Chapter 3 - SAY IT AGAIN
The Onyx Club reopened at midnight.
Not to customers.
Only to ghosts.
The chandeliers glowed above empty tables. The dance floor was dark. No music played.
Roman entered through the front doors with Norah beside him.
His men followed at a distance.
“Stay behind me,” he said.
“No.”
“Norah.”
“They asked for me.”
“They want to use you.”
“They already have.”
Roman stopped.
His voice dropped.
“If anything happens to you—”
“What?”
She looked up at him.
“You’ll blame yourself again?”
His jaw tightened.
Norah touched his sleeve.
“Then stop deciding for me.”
For a moment, she saw the young man her mother must have loved.
Not the mafia boss.
Not the feared heir.
Just someone terrified of losing the last piece of a woman he had already buried twice.
Roman nodded.
They walked toward booth four.
Vincent Gallagher sat in the center.
Mia and David were tied to chairs on either side of him.
David’s face was bruised. Mia had been crying.
The leather ledger rested on the table.
Vincent smiled.
“My nephew.”
Roman’s voice was flat.
“Let them go.”
Vincent looked at Norah.
“Elena’s girl.”
Norah felt Roman tense beside her.
Vincent lifted the ledger.
“Do you know what your mother destroyed trying to protect you?”
“My childhood?”
His smile faded.
“She destroyed order.”
“She exposed criminals.”
“She betrayed her husband.”
Roman stepped forward.
“She betrayed you.”
Vincent looked at him with mild disappointment.
“Elena convinced you that you could be something other than a Gallagher.”
“I am something other than you.”
Vincent laughed.
“Are you?”
He opened the ledger.
Names filled the pages.
Judges. Police officers. Union heads. Politicians.
“Your father built this empire,” Vincent said. “Elena tried to tear it down.”
“My father tortured her.”
“He corrected a mistake.”
Roman reached beneath his coat.
Vincent raised one finger.
A red laser dot appeared on Norah’s chest.
Roman froze.
“Careful,” Vincent said.
Norah looked up toward the balcony.
A sniper hid somewhere in the darkness.
Vincent leaned back.
“The ledger, nephew. You will burn it.”
“Why not do it yourself?”
“Because half the council believes you plan to expose us. I need them to see you choose blood.”
Roman looked at the book.
“And if I refuse?”
Vincent nodded toward Norah.
“You bury another woman.”
The words cut the room open.
Norah saw Roman’s face change.
Not fear.
Surrender.
He walked to the table.
Vincent placed a silver lighter beside the ledger.
Roman picked it up.
“No,” Norah said.
He did not look at her.
“Roman.”
His thumb rested on the ignition wheel.
Vincent smiled.
“That’s right.”
Roman flicked the lighter.
A flame appeared.
Norah stepped forward.
The laser dot climbed from her chest to her throat.
Roman’s eyes closed.
Norah understood then.
The ledger was not just evidence.
It was Elena’s last unfinished act.
Burning it would save Norah and bury her mother’s truth forever.
“Baby,” Norah said.
Roman’s eyes opened.
Everyone in the room went still.
Norah held his gaze.
“Say it again,” he whispered.
She stepped closer.
The laser trembled against her skin.
“Baby,” she said slowly, “trust me.”
Roman looked at her for one second.
Then he dropped the lighter.
Darkness exploded through the room.
The chandeliers died.
Mia screamed.
A gunshot cracked from the balcony.
Glass shattered.
Roman pulled Norah behind the booth.
His men surged through the doors.
More shots erupted overhead, sharp and deafening.
Norah covered her head.
Roman shielded her with his body.
Then emergency lights flickered on.
Vincent was on the floor.
David stood behind him holding a gun.
For one hopeful second, Norah thought he had saved them.
Then David aimed the weapon at Roman.
“Move away from her,” David said.
Norah stared.
“David?”
His face twisted.
“You never looked at me like that.”
“This was all you?”
“I was supposed to watch you. That was it.”
His hand shook.
“Then he started showing up. Sitting in your section. Asking questions.”
Roman stood slowly, keeping himself between David and Norah.
“You stole the ledger,” Roman said.
David nodded.
“I gave it to Vincent. He promised me enough money to disappear.”
“You sold her.”
“I loved her.”
“No,” Norah said. “You loved needing me.”
David’s eyes filled with rage.
“You think he’s better?”
“No.”
Roman glanced at her.
Norah continued.
“But he knows what he is.”
David tightened his grip on the gun.
Roman moved.
The shot fired.
Norah heard Roman grunt.
He stumbled.
Blood spread across his white shirt.
“Roman!”
He dropped to one knee.
David stared at the gun as if surprised it had worked.
Norah moved before she thought.
She grabbed the heavy bourbon glass from the table and smashed it across David’s wrist.
The gun fell.
Roman’s men tackled him.
Norah dropped beside Roman.
Blood soaked her hands.
“No. No, no, no.”
Roman looked down at the wound.
“Shoulder.”
“That is still a bullet.”
“I’ve had worse.”
“Stop talking.”
His mouth curved faintly.
“You’re very commanding.”
“You’re bleeding on me.”
“Send me the cleaning bill.”
Her eyes filled.
Across the room, Mia crawled toward the ledger.
Vincent groaned and reached inside his jacket.
Norah saw the movement.
“Mia!”
Mia turned.
Vincent pulled a pistol.
A second gunshot cracked.
Vincent froze.
Mia held David’s fallen weapon with both hands.
Smoke curled from the barrel.
Vincent collapsed.
No one moved.
Mia began to shake.
May you like
Norah looked at her.
“You saved us.”
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