Chapter 8 - The Night Roman Chose Differently
Carlo Rossi called Roman at midnight.
No threats.
No dramatic speech.
“Meet me.”
Roman listened.
“Where?”
“The old warehouse.”
Sadi, sitting across from him, shook her head.
Roman did not agree.
Carlo continued.
“Bring the blue book.”
“No.”
Silence.
Then Carlo laughed.
“She changed you.”
Roman looked at Sadi.
“No.”
He answered calmly.
“She reminded me I could change myself.”
Sadi looked away because that affected her more than she wanted.
Carlo’s voice hardened.
“You think giving evidence to federal agents makes you respectable?”
“No.”
“You think she’ll forget what you are?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
Roman’s answer was simple.
“Because I’m done letting men like us make everyone else pay for our pride.”
Carlo disconnected.
Roman placed the phone down.
Sadi asked, “Were you always this exhausting?”
“Yes.”
“Good to know.”
Agent Benton’s team prepared to arrest Carlo.
But Carlo disappeared first.
For two days, nobody found him.
Then Linda called.
Her voice shook.
“Sadi, I think someone is inside the house.”
The Oak Park house.
Sadi stood.
Roman caught her wrist.
She looked down.
He released it immediately.
“Sorry.”
That mattered.
“My mother’s there.”
“I know.”
“I’m going.”
“No.”
Her expression hardened.
Roman corrected himself.
“I don’t want you to.”
“Better.”
“Sadi.”
“I’m still going.”
Federal agents surrounded the house before Sadi arrived.
Linda came out safely.
Carlo did not.
He had never been inside.
Instead, he had left something on the dining table.
A small painting.
The woman in blue.
A copy.
Behind it:
ROMAN KNOWS WHAT HE DID.
Sadi turned.
“What does that mean?”
Roman’s face had gone pale.
“Three years ago, Carlo came to me after your father died.”
“And?”
“He said Moretti had killed him.”
Sadi’s chest tightened.
“What did you do?”
“I believed him.”
“Roman.”
“I attacked Moretti operations.”
“How many people got hurt?”
He looked at the floor.
“Too many.”
Sadi closed her eyes.
Carlo had created a war.
Roman had supplied the anger.
Roman continued.
“Your father’s death gave Carlo exactly what he wanted.”
“And you never verified it.”
“No.”
“Because violence was easier.”
“Yes.”
The answer came without excuse.
Sadi walked outside.
Snow had begun falling.
Roman followed but kept distance.
She turned.
“You keep saying you’ve changed.”
“I’m trying.”
“Trying doesn’t undo people.”
“I know.”
“Stop saying that.”
He flinched.
She had never seen Roman flinch before.
Sadi breathed.
“I don’t know what to do with you.”
“You don’t have to do anything.”
“That’s not fair either.”
“What would be?”
“I don’t know.”
Roman nodded.
She almost laughed through her tears.
“There. You’re doing it again.”
“What?”
“Being reasonable when I want to yell at you.”
“I can be unreasonable.”
“Please don’t.”
For a moment they stood in the snow.
Two people from completely different worlds joined by the consequences of men who believed control was the same as strength.
Roman’s phone rang.
Agent Benton.
Carlo had been located.
He was at the Rossi estate.
Not hiding.
Waiting.
Roman looked toward Sadi.
“I have to go.”
She nodded.
Then said, “Roman.”
He stopped.
“Do not kill him.”
His face went unreadable.
“He used my father’s death to start a war.”
“I know.”
“He threatened you.”
“I know.”
“He betrayed my family.”
“I know.”
Sadi stepped closer.
“And if you kill him, he still decides who you are.”
Roman looked at her for a long time.
Then left.
At the Rossi estate, Carlo sat in the same kitchen where Sadi had once whispered that she needed a boyfriend.
A glass of whiskey waited before him.
Roman entered alone.
Carlo smiled.
“There he is.”
Roman remained near the doorway.
“You picked the kitchen.”
“I appreciate symmetry.”
Carlo lifted the glass.
“You had everything.”
“No.”
“Power. Money. Fear.”
Roman looked around.
“I had people who obeyed me.”
“Same thing.”
“No.”
Carlo laughed.
“You sound like the maid.”
Roman’s expression changed.
“Say her name.”
Carlo smiled wider.
“There he is.”
Roman understood.
Carlo wanted anger.
Wanted the old Roman.
Wanted violence because violence made both men familiar again.
Roman pulled out a chair.
He sat.
Carlo frowned.
“What are you doing?”
“Waiting.”
“For?”
“Federal agents.”
Carlo stared.
Then laughed.
“You called them?”
“Yes.”
“You?”
“Yes.”
“You’ll implicate yourself.”
“Probably.”
Carlo’s amusement disappeared.
Roman leaned back.
“You spent years believing I would always protect my empire before I protected the truth.”
Carlo said nothing.
“You were right.”
Roman heard vehicles outside.
“Until now.”
Carlo stood.
“Coward.”
Roman stayed seated.
The kitchen doors opened.
Agents entered.
Carlo looked at Roman with genuine hatred.
“You’re destroying everything your father built.”
Roman looked toward the sink.
The exact place where Sadi had stood crying.
“Maybe some things should end.”
Carlo was arrested without a shot fired.
Roman went with the agents voluntarily.
Sadi learned twenty minutes later.
She raced to the federal building.
Agent Benton met her outside.
“Roman is cooperating.”
“Is he under arrest?”
“He’s answering for his own conduct.”
Sadi stopped.
Part of her had always assumed Roman’s protection came with a magical exemption from consequences.
Apparently Roman had assumed so too.
Until tonight.
She looked through the glass doors.
“Can I see him?”
“Not yet.”
Sadi nodded.
Then sat on a bench.
And waited.
May you like
Not because Roman owned her loyalty.
Because for the first time since she met him, he had chosen the harder thing when violence would have been easier.
