Chapter 9 - Jess refused Roman’s offer of a private apartment, two bodyguards, and a driver.
She accepted a hotel room after Norah explained that returning home immediately was probably unwise.
Roman owned the hotel.
Norah discovered this only after Jess had checked in.
“I’m beginning to think you intentionally own every building I enter,” she told him.
They were in the Maybach outside the hotel.
Roman loosened his tie.
“It simplifies parking.”
Norah almost laughed.
Almost.
Too much remained unresolved.
Luca had released Jess because he knew Norah possessed leverage.
That suggested he was not simply trying to destroy Roman.
The drives mattered.
They returned to the penthouse shortly after midnight.
Tommy arranged an isolated laptop with no network connection.
Norah inserted Salvatore’s first drive.
Hundreds of files appeared.
Scanned ledgers.
Bank transfers.
Photographs.
Letters.
Audio transcripts.
Names stretching across decades.
Judges.
Police officials.
Union leaders.
Business owners.
Members of both Moretti and Cavalari organizations.
Roman stood behind her but did not touch the keyboard.
“You recognize them?”
“Many.”
Norah opened the oldest directory.
Carlo Cavalari’s name appeared repeatedly.
So did Salvatore Moretti’s.
At first they had worked together.
Later payments indicated conflict.
Then Norah found her mother.
ELLIS, MARTHA.
She stopped breathing.
Roman moved closer.
“You don’t have to open it tonight.”
“Yes, I do.”
The folder contained twelve documents.
Her mother had discovered payments routed through the accounting company where she worked.
She had copied records.
She contacted a detective.
The detective informed Carlo.
Then came a memorandum.
Roman read over her shoulder.
PRESSURE ONLY. NO BODY.
Norah stared.
“Your father didn’t order her killed.”
“No.”
The next document was worse.
A handwritten note from Salvatore.
Carlo’s driver went too far. Woman dead. C. furious, but cleanup complete.
Norah covered her mouth.
Roman stepped away.
She continued.
The driver had received money after the crash.
Three years later, the payments stopped.
Around the same time Roman had said he killed him.
Proof.
Not comfort.
But proof.
Norah cried silently.
Roman did not attempt to touch her until she reached backward and found his hand.
He came down beside the chair.
“I’m sorry.”
Norah looked at him.
“For which part?”
“All of it.”
She squeezed his fingers.
Then another folder caught her attention.
CAVALARI, ROMAN.
Roman became still.
Norah looked toward him.
“You can leave.”
“No.”
“You don’t know what’s in here.”
“Neither do you.”
“It might be something you don’t want me to know.”
Roman’s face showed bitter amusement.
“We are significantly past that problem.”
Norah opened the folder.
Most documents covered Roman’s early years in the organization.
Money.
Meetings.
Conflicts.
Then Salvatore’s private notes changed tone.
Roman opposes Carlo’s expansion.
Roman removed D. Mercer after Ellis matter discovered.
Possible fracture between father and son.
Three years later:
Carlo dead.
Roman controls organization.
Violence expected. Instead, Roman removes narcotics operation from south territory.
Norah looked at him.
“You never told me you shut that down.”
“It was bad business.”
“Of course that’s how you describe it.”
She kept reading.
Roman was still violent.
Still criminal.
Nothing in the records transformed him into a secret hero.
But he had made choices different from his father.
He eliminated several operations Carlo had considered profitable.
He also expanded others.
Ports.
Illegal gambling.
Extortion.
Corruption.
Norah felt neither relief nor horror.
Only clarity.
Roman was exactly what he claimed.
A monster.
But not his father’s monster.
Then she found a file dated four years earlier.
One year before she left.
SUBJECT: N. ELLIS.
Her pulse changed.
Roman noticed.
“What?”
She opened it.
Photographs appeared.
Norah leaving the gallery.
Norah entering the penthouse.
Norah with her sister.
Vincent Moretti’s surveillance.
Roman swore.
The final document was an intercepted message.
Take the girl if Cavalari refuses terms.
Norah swallowed.
Roman walked away.
He put both hands against the kitchen counter.
“That is why you killed them.”
“Yes.”
“Vincent really intended to take me.”
“Yes.”
“You could have shown me this.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you?”
Roman laughed bitterly.
“Because I had just murdered seven men.”
Norah said nothing.
“I did not believe a folder would make that easier.”
“You didn’t give me the chance.”
