Chapter 5 - THE TRAITOR AT ROMAN’S TABLE
Roman pushed Lena's hospital bed toward the rear service corridor while Nico carried the laptop.
Mercer stayed behind them.
They moved beneath flashing emergency lights as alarms echoed through the hospital.
Lena's ribs hurt with every bump of the wheels.
“Where are we going?”
“Private exit,” Roman said.
“You have private exits in hospitals?”
“I donate generously.”
“That doesn't answer my question.”
“It answers enough of it.”
Despite the fear, Lena almost smiled.
Then Roman stopped.
Two men appeared at the far end of the corridor.
Neither wore hospital uniforms.
Roman's hand moved beneath his jacket.
“Back.”
Mercer grabbed Lena's bed.
They reversed toward another hallway.
The strangers accelerated.
Roman fired once into the ceiling.
The men ducked.
That gave them seconds.
A service elevator opened behind them.
Roman moved Lena inside.
Nico and Mercer followed.
Doors closed.
Lena stared at Roman.
“You just fired a gun in a hospital.”
“I missed everyone.”
“Congratulations.”
His mouth almost moved.
Then he looked at the security display.
Someone had overridden the elevator controls.
Instead of descending, they were moving upward.
Roman's expression darkened.
“Roof.”
Nico cursed.
“They're trapping us.”
Mercer checked his phone.
“No signal.”
The doors opened onto rain.
A helicopter sat at the opposite side of the rooftop.
Beside it stood four armed men.
And an older gentleman beneath an umbrella.
Silver hair.
Expensive suit.
Calm smile.
Roman's godfather.
Victor Salerno.
“Roman.”
Roman stepped in front of Lena.
“Victor.”
Salerno's eyes moved toward Lena.
“You look exactly like Amelia.”
Lena felt her stomach twist.
“You knew my mother.”
“I admired her.”
“You had her killed.”
Salerno sighed.
“Your mother made unfortunate choices.”
Roman's posture changed.
“Careful.”
Salerno smiled.
“There he is. The boy I raised after his father died.”
“You arranged my father's death.”
“I arranged an evolution.”
Roman said nothing.
Salerno continued.
“Your father was sentimental. He believed loyalty could hold an empire together. Loyalty is just fear with better manners.”
Lena looked toward Maya.
She wasn't there.
“Where is my friend?”
“Safe.”
“If Derek touched her—”
“Derek is a disposable employee. Nothing more.”
Salerno extended his hand.
“Give me the phone and laptop.”
Roman glanced at Lena.
She shook her head.
Salerno laughed softly.
“You think Roman can save you? Ask him what happened to every person he's ever loved.”
Roman's expression went blank.
Lena looked at him.
Salerno continued.
“His father. His brother. His fiancée.”
Roman's jaw tightened.
“Enough.”
“Oh, she didn't know about Isabella?”
Lena's anger flared.
“This isn't about Roman.”
Salerno's smile sharpened.
“Everything is about Roman.”
Lena suddenly understood.
“You didn't just want the files.”
Salerno raised an eyebrow.
“You wanted him to come.”
Roman looked at her.
Lena continued.
“Derek pushed me for years. Watched me. Tried to force me into revealing my mother's secret. But the moment I contacted Roman, everything accelerated.”
Salerno's smile faded slightly.
“You needed Roman involved,” Lena said. “Because you couldn't destroy the DeLuca organization from outside.”
Roman's eyes shifted.
“You needed me to look compromised.”
Salerno applauded once.
“Very good.”
Mercer stared at him.
“What's the endgame?”
Salerno looked toward the helicopter.
“By morning, Roman DeLuca will be wanted for kidnapping Lena Hart, assaulting Derek Walsh, firing shots in a hospital, and murdering an assistant district attorney.”
Mercer's face changed.
“Excuse me?”
Salerno's men raised their weapons toward him.
Mercer whispered something Lena could not hear.
Roman did.
“Told you he was bad.”
