Chapter 5 - The Night Roman Burned His ThroneIsabella Duca slapped her son.
Hard.
Roman did not react.
Matteo looked deeply interested in the carpet.
They had found Roman’s mother in a secured apartment across town.
The seventy-four-year-old widow listened as Roman explained Enzo’s claim.
Then she hit him.
“Why was that?”
Roman touched his cheek.
“For being stupid.”
“That does not narrow it down.”
“You intend to hand Victor everything.”
“Yes.”
“For a woman?”
Roman’s eyes hardened.
“My wife.”
Isabella stared.
The distinction mattered.
She turned away.
“Then you finally understand.”
Roman frowned.
“Understand what?”
“Why Lorenzo gave me page thirty-eight.”
Silence.
Roman stepped closer.
“You have it?”
“Yes.”
“Mother.”
She walked toward a cabinet.
“Your father knew Victor was betraying him.”
“How much did you know?”
“Not enough.”
“You knew Gabriel?”
“Yes.”
Roman closed his eyes.
“Apparently everyone knew everything except me.”
“You were seventeen.”
“I am thirty-seven now.”
“And until yesterday you trusted Victor more than you trusted me.”
Roman looked at her.
The accusation was true.
Isabella returned carrying a small envelope.
Inside was a page from Gabriel’s notebook.
Page thirty-eight.
Roman read it.
The page did not contain account numbers.
It contained a location.
Duca Mausoleum — beneath Lorenzo.
Roman stared.
“What is beneath my father?”
Isabella looked at him.
“Something Lorenzo hoped you would never need.”
They drove to the family cemetery before sunset.
Roman had buried dozens of people there.
His father.
Grandparents.
Uncles.
Men who died for the family.
He had never imagined Lorenzo’s tomb contained anything beyond bones.
Behind a panel beneath the stone coffin, Matteo found a sealed metal cylinder.
Inside:
Documents.
A flash drive.
A letter addressed to Roman.
His hands shook when he opened it.
Son,
If you are reading this, then I failed.
Roman stopped.
Elena was in Victor’s hands.
His father was speaking from twenty years ago.
The combination nearly broke him.
He continued.
Power will teach you the wrong lessons if you let frightened men define strength for you.
Roman swallowed.
Victor believes fear creates loyalty.
He is wrong.
Fear creates obedience until a better fear arrives.
Do not build what comes after me that way.
Roman closed his eyes.
That was exactly what he had done.
He read further.
Gabriel and I placed evidence where Victor cannot reach it without both our families.
If a Santoro and a Duca willingly join their legal interests, the dormant holdings consolidate.
But remember the word willingly.
Victor cannot create legitimacy through force.
Roman looked up.
“Willingly.”
Matteo frowned.
“What?”
Roman showed him.
The marriage trust only activated fully if both spouses reaffirmed the union after one year.
Roman and Elena had been married eight months.
Victor was running out of time.
That was why everything accelerated.
He needed Roman alive long enough to renew the structure—or needed Elena manipulated into doing so.
Roman’s phone rang.
Victor.
“Do you have it?”
Roman answered.
“Yes.”
“Midnight.”
“I want proof Elena is alive.”
A video arrived.
Elena sat tied to a chair.
No visible blood.
Angry rather than terrified.
Roman almost smiled.
Even kidnapped, she looked ready to insult somebody.
Then Elena spoke on video.
“Roman, do not give him—”
The recording stopped.
Victor came back on the line.
“She remains difficult.”
Roman’s voice turned cold.
“That is one of her better qualities.”
“Midnight.”
The line ended.
Matteo looked at Roman.
“Plan?”
Roman folded Lorenzo’s letter.
“Victor expects me alone.”
“You aren’t going alone.”
“No.”
Matteo smiled.
“Good.”
“I’m taking something better than an army.”
“What?”
Roman looked toward Isabella.
“The truth.”
At 11:50 p.m., Roman arrived at Pier Seventeen.
Alone visibly.
Rain hammered the docks.
Warehouses stood dark.
A cargo vessel waited offshore.
Victor had chosen neutral territory with multiple escape routes.
Roman carried a metal case.
Inside were copies.
The originals had already been sent to three attorneys with instructions to release everything if Roman failed to check in by sunrise.
Victor had taught him contingency planning.
Roman appreciated the irony.
A warehouse door opened.
Victor stood inside.
Elena sat nearby.
Hands tied.
Two guards behind her.
Roman saw no injuries.
Relief almost weakened his knees.
Elena looked at him.
“Why are you here?”
Roman raised an eyebrow.
“I received an invitation.”
“This isn’t funny.”
“It was slightly funny.”
Victor smiled.
“You sound like Lorenzo.”
Roman’s face hardened.
“You don’t get to say his name.”
Victor’s smile faded.
“Case.”
Roman placed it on a table.
“Elena first.”
“No.”
“Then we stand here.”
Victor sighed.
“You still think negotiations are about courage.”
“No.”
