Chapter 6 - The Man Roman Trusted Most
Roman pulled Rebecca and Clara behind the stone altar before the second shot hit.
Glass rained across the aisle.
Clara did not scream.
Rebecca did enough for both of them.
“Stay down.”
Roman drew a handgun from beneath his coat.
Rebecca stared.
“You brought that into a church?”
“Take it up with God later.”
Another shot.
Roman looked toward the side exit.
“Rebecca.”
“What?”
“There’s a hallway behind the sacristy.”
“How do you know?”
“I was baptized here.”
“That is not an answer.”
“Get my mother out.”
Clara grabbed his sleeve.
“You are coming.”
“Yes.”
“Roman.”
“I’m coming.”
Rebecca heard the lie.
So did Clara.
She tightened her grip.
“You promised Antonio you would not become him.”
Roman’s face changed.
“What?”
“He always thought sacrifice meant deciding alone.”
Gunfire sounded outside.
Roman looked toward the door.
“No time.”
There was shouting.
Not only attackers.
Other men.
Security.
Roman’s backup team had arrived.
He guided them through the sacristy himself.
The rear hallway opened into an alley.
A black SUV pulled up.
Ben—the security guard Rebecca called Shadow—jumped out.
“Boss!”
Roman raised his weapon instinctively.
Ben froze.
Roman stared.
“Where’s Marcus?”
“Lost contact ten minutes ago.”
Roman searched his face.
“Who sent you?”
“Margaret.”
Clara said, “Good woman.”
Roman lowered the gun.
They got inside.
Only when the doors locked did Rebecca breathe.
“Marcus?”
Roman looked at the ledger.
“I don’t know.”
Clara reached for him.
“He has been with you twelve years.”
“I know.”
That was the problem.
Marcus Reed had become Roman’s head of security after Antonio’s death.
He had protected Clara.
Taken bullets for Roman.
Stood beside him at funerals.
If the ledger entry was real, Adrian owned him.
If it was fake, someone wanted Roman to destroy his most trusted man.
Either possibility served Adrian.
They did not return home.
Roman moved Clara and Rebecca to a secure penthouse above a downtown hotel owned through a legitimate Costa company.
No one knew the location except Ben, Margaret and Helen Walsh.
Roman contacted Marcus once.
No accusations.
“Where are you?”
“Estate.”
“Why did teams lose contact?”
“Network interference.”
“Who attacked the church?”
“Two men dead. One escaped.”
“Identification?”
“Working on it.”
Roman paused.
Rebecca watched from across the room.
“Marcus.”
“Yes?”
“Come downtown.”
A silence.
“To where?”
Roman gave him an address.
Not the penthouse.
An empty Costa office building three blocks away.
Marcus agreed.
Helen Walsh and federal agents were waiting.
Marcus arrived alone.
He was searched.
No hidden devices.
Roman sat opposite him in a conference room.
Rebecca watched through a monitor with Helen.
Marcus looked tired.
“What is this?”
Roman placed a photocopy of the ledger entry on the table.
Marcus stared.
His face did not move for several seconds.
Then he laughed.
Not humor.
Disbelief.
“You think I took money from Adrian?”
“I think your name is in a ledger.”
“Your father’s ledger?”
“Marianne’s.”
Marcus looked closer.
“Date?”
“Two weeks ago.”
“Amount?”
“You see it.”
Marcus’s jaw tightened.
“I didn’t take it.”
“Prove it.”
Marcus looked at Roman.
“Twelve years.”
“I know.”
“I carried you out of Cicero when Salerno put a round through your shoulder.”
“I know.”
“I slept outside your mother’s hospital room.”
“I know.”
“Then why am I here?”
Roman’s expression tightened.
“Because my father trusted the wrong people and died.”
Marcus absorbed that.
Pain crossed his face.
Then he nodded.
“Fair.”
Rebecca had expected anger.
Not that.
Marcus slid the paper back.
“Trace the account.”
“We are.”
“It won’t be mine.”
“What if it is?”
“Then somebody opened it in my name.”
Helen entered.
“Already did.”
Marcus looked toward her.
She placed documents on the table.
