Chapter 4 - Fast.
“Check the offices.”
A rough voice echoed.
“Arthur wants Caldwell alive.”
A pause.
“Everyone else is fair game.”
Naen’s stomach dropped.
Arthur.
He had waited.
Waited for the blizzard.
Waited until most of Roman’s men were gone.
2 men entered reception.
Naen saw only their legs beneath the desk.
Snow boots.
Dark jeans.
One man chambered a round.
The sound seemed impossibly loud.
“Nobody here.”
The second man moved closer.
“Computers are warm.”
A pause.
“Someone’s close.”
Naen covered her mouth with one hand.
Her heartbeat seemed loud enough to betray her.
She pictured Leo.
Safe in bed.
Mrs. Higgins watching him.
She had to survive.
The executive hallway doors opened.
“Looking for me?”
Roman’s voice carried through the darkness.
Both men turned.
Their weapons came up.
They never fired.
2 suppressed shots.
Sharp.
Efficient.
The men dropped.
Their guns skidded over the tile.
Naen jerked beneath the desk but forced herself not to scream.
“Naen.”
Roman’s calm was gone.
Urgency replaced it.
He stepped into reception.
“Where are you?”
Naen crawled from beneath the desk.
Her hands shook so violently she could barely stand.
Roman reached her immediately.
He holstered a black pistol and took both her shoulders.
His eyes searched her face.
Her arms.
Her clothing.
“Are you hurt?”
His voice was rough.
“Did they touch you?”
“No.”
Naen struggled for air.
“I’m okay.”
She looked at the bodies.
“You killed them.”
“I stopped them.”
Roman looked toward the warehouse.
“There are more.”
He spoke quickly now.
“The backup generator fails in approximately 3 minutes. They cut the main fuel line.”
He took her hand.
“We need to move.”
Roman pulled her through the executive corridor.
Not to his office.
To a utility closet.
He moved a rack of cleaning supplies.
A steel door was hidden behind it.
Roman entered a 6-digit code.
The lock disengaged.
“Inside.”
Naen looked through the opening.
Panic room.
Security monitors.
Weapons.
Medical supplies.
“What about you?”
“I secure the perimeter.”
Roman glanced toward the corridor.
“Victor was 5 minutes away when your alarm went off.”
He looked back at her.
“I only need to hold them until he arrives.”
“You’re outnumbered.”
Naen looked at Roman’s abdomen.
She remembered the wound in the alley.
“You can’t fight a warehouse full of men alone.”
Roman stopped.
For a moment, something softened in his face.
His hand lifted.
He cupped Naen’s cheek.
His thumb moved over her cheekbone.
The tenderness made no sense in a hallway smelling of gunpowder.
“I have spent my entire life surviving people who wanted me dead.”
His voice was quiet.
“I am not dying tonight.”
Roman’s gaze remained on hers.
“I have too much to lose now.”
The words hung between them.
Then the softness disappeared.
Roman became hard again.
“Lock the door.”
He drew his weapon.
“Do not open it for anyone except me or Victor.”
Then he disappeared into the shadows.
Naen closed the steel door.
The lock sealed behind him.
She faced the bank of monitors.
7 armed men moved through the loading floor.
Then Roman entered the camera frame.
He moved between stacked pallets like a shadow.
The businessman was gone.
What remained was the predator that controlled the city’s underworld.
Naen watched him.
Hands against the cold steel door.
And understood with terrifying clarity that she was no longer merely his employee.
She was inside his world.
And she did not want to leave.
Gunfire did not sound like the movies.
Behind the thick panic-room walls, it sounded like someone beating sheet metal with a hammer.
Flat.
Ugly.
Final.
Naen stared at the screens.
Emergency lighting washed the footage in yellow-gray distortion.
Roman moved through it with deliberate precision.
2 men attempted to flank him near the loading bays.
Roman dropped low.
Fired twice.
Moved before either body struck the concrete.
He was defending his territory.
Defending her.
Naen pressed both hands over her mouth.
Fear and awe twisted together inside her.
Her entire life had been spent avoiding dangerous men.
Keeping her head down.
Remaining invisible to monsters.
Now the most dangerous man in the city was killing to ensure she returned home to her son.
On one monitor, a huge man with a shotgun appeared around a forklift.
Roman turned too late.
A glancing impact caught his shoulder and threw him against steel shelving.
The frame shook.
Naen gasped.
Roman did not remain down.
He used the fall to sweep the attacker’s legs.
The man collapsed.
Roman brought his pistol down across the man’s jaw.
Then the loading-bay doors exploded inward.
A black SUV crashed through reinforced grating.
Sparks.
Metal.
Shattered glass.
The vehicle drove directly toward the remaining attackers.
Passenger doors opened.
Victor stepped out with a matte-black rifle shouldered.
3 more men followed.
The fight ended within 40 seconds.
Then silence.
Victor gave a hand signal.
His crew spread out.
The perimeter was secured.
Bodies were dragged toward the center aisle with disturbing efficiency.
On the monitor, Roman pushed himself upright.
He leaned against a forklift.
His chest rose sharply.
His left arm hung awkwardly.
Then he looked directly into the nearest camera.
His gray eyes seemed to find Naen through the screen.
5 minutes later, the panic-room lock disengaged.
Roman stood outside.
His white shirt was torn across the shoulder.
Dark grease covered the fabric.
A fresh streak of blood ran through it.
He smelled of cold air, copper, and gunpowder.
Adrenaline had begun to leave him.
Exhaustion replaced it.
Roman did not enter.
He watched Naen.
Waiting, perhaps, for disgust.
For fear.
For her to see him as a contaminant.
A monster.
Naen stepped toward him.
She touched his uninjured arm.
His muscles remained rigid.
“You’re bleeding.”
Roman glanced down.
“Graze.”
His voice became formal again.
“Victor is handling cleanup. The police will not be involved. The perimeter is secure.”
“I don’t care about the perimeter.”
Naen tightened her fingers around his sleeve.
“Sit down.”
She pulled him into the room.
For less than a second, Roman resisted.
Then he allowed her to guide him to the metal cot.
He sat.
Elbows resting on his knees.
Head lowered.
Naen took down a medical kit.
She knelt before him.
Exactly as she had in the alley.
This time there was no freezing rain.
No uncertainty.
Only the terrifying realization that she cared about him.
She moved the torn fabric from his shoulder.
The bullet had cut a shallow track through the flesh.
Painful.
Not critical.
Naen opened antiseptic.
“This will sting.”
“I’m used to it.”
She pressed the wet gauze against the wound.
Roman hissed.
His hand caught her waist.
Not violently.
Not like the alley.
He held her as an anchor.
Naen froze.
Heat spread through her blouse beneath his palm.
She looked up.
Roman was already watching her.
The space between them had disappeared.
“I gave you the job because I wanted you safe.”
His voice broke its usual discipline.
“I wanted you away from the crossfire.”
Roman swallowed.
“And I brought it to your desk.”
“Arthur brought it.”
Naen taped the dressing down.
“You ended it.”
She kept her eyes on his.
“I knew exactly what you were when I accepted the job.”
Roman’s hand remained on her waist.
“Stop trying to protect my innocence.”
Her voice softened.
“I lost that a long time ago.”
Roman’s fingers traced the line of her hip before slowly falling away.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
His voice was rough.
“You’re too good for this God-forsaken room.”
May you like
Naen stood.
“I’m exactly where I need to be.”
Related Stories