“No.”
Norah closed the file.
Something else was wrong.
“Where is Luca?”
Roman turned.
“What?”
“There should be files on him.”
They searched.
Almost nothing.
A photograph.
University records.
Hotel investments.
No criminal operations.
No payments.
No surveillance.
Salvatore had documented nearly everyone in his family.
But Luca was almost absent.
Norah leaned back.
“Why?”
Roman frowned.
Tommy, who had entered quietly, looked at the screen.
“Maybe Salvatore protected him.”
“Or Luca helped him,” Norah said.
Roman looked at her.
She opened Salvatore’s letter again.
He had written that Vincent discovered enough to become dangerous.
What if Luca had also known?
“What if Luca isn’t trying to recover the records for the Moretti family?”
Tommy folded his arms.
“Then why does he want them?”
“Because Salvatore wanted both organizations dismantled.”
Roman’s expression became cold.
“You think Luca is finishing his work.”
“Maybe.”
Roman considered.
“But he abducted Jess.”
“Yes.”
“I’m not saying he is good.”
Norah looked through the files.
“I’m saying his goal may not be revenge.”
Tommy received a message.
His face changed.
“Boss.”
Roman looked up.
“What?”
“We have a problem.”
He placed his phone on the table.
A photograph showed one of Roman’s warehouses surrounded by federal vehicles.
Roman’s eyes narrowed.
“When?”
“Ten minutes ago.”
Another message arrived.
Then another.
A trucking company.
A private club.
Two offices.
All being searched simultaneously.
Roman looked at the flash drive.
“He released something.”
Norah’s stomach dropped.
“Luca already has copies.”
“Apparently.”
“Then why does he want mine?”
Roman stared at the screen.
“Because he doesn’t know what Salvatore gave you.”
Different drives.
Different records.
Norah suddenly understood.
Luca possessed enough evidence to attack pieces of Roman’s empire.
But Salvatore’s box contained the entire archive.
Including names powerful enough to destroy Luca too.
Roman’s phone began ringing continuously.
He ignored the first three calls.
Then Tommy answered one and went pale.
“What?”
Tommy looked toward Norah.
“Someone gave authorities financial records tied to three shell companies.”
Roman’s voice remained calm.
“Close them.”
“Already frozen.”
Norah watched Roman.
His empire was being attacked in real time.
Yet his first question was not about money.
“Any threat to this building?”
“No.”
“Jess?”
“Secure.”
“My people?”
“Several detained. No injuries.”
Roman nodded.
“Good.”
Norah stared.
Three years earlier, she would have expected rage.
Instead Roman became colder and more focused.
“What now?” she asked.
“We survive.”
“By killing Luca?”
Roman looked at her.
“No.”
The answer surprised Tommy.
Norah felt something shift again.
Roman picked up Salvatore’s letter.
“If Luca wants the truth exposed, killing him only proves his argument.”
“What argument?”
“That families like mine survive because violence silences everyone who challenges us.”
Norah studied him.
“You agree?”
“I understand.”
He looked around the penthouse.
“For years I believed control made me untouchable.”
His gaze moved to her.
“Then you left.”
Norah said nothing.
Roman continued.
“I controlled your building. Your neighborhood. Your safety. Your finances without your knowledge.”
His mouth hardened.
“And none of it made you mine.”
Tommy suddenly looked uncomfortable, as though he had walked into a private conversation.
Roman did not care.
“If Luca wants my businesses, he can attack them. If federal agents want records, lawyers will deal with them. But I will not burn Chicago because a dead man kept a ledger.”
Norah was stunned.
“You could lose everything.”
“No.”
Roman walked toward her.
“Everything is standing in front of me.”
The words should have felt possessive.
Instead they felt different now.
Because he was no longer closing his hand around her.
He was opening it.
Then Tommy’s phone rang.
He answered.
Listened.
His expression changed.
“What?”
Tommy slowly lowered the phone.
“Luca wants to meet.”
Norah stood.
“When?”
“Now.”
Roman’s eyes narrowed.
“Where?”
Tommy looked at both of them.
“Lombardi’s.”
Norah almost laughed at the absurdity.
The place where Roman found her.
The place where the entire cycle began.
“He wants both of you,” Tommy added.
Roman immediately said, “No.”
Norah said, “Yes.”
They looked at each other.
May you like
Tommy sighed.
“I’m going to get the cars.”