The account was opened using copies of Marcus’s identification.
The money had moved through it for less than twenty-four hours before being transferred overseas.
Marcus exhaled.
“Adrian.”
Roman did not apologize immediately.
Marcus noticed.
“You still don’t trust me.”
“I don’t know what to trust.”
“Good.”
Roman frowned.
Marcus continued.
“That’s how you stay alive.”
Then he leaned forward.
“But stop acting like Adrian just became dangerous.”
Roman’s eyes narrowed.
“What does that mean?”
Marcus looked at Helen.
Then Rebecca on the monitor.
“Can she hear?”
Helen nodded.
“Good.”
Marcus spoke directly toward the camera.
“Rebecca, your mother did not leave Chicago because of photographs.”
Rebecca went still.
“What?”
“There was another threat.”
“How do you know?”
Marcus looked at Roman.
“My father worked for Antonio.”
Roman stared.
“Thomas Reed?”
“Yes.”
“He was a driver.”
“He also moved cash when Antonio needed something kept away from Adrian.”
Roman’s face changed.
Marcus continued.
“The night Antonio died, my father drove Evelyn and Rebecca to Milwaukee.”
Rebecca stopped breathing.
She remembered.
A man with kind eyes.
Maybe.
Rain.
A dark car.
Her mother telling her they were taking a “little trip.”
Memory flickered.
“My father knew Evelyn had the ledger,” Marcus said.
“Why didn’t he tell me?” Roman asked.
“He died before you took control.”
Thomas Reed had been killed in a warehouse robbery eight months after Antonio.
Another suspicious death.
Marcus was sixteen.
Antonio’s family paid for his schooling.
Roman later brought him into security.
“All these years,” Roman whispered.
“You knew?”
“No.”
Marcus shook his head.
“I found his letters after my mother died last year.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because the first letter said if Evelyn or the ledger ever resurfaced, assume someone inside the family was still cleaning witnesses.”
Roman slammed a hand on the table.
“So you decided alone?”
Marcus’s face hardened.
“Look in a mirror.”
Rebecca almost laughed despite the situation.
Roman did not.
Marcus continued.
“I started investigating Adrian quietly.”
“The payment?”
“I don’t know.”
“Bell?”
“I had someone watching him.”
Roman’s eyes narrowed.
“Did you kill Bell?”
“No.”
“Who did?”
“I think Adrian.”
Helen asked, “Proof?”
“Camera footage.”
Marcus removed a tiny memory card from his wallet.
Everyone tensed.
He placed it down.
“My investigator photographed a Costa vehicle leaving Bell’s house the night he disappeared.”
Roman stared.
“Whose vehicle?”
Marcus looked at him.
“Your cousin Daniel.”
Another betrayal.
Daniel Costa.
Adrian’s only son.
Roman’s childhood friend.
A man who ran Costa Shipping.
The same man whose guards allowed Clara to “walk out” the night Rebecca found her.
Rebecca felt sick.
“It was Daniel’s team guarding Clara.”
Roman nodded slowly.
Everything aligned.
Daniel had created an opportunity.
Adrian followed Clara.
Bell increased medication.
The competency action.
The attack.
Father and son.
Marcus said, “Daniel is not just helping Adrian.”
“What is he doing?”
“He’s moving product again.”
Roman’s face hardened.
“Narcotics?”
“Yes.”
“Through my ports?”
“Three warehouses.”
Roman stood.
“No.”
Marcus did not flinch.
“You shut down the old routes. Daniel reopened them under medical imports.”
Rebecca understood Alder Medical Consulting.
Seventeen years later, they were using medicine again as cover.
Roman walked toward the window.
“My father died trying to stop this.”
“Yes.”
“And I let it happen again.”
Rebecca spoke through the monitor.
“No.”
Everyone turned toward the screen.
She continued.
“You discovered it.”
Roman’s jaw tightened.
“After people died.”
“Roman.”
He looked directly at the camera.
“You cannot protect people from information you do not have.”
Something softened.
Barely.
Marcus gave a tired smile.
“She’s good for you.”
Roman glared.
“Careful.”
Rebecca’s cheeks warmed.