Mercer glared at him.
“Not the time.”
Salerno extended his hand again.
“The devices.”
Roman slowly reached toward Nico's laptop.
Then Lena noticed something.
Roman's thumb tapped twice against the side of the computer.
Nico's eyes flicked downward.
A signal.
Lena didn't know what it meant.
But she trusted it.
For the first time in years, she chose to trust someone.
Roman handed the laptop to Salerno's nearest man.
Then Lena gave them the phone.
Salerno smiled.
“Wise.”
A man's voice suddenly erupted from Salerno's earpiece.
“Sir! Files are uploading!”
Salerno's expression changed.
Nico smiled.
“You thought I'd bring the only copy?”
The laptop began emitting a high-pitched alarm.
Nico raised his hands.
“Automatic dead-man upload. The second you disconnected it from my network, every file went to twelve news organizations, three federal agencies, and two prosecutors who hate Roman almost as much as they hate corruption.”
Mercer frowned.
“Two?”
Nico shrugged.
“You were the third.”
Chaos erupted.
Salerno's men looked toward him for orders.
Roman moved.
He slammed one attacker sideways.
Mercer tackled another.
Lena rolled her hospital bed toward the stairwell as Nico shouted for her to move.
Police sirens rose from below.
Salerno ran toward the helicopter.
Roman chased him.
“Roman!” Lena shouted.
Salerno reached the aircraft.
Then stopped.
Someone stood beside it.
Derek.
And Maya.
A gun pressed against Maya's side.
Lena froze.
Derek looked crazed.
“This wasn't the deal!”
Salerno snapped, “Get in the helicopter.”
“No!”
Derek dragged Maya backward.
“You said I'd get paid and disappear!”
Maya saw Lena.
“Don't!”
Derek's grip tightened.
Roman stopped several yards away.
“Let her go.”
Derek laughed.
“You don't give orders anymore.”
Roman's voice remained calm.
“She's not part of this.”
“Neither was I until you broke into my house!”
Lena felt something inside her change.
For years, Derek's anger had controlled the room.
His voice had decided when she spoke.
His mood had determined whether she slept.
His fists had shaped her entire life around fear.
But now she looked at him and saw something different.
A weak man holding someone else because power was impossible for him without fear.
“Derek.”
He turned toward her.
Lena forced herself upright.
“You wanted me?”
Roman looked back sharply.
“Lena, no.”
She ignored him.
“You spent three years trying to make me afraid enough to give you what you wanted.”
Derek smiled.
“And it worked.”
“No.”
She stepped forward despite the pain.
“You failed.”
His smile vanished.
“Stay back.”
“You didn't break me.”
“Lena.”
“You never did.”
Something snapped inside him.
He shoved Maya away and swung the gun toward Lena.
Roman moved.
So did Salerno.
A shot exploded across the rooftop.
Lena screamed.
Someone fell.
For one horrible second, she couldn't tell who.
Then Roman dropped to one knee.
Blood spread across his white shirt.
“Roman!”
Salerno ran for the helicopter.
Police flooded onto the roof.
Derek raised his hands.
Maya crawled toward safety.
Lena forgot her own injuries.
She reached Roman and dropped beside him.
His hand pressed against his abdomen.
Blood covered his fingers.
“No.”
He looked at her.
Strangely calm.
“I've had worse.”
“Don't joke.”
“I wasn't.”
Her eyes filled.
Sirens screamed around them.
Medics rushed forward.
Roman grabbed Lena's wrist before they separated them.
“Lena.”
She leaned closer.
His voice weakened.
“The wrong number wasn't an accident.”
“What?”
“Your mother.”
Pain crossed his face.
“What are you saying?”
“She set something up years ago.”
Then his eyes closed.
“Roman!”
Doctors pulled Lena away.
And as they rushed him toward the elevator, one terrible question remained.
If the wrong number had never truly been wrong—
May you like
had Amelia known this day would come?
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