Chapter 2
“Then why didn’t you stop me?”
Roman Vale leaned back against the leather seat of the SUV, one arm stretched lazily across the backrest as Chicago lights slid across his face in fractured gold.
“Because,” he said quietly, “you were smarter than the FBI.”
Ava stared at him.
Outside, rain streaked down the tinted windows. Inside, the air felt too close, too charged, like the explosion in the garage had followed them into the car and settled between their bodies.
“You’re admitting you knew I was investigating you?”
Roman’s mouth curved faintly. “You say that like it surprises you.”
“You’re supposed to threaten me now.”
“I already did.”
“That was subtle intimidation.”
“That was politeness.”
Ava’s pulse skipped.
God, this man was dangerous.
Not because of the guns. Not because six armed men would kill on command if he nodded once.
Because Roman Vale spoke like a man who had never once doubted the world belonged to him.
The SUV turned sharply onto Lower Wacker Drive.
Ava noticed immediately.
“We’re not going downtown anymore.”
Roman didn’t answer.
The city disappeared above them as the vehicle descended into shadow and concrete tunnels lit by sodium-orange lights. Roman’s security convoy tightened around them.
Her stomach knotted.
“You’re taking me to one of your warehouses.”
“No.”
“Then where?”
Roman glanced at her. “Somewhere no one can bomb.”
That shut her up for exactly three seconds.
“You think there’s another bomb?”
“I think,” he said calmly, “that the people who tried to kill me tonight don’t like unfinished work.”
Ava looked away before he could see the fear in her face.
She had spent four months researching Roman Vale. Four months convincing herself he was a monster wrapped in tailored suits and political donations.
She had not prepared for this version of him.
The one bleeding quietly from a cut near his mouth while making sure she sat on the safer side of the vehicle.
The one who had thrown himself over her during the blast without hesitation.
The one who still looked at her like he knew every secret she had ever buried.
“You’re staring,” Roman said.
“I’m analyzing.”
“That sounds less embarrassing.”
Ava folded her arms. “You still haven’t answered my question.”
Roman looked out the windshield. “You were useful.”
“That’s insulting.”
“It’s honest.”
“You let a journalist investigate your empire because I was useful?”
“No.” His gaze shifted back to her slowly. “I let you investigate me because every file you touched disappeared within forty-eight hours.”
Ava went still.
Roman watched her reaction carefully.
“There it is,” he murmured.
Cold spread through her chest.
Three months ago, one of her confidential sources had vanished after sending her financial ledgers tied to Roman’s shipping company. Two weeks later, another source stopped answering calls. Then a city clerk who had secretly leaked permit records was found unconscious after an alleged overdose.
Ava had blamed Roman for all of it.
“You’re saying you weren’t cleaning up evidence,” she said slowly.
Roman’s expression hardened.
“I was trying to figure out who was tracking you.”
The SUV fell silent.
Ava’s thoughts collided violently.
“That’s impossible.”
“No,” Roman said. “What’s impossible is surviving four months in my world without protection.”
Protection.
The word hit harder than it should have.
Ava looked at him carefully now.
“You’re telling me someone wanted me close to you.”
“Yes.”
“To frame me?”
“Possibly.”
“To kill me?”
Roman held her gaze.
“More likely.”
Before Ava could answer, the SUV suddenly braked hard.
Every weapon in the vehicle came up instantly.
Roman moved faster than thought.
One arm slammed across Ava’s chest, pinning her against the seat as his other hand drew a black pistol from beneath his jacket.
The convoy stopped.
Silence swallowed the tunnel.
Then headlights appeared ahead.
One vehicle.
Blocking the road.
Roman’s voice became ice. “Report.”
A crackle answered through the earpiece of the driver.
“Black Escalade. No plates. Engine running.”
Ava’s heartbeat thundered.
Roman’s thumb brushed once against her shoulder where he still held her pinned protectively against him.
It should not have felt intimate.
It did.
“Stay in the car,” he said softly.
“You are absolutely not leaving me alone in here while people with assault rifles start shooting.”
The corner of his mouth twitched.
“Journalists.”
“Mob bosses.”
One of his men approached the Escalade carefully.
The driver door opened.
A single man stepped out into the tunnel lights.
Tall. Gray coat. Empty hands.
Roman went still beside her.
Not tense.
Still.
The kind of stillness predators had before violence.
