Chapter 5 - Thirty Million Dollars and One Dead Man's Name
By midnight, the Rossi estate had become a fortress.
Floodlights burned across the lawn. Armed men stood at every entrance. Cars arrived and departed without headlights, carrying accountants, lawyers, and people Sadi suspected did not appear on any legitimate payroll.
Roman had moved his mother to a secure apartment beneath one of his downtown buildings.
He had tried to move Sadi too.
She had refused.
Now she sat inside Roman's office while six men argued around a polished mahogany table.
Nobody had invited her.
That was becoming a theme.
She had brought her own chair.
Roman stood at the head of the table.
"Warehouse Nine contained emergency cash reserves," he said. "Only four people knew the complete access protocol. Me. Nico. Salvatore. And my father."
Salvatore DeLuca was sixty-two, broad, silver-haired, and built like a retired boxer. He had served Roman's father before Roman took control.
"Your father has been dead twenty years," Salvatore said.
"I'm aware. I attended the funeral."
Nobody laughed.
Sadi studied the men instead.
Nico looked angry.
Salvatore looked offended.
The others looked afraid.
Fear was useful.
It made people careless.
Roman placed security photographs on the table.
The cameras at Warehouse Nine had captured a masked team entering at 2:13 a.m. They knew exactly where the money was stored. They disabled the alarms in forty-seven seconds.
Professional.
Prepared.
Inside job.
"The code," Roman said, "was 0719."
Sadi looked up.
Roman's expression changed almost imperceptibly.
She knew immediately that the numbers meant something.
"What is July nineteenth?" she asked.
Salvatore's eyes moved toward her.
Roman answered.
"The day my father died."
The room chilled.
Sadi leaned back.
"Then whoever did this isn't pretending he's alive. They're sending a message."
"We know," Salvatore said sharply.
Sadi looked at him.
"Do you? Because everyone keeps saying someone stole thirty million dollars, but the money seems almost secondary. They could have used any stolen code. They chose the date Roman killed his father. They broke into his mother's room but didn't hurt her. They photographed me but didn't touch me."
She looked at Roman.
"They want you frightened before they want you dead."
Roman's eyes darkened.
Salvatore scoffed.
"With respect, Miss Miller, this is family business."
Sadi smiled.
"That's interesting. Three weeks ago I was staff. Now I'm family whenever someone wants to threaten me, but I'm staff again whenever I ask questions. Pick one."
Nico coughed into his fist to hide a laugh.
Roman did not hide his.
It was brief.
Dangerous.
Proud.
Salvatore's face reddened.
"She's right," Roman said.
That ended the argument.
For the next two hours they reconstructed the theft.
At 2:06 a.m., a maintenance van entered through a service gate.
At 2:13, the warehouse alarm was disabled.
At 2:17, the internal cameras looped old footage.
At 2:51, two armored trucks departed.
At 3:04, the alarm reactivated.
No witnesses.
No bodies.
No mistakes.
Except one.
Sadi noticed it while everyone else debated routes.
"Why is there a florist van?"
Roman stopped.
She pointed to a traffic-camera image taken four blocks from the warehouse.
Behind one armored truck was a white van with a faded green logo.
CHLOE'S BLOOM ROOM.
Sadi's blood went cold.
"That's my sister's business."
Roman's chair scraped backward.
"Call her."
Sadi already had her phone out.
Chloe answered on the fifth ring.
"What?"
Her voice sounded exhausted.
They had not spoken since the wedding.
"Chloe, where is your delivery van?"
Silence.
"Why?"
"Where is it?"
"At the shop, I think. Mark handles the commercial deliveries now."
Sadi closed her eyes.
"Put Mark on."
"Sadi, it's midnight. What is this about? Mom said you're living with that criminal and—"
"Put Mark on the phone."
Something in her voice worked.
A moment later, her brother-in-law came on.
"Hey."
"Where's the van?"
"Which one?"
"The white Ford."
Another pause.
Too long.
Roman was already moving.
"Mark."
Sadi's voice became quiet.
"Do not lie to me."
Mark exhaled.
"It got stolen two nights ago."
"And you didn't report it?"
"I was going to."
"Why didn't you?"
"Because a guy called me first. He said he'd pay twenty grand if I waited three days before reporting it."
Sadi's stomach dropped.
"You took the money?"
