Chapter 2 - Bloodlines and Debts
Tessa didn't sit.
Instead, she stood with her hands clasped behind her back, refusing to give in to the tremor in her knees.
"With respect, Mr. Bellamy, I'm an hourly employee," she said, her voice firm. "I gave you the warning because it was the right thing to do. My shift ends at eleven, and I have a subway to catch back to Astoria."
Roman chuckled.
The sound was dark and dry, like dry leaves scraping over concrete.
"Astoria isn't safe for you anymore, Miss Monroe," he said. He tapped a manicured finger against his silver phone casing. "You think Vance’s spotters outside didn't see you deliver that check? You think they won't pull the security footage or question the busboys?"
Tessa felt cold dread bloom behind her ribs.
She had spent six years running away from her past in South Boston, changing her name, building a quiet, invisible life serving caviar to people who forgot her face the moment she cleared their plates.
Now, one impulse of decency had put a target on her back.
"Marcus Vance doesn't know who I am," she retorted.
"He will by morning," Roman replied smoothly. "He’ll have your social security number, your apartment address, and the name of the clinic where you send money every month for your sister's treatment."
Tessa stiffened.
Her breath hitched in her throat.
"How do you know that?" she demanded.
Roman picked up his whiskey and took a slow sip.
"I don't eat in places where I don't run background dossiers on the key floor staff," he said. "Your real name isn't Monroe. It's Callahan. Your father was Sean Callahan, the only dock union boss in Boston who refused to take bribes from the Irish mob back in 2012."
Celeste looked back and forth between them, tears drying on her powdered cheeks.
"Roman, what does this girl have to do with Owen?" she pleaded, her voice cracking. "Marcus gave me until midnight! If Roman isn't in a body bag by twelve, Owen goes into the East River!"
Roman finally turned his eyes toward his date.
The warmth that had once been there during their six months of courtship had vanished completely.
"You should have come to me the second Marcus approached you, Celeste," Roman said quietly.
"I was terrified!" she cried, reaching out toward his hand, only to stop when his expression turned to steel. "He sent me photos of Owen tied to a chair! He had a gun to his head!"
"You've known me for two years," Roman said. "You know what I am. You know what I control. Yet you believed Marcus Vance could protect you better than I could?"
He shook his head once, a gesture of profound disappointment rather than explosive anger.
"You made a business calculation, Celeste. You decided my life was the cheaper currency."
The back door of the kitchen banged open.
A tall man in a tailored charcoal overcoat entered the dining room, walking with the silent, rhythmic stride of a hunter. His knuckles were bruised, and his silver-streaked hair was damp with melted snow.
"Dante," Roman acknowledged without turning around.
"The three outside are handled, Boss," Dante said. He had a deep, gravelly voice. "They were Vance's B-team. Cheap muscle from Brooklyn. None of them had burner phones with direct lines to Vance, just encrypted pagers set to ping a warehouse in Greenpoint at midnight."
"Is the perimeter secure?" Roman asked.
"For now," Dante replied. "But Vance has twenty men staged across the river. When that midnight ping fails to go through, he’ll know the hit blew up."
Roman stood up, smoothing the front of his tailored three-piece suit.
He towered over the table, broad-shouldered and imposing, radiating an aura of total authority.
"Dante, put Celeste in the secure penthouse on Park Avenue," Roman ordered. "Take her phones, cut the internet, and post two guards outside the door. She doesn't speak to anyone until I say so."
"Roman, please!" Celeste sobbed as Dante gently but firmly took her elbow, lifting her from the booth. "Save my brother! He’s only nineteen!"
"I'm not doing it for you," Roman said, turning his back on her.
He waited until the heavy double doors clicked shut behind Celeste and Dante before turning back to Tessa.
"Get your coat, Miss Callahan," he said.
May you like
"I told you, I'm going home," Tessa answered, stepping backward.
"You don't have a home anymore," Roman said simply. "You traded your quiet life the moment you slipped me that receipt. Now, you’re coming with me to save an idiot kid and put Marcus Vance in the dirt."