“You know him,” Ava whispered.
Roman’s jaw flexed once.
“Yes.”
The man lifted his hands slightly.
Then smiled.
Even from thirty feet away, Ava hated him instantly.
“Roman,” the man called casually. “You survived.”
Roman opened the SUV door.
“Stay here.”
Ava caught his wrist before she could stop herself.
Roman looked down at her hand on him.
Neither of them moved for one dangerous second.
“That man just tried to kill you,” she whispered.
Roman’s eyes darkened.
“Yes.”
“Then don’t walk toward him alone.”
Something changed in his expression.
Tiny.
But real.
Like she had said something nobody ever said to him.
Roman gently removed her hand from his wrist and stepped out of the SUV.
Rainwater dripped from the ceiling pipes overhead as he walked forward.
The gray-coated man smiled wider.
“You always were hard to kill.”
“And you always talked too much, Luca.”
Ava leaned slightly toward the window.
Luca Moretti.
Her stomach dropped.
Not just a rival.
Roman’s former best friend.
She knew the name from sealed court documents and old FBI speculation. Luca Moretti had vanished six years ago after a warehouse massacre that left fourteen people dead and Roman Vale as the sole surviving leader of Chicago’s West Syndicate.
Most people believed Luca was dead.
Apparently most people were wrong.
Luca spread his hands. “I’ll admit, the bomb should’ve worked.”
Roman’s voice stayed calm. “You’re losing your touch.”
Luca laughed softly.
“You think I planted the bomb?”
“You’re standing in front of me.”
“That doesn’t answer the question.”
Roman’s eyes narrowed.
Ava saw it immediately.
Luca wanted that reaction.
Wanted confusion.
Wanted Roman questioning the obvious.
“You’re wasting my time,” Roman said.
“Am I?” Luca tilted his head. “Then ask your journalist why she received the warning instead of you.”
Ava’s blood turned cold.
Roman slowly looked back toward the SUV.
Luca smiled.
“There it is,” he whispered.
The doubt.
Tiny.
Sharp.
Deadly.
Ava shoved open the SUV door before anyone could stop her.
“I didn’t send the message.”
Roman’s men instantly aimed weapons at her by reflex.
Roman lifted one hand.
The guns lowered.
Luca looked delighted.
“She’s prettier in person,” he said.
“Careful,” Roman replied quietly.
Luca’s smile widened. “Oh, that’s interesting.”
Ava ignored both of them. “I got one anonymous message. That’s it.”
Luca studied her face. “And you still came running to save him. That’s adorable.”
“Who sent it?” Ava demanded.
Luca laughed.
Then stopped abruptly.
“You really don’t know.”
Ava felt fear crawl slowly up her spine.
Roman noticed too.
“Talk.”
Luca’s expression darkened for the first time.
“The people who want Roman dead are not local anymore.”
The tunnel suddenly felt colder.
Roman’s voice flattened. “Explain.”
“You remember Odessa?”
A flicker crossed Roman’s face.
Tiny.
But unmistakable.
Luca saw it and nodded slowly.
“Yeah,” he said. “That got your attention.”
Ava looked between them. “What is Odessa?”
Neither answered immediately.
Which terrified her.
Finally Roman spoke.
“Eight years ago,” he said quietly, “a trafficking network moved through Eastern Europe into the Midwest.”
Ava’s stomach tightened.
Roman continued, “Girls disappeared. Witnesses disappeared. Federal agents disappeared. Every trail ended with a shell organization called Odessa.”
“And?” Ava whispered.
Roman’s eyes became distant.
“I burned it to the ground.”
Luca gave a humorless laugh. “You burned one branch.”
The tunnel fell silent.
Luca stepped closer.
“You killed the wrong men, Roman.”
Roman’s hand tightened around his pistol.
“The people behind Odessa survived. And now they think you took something from them.”
“I did.”
Luca smiled grimly. “No. You took someone.”
Ava looked at Roman sharply.
He said nothing.
And suddenly she understood.
There was a woman.
Someone Roman had hidden.
Someone important enough to start a war over.
Luca’s gaze shifted toward Ava.
“And now they think she knows where that woman is.”
Ava stared at him. “What?”
“The anonymous message?” Luca said softly. “That wasn’t to save Roman.”
May you like
Her pulse stopped.
“It was to place you beside him.”
