Chapter 5 - Whispers in the Glass Tower
Todd Reeves looked like a man who had won the lottery and spent it all on poor taste. His hair was slicked back with cheap pomade, and his face was flushed with too much cheap champagne. Bellamy’s Grill had recently been bought out by an investment firm, and Todd had clearly received a minor management buyout that had inflated his ego to dangerous proportions.
"Todd," Lena said, her voice dropping to an icy chill as she pulled her hand back from Roman's grasp.
"I heard you were floating around the downtown offices," Todd sneered, ignoring Roman completely as he leaned over the table. "Guess giving away free meals paid off after all, huh? Found yourself a sugar daddy to pay your rent?"
The silence that followed was suffocating.
The couple at the adjacent table stopped chewing. The head waiter, who had been hovering near the kitchen doors, took one look at Roman DeLuca’s expression and immediately signaled security.
Roman didn't raise his voice. He didn't stand up. He simply picked up his linen napkin, patted his mouth, and looked up at Todd with eyes that could have frozen boiling oil.
"Todd Reeves," Roman stated, his voice flat, dead, and lethal. "Former general manager of Bellamy's Grill on Wabash."
Todd blinked, suddenly realizing the man sitting across from Lena wasn't just another downtown corporate drone. "Who are you?"
"I am the man who holds the primary commercial lease on the entire Wabash block," Roman said smoothly. "I am also the majority shareholder of Apex Hospitality, the parent conglomerate that purchased Bellamy’s three days ago."
Todd’s face drained of color until he looked like chalk. "I... what?"
"You took five hundred dollars from my driver to sell your employee's personal contact information," Roman continued, standing up slowly. He towered over Todd, his broad shoulders casting a shadow across the smaller man. "You fired an honorable woman over eighteen dollars, yet you've been skimming three percent off the night receipts for eighteen months to fund your sports betting accounts."
Todd began to tremble. His companion pulled her hand away from his arm as if he were on fire. "That’s... that's not true. Who told you that?"
"My auditors have been in your back office since four o'clock this afternoon," Roman said, taking a step forward. "By tomorrow morning, the Chicago Police Department will have the complete digital ledger of your fraud. You will not only be unemployed, Reeves. You will be penniless, unemployable, and facing five to seven years in Stateville."
Todd dropped to his knees right beside the white tablecloth, sobbing openly in front of the entire elite dining room of Le Miroir. "Please... Mr. DeLuca, please. I have a mortgage. I made a mistake!"
"You made several," Roman said without looking down. He gestured to the two burly security guards who had appeared at his flank. "Remove this trash from my sight. And inform management that if he ever sets foot within fifty yards of this establishment again, their liquor license will be revoked by midnight."
The guards dragged the weeping, groveling former manager toward the exit.
Lena sat frozen in her booth, her eyes wide as she watched the entire spectacle unfold. It had taken Roman less than two minutes to utterly dismantle the man who had tormented her for over a year. It was awe-inspiring, terrifying, and deeply intoxicating all at once.
Roman turned back to the table, adjusted his cuffs, and looked at Lena.
"You didn't have to do that," she whispered, her voice trembling slightly.
"Yes, I did," Roman replied softly, sitting back down across from her. "No one disrespects what belongs to me."
May you like
Lena’s eyes snapped to his. "I don't belong to you, Roman."
A dark, dangerous fire flared in Roman's eyes as he reached across the table and captured her chin with his thumb and forefinger, lifting her face toward his. "Not yet, Lena. But you will."
