.
Who is looking where?
Most evacuated guests stared at the hotel.
One man wasn't.
He watched Roman.
Blue baseball cap.
Black jacket.
When Alina met his eyes, he turned.
"There."
Roman followed her gaze.
The man ran.
Marcus pursued.
Roman started after him.
Alina saw another figure approaching from behind Roman.
Hand inside coat.
"Roman!"
She shoved him.
A gunshot cracked.
Glass exploded behind them.
Roman pulled Alina down behind a parked car.
His security team reacted.
The shooter fled.
Roman looked at Alina.
"Are you hit?"
"No."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
His hands moved over her shoulders, checking.
"I'm fine."
His face had gone pale.
She had never seen him frightened like that.
Not for himself.
For her.
"Roman."
He stared at her.
"I'm okay."
His eyes closed briefly.
Then he pulled her against him.
Hard.
Alina froze.
Then held him back.
For several seconds, sirens and shouting disappeared.
There was only the violent hammering of his heart.
When he released her, his composure returned imperfectly.
"We're leaving."
Back at the house, Roman was furious.
At Serrano.
At Gabriel.
At himself.
Mostly at Alina.
"You shoved me."
"You're welcome."
"You could have been shot."
"So could you."
"That's different."
"Explain."
He opened his mouth.
Closed it.
Alina crossed her arms.
"Exactly."
Roman paced.
"I told your father—"
"My father is dead."
Roman stopped.
The words hurt both of them.
Alina softened.
"You cannot keep protecting me by making my choices for me."
"I can try."
"You're terrible at it."
He looked at her.
"Do you understand what would've happened if that bullet hit you?"
"Yes."
"No, you don't."
His voice broke.
Alina became still.
Roman stepped closer.
"I've spent twelve years paying debts to dead people."
The anger vanished.
"I couldn't save your father."
"You were seventeen."
"I couldn't stop what my family became."
"You were a kid."
"I couldn't protect you from even knowing this existed."
"You didn't create it."
Roman's eyes searched hers.
"And tonight you nearly died because of me."
"Tonight you nearly died because of me."
"That's not the same."
"It is to me."
Silence.
Roman looked away.
Alina stepped closer.
"Why?"
He frowned.
"Why what?"
"Why is it different when it's me?"
Roman said nothing.
She knew.
Or thought she did.
The month at the diner.
The untouched cherry pie.
The way he had watched her.
The panic after the gunshot.
"You weren't only watching me because of my father."
Roman's jaw tightened.
"No."
"How long?"
He laughed once without humor.
"I don't know."
"That's not very mafia boss of you."
"I hate when you call me that."
"I noticed."
Roman looked at her.
"The first night I came to Belle's, you gave Henderson free soup."
Alina blinked.
"What?"
"He had three dollars."
She remembered.
"You pretended he accidentally gave you a twenty."
"I didn't want him embarrassed."
Roman's expression softened.
"Then a homeless woman came in. You let her sit near the heater even though Belle had a sign saying customers only."
"How long were you there?"
"Four hours."
"You barely touched your pie."
"I hate cherries."
Alina laughed.
"Then why order it?"
"You recommended it."
That silenced her.
Roman took another step.
"I told myself I kept coming because of security."
"And?"
"I was lying."
Her heartbeat changed.
He raised one hand.
Stopped before touching her face.
Giving her the choice.
Alina closed the distance.
His palm rested against her cheek.
Warm.
Careful.
For a man whose reputation depended on fear, Roman kissed her as though she were something that might disappear if he moved too quickly.
Alina kissed him back.
There was nothing careful about that.
Months of exhaustion.
Days of fear.
Years of loneliness.
It all collapsed into one impossible moment.
When they separated, Roman rested his forehead against hers.
"This is a terrible idea."
"Probably."
"Your father would kill me."
"Apparently Gabriel already tried that."
Roman laughed despite himself.
Then his phone rang.
The moment ended.
Marcus.
Roman answered.
"What?"
His expression changed.
"When?"
He put the call on speaker.
Marcus's voice filled the room.
"We found Lane."
Alina's heart jumped.
"Alive?"
"Yes."
"Where?"
"A church shelter on West Adams."
Roman frowned.
"Why would Serrano release him?"
"He didn't."
Marcus paused.
"Lane escaped."
Alina grabbed her coat.
Roman pointed at her.
"No."
She looked at him.
He sighed.
"Fine. But you stay beside me."
"Reasonable suggestion."
Forty minutes later, Frederick Lane sat trembling inside the church office.
When he saw Alina, he began crying.
"I'm sorry."
She stood across from him.
"You killed my father."
"I damaged the car."
"You knew."
"I knew there could be an accident."
"That's the same thing."
Lane nodded.
"I know."
Alina wanted to scream.
Instead she asked the only question that mattered.
"Why?"
"Money."
The simplicity disgusted her.
"Gabriel paid me."
Roman stepped forward.
"Did my father know?"
Lane's face changed.
Roman saw it.
"What?"
Lane looked terrified.
"You need to understand."
"Understand what?"
"Gabriel didn't give the order first."
Roman went still.
Lane whispered.
"Salvatore did."
The room became silent.
Alina looked at Roman.
He looked as if someone had struck him.
Lane continued.
"Your father told Gabriel that Thomas Hale had become dangerous."
Roman's voice barely worked.
"My father ordered Thomas killed?"
Lane shook his head rapidly.
"Not exactly."
"What does that mean?"
"He ordered Gabriel to scare him. Stop him from leaving. Make him think his family could be at risk."
Alina felt sick.
Roman's face hardened.
"And Gabriel?"
"Gabriel changed the order."
"Why?"
Lane looked toward the floor.
"Because Thomas knew Gabriel had been stealing from the Vescari accounts."
Roman stared.
"Gabriel killed Thomas to hide his own theft."
"Yes."
Alina closed her eyes.
Lane whispered another sentence.
"And Victor Serrano helped him cover it up."
Roman looked toward Alina.
The truth was uglier than either of them had expected.
Salvatore Vescari had not murdered her father.
But he had created the threat.
Gabriel had turned it into murder.
And Serrano had buried the evidence.
Three men.
Three kinds of guilt.
One dead father.
Roman stepped backward.
"My family did this."
Alina moved toward him.
"Gabriel did."
"My father started it."
"Yes."
Roman looked at her, devastated by the fact that she agreed.
She took his hand.
"Both can be true."
He stared down at their joined fingers.
"Your father was wrong."
"Yes."
"Gabriel killed mine."
"Yes."
"And you're not either of them."
Roman's eyes lifted.
Before he could answer, a church window shattered.
Marcus yelled.
"Down!"
A bullet hit the wall.
Roman pulled Alina behind a desk.
Outside, tires screamed.
Lane began sobbing.
Marcus looked through the broken window.
"They're gone."
Roman's phone buzzed.
A message.
Unknown number.
A photograph loaded.
Belle.
Bound to a chair inside the diner.
Underneath:
BRING THE REAL DRIVE.
MIDNIGHT.
COME WITH THE GIRL.
OR THE WAITRESS LOSES HER BOSS.
Alina stared at the screen.
Serrano had finally stopped threatening shadows.
Now he was taking people she loved.
May you like
And this time, Alina had no intention of hiding behind Roman Vescari.
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