Roman looked at Elena.
“They’re about what people value.”
Victor’s expression changed.
Roman continued.
“You value the files more than Elena.”
“Yes.”
“I value Elena more than the files.”
Elena stared at him.
Roman looked back at Victor.
“That means I can destroy them.”
Victor went still.
Roman held up a remote.
“Copies are scheduled for release.”
“You’re bluffing.”
“You raised me.”
Victor studied him.
Then smiled.
“No. Lorenzo raised you first.”
Roman did not respond.
Victor gestured.
One guard cut Elena’s restraints.
She stood.
Victor held a pistol behind her.
“Walk.”
Elena moved toward Roman.
Halfway across, Victor said, “Stop.”
She stopped.
Roman’s hand twitched.
Victor noticed.
“You love her.”
Roman looked at Elena.
Her eyes widened.
He could deny it.
Would have denied it a week ago.
There was no point now.
“Yes.”
The word changed the room.
Elena stopped breathing.
Victor laughed.
“Pathetic.”
Roman looked at him.
“No.”
Victor’s smile vanished.
Roman continued.
“I thought so once.”
He glanced at Elena.
“I thought caring about someone gave enemies leverage.”
“It does.”
“You kidnapped her, so apparently.”
Victor smiled again.
“But?”
Roman’s voice softened.
“But it also gives a man something worth losing power for.”
Victor’s expression hardened.
“That is why your father died.”
“No.”
Roman looked at him.
“My father died because he trusted you.”
Silence.
Victor’s smile disappeared completely.
Roman set the remote on the table.
“Let her walk.”
Victor gestured.
Elena crossed the final distance.
Roman pulled her behind him.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
She looked at him.
“You said—”
“Later.”
Victor opened the case.
His expression changed.
“Copies.”
“Yes.”
“You think this is enough?”
“I think the originals are safer where you can’t shoot them.”
Victor raised his gun.
Roman did not move.
“You’re willing to die?”
Roman smiled faintly.
“No.”
Lights exploded on around the warehouse.
Not Roman’s men.
Federal tactical units.
Victor stared.
Roman had done something no Duca boss before him had done.
He contacted prosecutors.
Not local police.
Federal organized-crime investigators already examining Victor’s financial network.
The evidence was enough to buy cooperation.
Victor looked at Roman with pure hatred.
“You brought law enforcement into family business.”
Roman replied, “You stopped being family twenty years ago.”
Gunfire erupted.
Victor’s guards opened fire.
Agents returned shots.
Roman dragged Elena behind crates.
Matteo emerged from a side entrance.
“You said alone!”
Victor shouted.
Roman fired toward Victor’s guards.
“I lied!”
Elena crouched beside him.
“Roman!”
“What?”
She pointed.
Victor was escaping toward the dock.
Roman pursued.
“Elena, stay!”
“Absolutely not!”
“Why do you never listen?”
“Terrible husband!”
They reached the pier.
Victor climbed onto a speedboat.
Roman jumped aboard before it pulled away.
They crashed onto the deck.
Victor struck him.
Roman hit back.
Twenty years of betrayal went into every blow.
Victor laughed through blood.
“Look at you.”
Roman slammed him against the rail.
“You made me.”
“Yes.”
Victor shoved him away.
“I made you powerful.”
“You made me angry.”
“Same thing.”
“No.”
Roman thought of Elena.
“They are not.”
Victor pulled a knife.
Roman disarmed him.
The blade fell.
Roman pinned him.
Victor stared.
“Do it.”
Roman’s fist tightened.
“Kill me.”
For years, Roman would have.
Victor knew it.
Expected it.
Wanted to prove Roman was exactly what he created.
Roman released him.
Victor stared in disbelief.
“No.”
“What?”
Roman stepped back.
“You don’t get to decide who I am anymore.”
Victor’s face twisted.
He grabbed the fallen knife and lunged.
A shot rang out.
Victor stopped.
His expression changed.
Blood spread across his shoulder.
Matteo stood on the dock with a gun.
“Boss said no.”
Agents boarded.
Victor was arrested.
Roman returned to Elena.
She stood beneath the warehouse lights.
Rain soaked her hair.
Roman approached.
For once, he had no idea what to say.
Elena solved it.
“You love me?”
Roman stared.
“I was hoping you forgot that part.”
“No.”
He sighed.
“Yes.”
Elena’s eyes filled.
Roman stepped closer.
“You do not have to say anything.”
“I know.”
“I said it because Victor already knew.”
“That is a terrible romantic explanation.”
“I am not experienced.”
She laughed through tears.
Roman touched her face.
“I love you.”
Better this time.
Elena closed her eyes.
Then whispered, “I love you too.”
Roman kissed her.
Not because witnesses expected it.
Not because they were married.
Not because a contract demanded anything.
May you like
He kissed her because for the first time since his father died, Roman Duca had chosen something that belonged entirely to his own life.
And as the empire behind him began to collapse, he discovered he did not miss the throne at all.
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