Helen returned them to reality.
“We need evidence current enough to prosecute.”
“The ledger proves history,” Marcus said. “Not current trafficking.”
“What about Daniel’s warehouses?”
“Roman can authorize an audit.”
Roman shook his head.
“They’ll clean them before auditors arrive.”
Rebecca had an idea.
“What does Adrian want most?”
Roman looked at the monitor.
“Control.”
“Of Clara’s shares?”
“Yes.”
“Then give him a reason to think he’s winning.”
Helen smiled slowly.
Roman did not.
“No.”
Rebecca folded her arms.
“You don’t even know the idea.”
“I know your ideas.”
“Rude.”
“No.”
“Roman.”
Helen interrupted.
“Let her finish.”
Rebecca explained.
Clara would publicly announce she was reconsidering the competency dispute.
Not surrendering.
Simply agreeing to another medical evaluation.
Adrian would believe the drugging had worked.
Meanwhile Roman would leak that he was considering transferring voting control of certain logistics companies to Daniel to stabilize the family.
Daniel would become confident.
Continue moving narcotics.
Federal agents could monitor warehouses.
Roman hated every part.
Clara loved it.
“This is the most entertaining thing I’ve done in years.”
“You are not bait,” Roman said.
“I was bait before anyone asked.”
Clara lifted her chin.
“At least now I know.”
The operation began.
Within nine days, Daniel approved three suspicious shipments.
Federal investigators tracked containers.
A warehouse supervisor cooperated.
Current evidence accumulated.
Adrian relaxed publicly.
He invited Clara to a family charity gala as though reconciliation were underway.
Roman refused.
Clara accepted.
Rebecca said, “Absolutely not.”
Clara smiled.
“I thought you were on my side.”
“I am. That’s why I don’t want you attending a ballroom full of criminals.”
Roman looked offended.
“Not everyone at my galas is a criminal.”
Rebecca stared.
“Comforting.”
Clara insisted.
Helen wanted Adrian on record discussing Clara’s shares.
Rebecca accompanied her.
Roman never moved more than thirty feet away.
The gala took place in a hotel overlooking the river.
Clara wore dark green.
Rebecca wore a black dress Margaret had practically forced onto her.
Roman saw Rebecca at the top of the stairs and forgot the conversation he was having.
Marcus noticed.
“So subtle.”
Roman recovered.
“Do you enjoy employment?”
“Usually.”
Rebecca approached.
“You look uncomfortable.”
Roman stared.
“You don’t.”
“That wasn’t a compliment.”
“It was trying to become one.”
Clara sighed.
“Both of you are exhausting.”
Adrian appeared before Roman could answer.
Daniel beside him.
Family photographs were taken.
Smiles.
Champagne.
Polite lies.
Rebecca stayed with Clara.
During dinner, Adrian leaned close.
“You seem clearer.”
Clara smiled.
“Good doctors.”
His expression tightened.
Later he asked her privately whether she might support transferring additional company authority to Daniel.
Clara pretended uncertainty.
A microphone hidden in her necklace captured everything.
Then Daniel approached Rebecca near the terrace.
“You’re causing problems.”
“Family trait apparently.”
“You think Roman will protect you forever?”
Rebecca’s skin chilled.
“He doesn’t need to.”
Daniel smiled.
“That’s where you’re wrong.”
He touched her elbow.
Roman appeared.
His hand closed around Daniel’s wrist.
“Don’t.”
Daniel laughed.
“She’s staff.”
Rebecca’s temper ignited.
“I’m standing here.”
Roman’s face became cold.
“She’s Rebecca.”
Something in the way he said it silenced Daniel.
Adrian saw the exchange.
And understood.
Rebecca mattered.
That made her dangerous.
An hour later, the first alarm sounded.
Not fire.
Security.
Marcus’s voice came through Roman’s earpiece.
“Boss. Clara’s gone.”
Rebecca spun.
“What?”
She had been standing beside Clara less than three minutes earlier.
Her empty cane lay near the service corridor.
Roman looked toward Adrian.
He was gone too.
May you like
Daniel smiled across the ballroom.
Then every light in the hotel went out.