"We have wedding debt! The venue still wants payment even after what happened. Chloe's business is barely surviving. I didn't know it had anything to do with you."
Roman held out his hand.
Sadi did not give him the phone.
She asked the question herself.
"What did the man look like?"
"I never saw him. Cash was left in a locker at Union Station."
"Did he say anything else?"
"Just one thing."
Mark swallowed audibly.
"He said tell Sadi that families should stay together."
Roman took the phone then.
Not from Sadi.
She handed it to him.
"Mark," Roman said. "Take Chloe and leave the house. My men will arrive in four minutes. Do exactly what they say."
Mark began protesting.
Roman hung up.
Sadi stood.
"I'm going with them."
"No."
"Roman."
"This isn't about controlling you. Your sister is now a pressure point. I need you somewhere secure."
"She's my sister."
"Which is exactly why you won't think clearly."
Sadi stared at him.
"Would you stay here if it were your mother?"
Roman's silence answered.
"Then don't ask me to be weaker than you."
Five minutes later, they were in the armored SUV.
Roman hated every second of it.
Sadi could tell because his jaw remained clenched from the estate to Chloe's townhouse.
They arrived to find the front door open.
Roman's men surrounded the property.
Inside, Chloe sat on the staircase crying.
Mark stood near the kitchen with both hands visible while Nico questioned him.
Helen was there too.
Of course she was.
The moment she saw Sadi, she rushed forward.
"Look what you've done!"
Roman stepped between them.
Sadi touched his arm.
"No."
He looked at her.
She moved around him.
Helen pointed a shaking finger.
"Before that man entered our lives, nobody shot at weddings. Nobody stole vans. Nobody needed armed guards."
"Before Roman entered my life, you still treated me like I was an embarrassment. So don't rewrite history because the current version is scarier."
Helen recoiled.
Chloe looked up.
Her mascara had streaked down her cheeks.
"Sadi."
There was something different in her voice.
Not accusation.
Fear.
"Someone was in the house."
Sadi went to her.
"What?"
Chloe held out a photograph.
It had been placed on her pillow.
The photograph showed Sadi at twelve years old, standing beside Chloe at a family picnic.
Sadi remembered the day.
She had worn an oversized yellow T-shirt because Helen had told her not to wear the swimsuit she wanted.
On the back was another message.
HE COULDN'T PROTECT HIS MOTHER.
HE WON'T PROTECT YOUR FAMILY.
Roman read it over her shoulder.
His entire body became still.
"Who knows about your father?" Sadi asked.
"Very few people."
"Then stop looking at the six people who knew the warehouse code. Start looking at everyone who knew you when you were seventeen."
Roman looked at Salvatore, who had entered behind them.
The older man's face had gone pale.
Sadi saw it.
So did Roman.
"Salvatore," Roman said quietly.
The old man swallowed.
"There is someone."
Roman's voice dropped.
"Who?"
Salvatore looked toward Sadi.
Then back at Roman.
"Your brother."
The room stopped.
Roman did not blink.
Sadi thought she had misheard.
"Roman doesn't have a brother."
Salvatore's expression filled with twenty years of regret.
"Yes," he said.
"He does."
Before they left Chloe's townhouse, Sadi found herself alone with her sister in the kitchen. Chloe stood at the counter twisting her wedding ring, unable to meet Sadi's eyes.
"I owe you an apology," Chloe said.
Sadi waited.
"For more than the wedding. I let Mom make you the family problem because it meant she wasn't looking at me. I knew she hurt you. I pretended not to notice."
The admission hurt, but differently from an excuse. It had weight because Chloe did not ask Sadi to erase anything.
"I was jealous of you," Chloe continued. "You think I was the favorite, but you were the one who could leave. You got an apartment. A job. A life that was messy but yours. I kept doing everything Mom wanted because I was scared she'd look at me the way she looked at you."
Sadi glanced toward the living room where Helen sat rigidly under the watch of two armed guards.
"She probably would have."
Chloe gave a watery laugh.
Sadi hugged her. Not because everything was repaired, but because repair had to begin somewhere.
Outside, Roman waited beside the SUV rather than coming inside to retrieve her. That small restraint did not escape Sadi. He was learning that waiting could also be protection.
When she joined him, he opened the door.
"You okay?"
"No."
Roman nodded. "All right."
May you like
He did not tell her she would be.
For once, that was exactly what she needed.
