Chapter 1 — The Reason He Let Her Live
Roman looked out the tinted window as Chicago burned past in streaks of rain and neon.
“Because you were useful,” he said.
Ava laughed once, dry and sharp. “That’s comforting.”
“No,” Roman said. “Comfort is what people offer before they betray you.”
She turned toward him.
For the first time, he looked tired.
Not weak.
Never weak.
But tired in the way powerful men became when they had spent too many years expecting knives from every direction.
“You were following my money,” he said. “My restaurants. My docks. My real estate.”
“You knew all that and did nothing?”
“I wanted to know who fed you the first file.”
Ava went still.
Roman noticed.
Of course he noticed.
“I built my investigation myself,” she said.
“No.” His voice was calm. “You built most of it yourself. But someone opened the first door.”
Ava thought of the encrypted email she had received four months ago.
No name.
No signature.
Just documents.
Shipping manifests.
Bank transfers.
Photographs of Roman meeting men who never appeared on paper.
The SUV turned hard into an underground loading bay beneath a private hotel.
Roman’s men moved first.
Then Roman stepped out and offered Ava his hand.
She stared at it.
“I’m still not your prisoner.”
“No,” he said. “You’re my problem.”
“That’s worse.”
His mouth almost curved.
Almost.
Inside the hotel suite, Roman’s men locked down the floor. Phones were collected. Doors were guarded. A man with gray hair and surgeon’s hands removed a shard of glass from Roman’s shoulder without asking him to sit down.
Ava watched the blood run down his white shirt.
“You’re hurt.”
Roman looked at her. “You sound disappointed I’m not dead.”
“I kissed you to prevent that.”
His eyes darkened slightly.
“Yes,” he said. “I remember.”
The room changed.
Just for a second.
Then one of his men entered holding a tablet.
“Boss. The bomb was wired to the ignition, but the trigger signal came from inside the garage.”
Roman’s face went still.
“Inside?”
The man nodded.
“Someone close.”
Roman looked at Ava.
She understood then.
The anonymous warning had not been sent to save Roman.
It had been sent to place her beside him when the bomb went off.
May you like
Someone wanted Roman dead.
And Ava blamed.
