Chapter 3 — The Betrayal at the Warehouse
By sunrise, Roman’s world began to bleed.
Mallory had vanished.
Three warehouses were empty.
Two accountants were dead.
A federal informant Ava had been scheduled to meet was found floating in the river before noon.
And every trail pointed toward her.
Her name had been planted in wire transfers.
Her fingerprints were on a burner phone she had never touched.
A draft article exposing Roman’s operations had been leaked to three newsrooms, edited to make it look like Ava had been working with his enemies.
Roman read the files in silence.
Ava stood across from him, heart pounding.
“You believe me, right?”
He looked up.
“I believe evidence.”
Her stomach dropped.
Then he stepped closer.
“And I believe the woman who threw herself between me and a bomb.”
She hated the relief that moved through her.
Roman handed her a gun.
She stared at it.
“No.”
“You may need it.”
“I’m a journalist.”
“Tonight, you are a target.”
They found Mallory at an abandoned warehouse on the South Side, surrounded by men who used to kneel when Roman entered a room.
Now they raised guns.
Roman walked in anyway.
Ava stayed behind him, furious at herself for trusting his shadow.
Mallory stood beneath a broken skylight, smiling.
“Roman,” he said. “You always did have terrible taste in women.”
Roman’s voice was quiet.
“You killed my sister.”
Mallory’s smile faded.
“She was going to ruin everything. Just like the reporter.”
Ava lifted her phone from her coat pocket.
Its red recording light blinked.
Mallory saw it too late.
Roman smiled then.
Not warmly.
Not kindly.
Like a knife finding daylight.
“You always talked too much.”
Gunfire exploded.
Roman shoved Ava behind a steel pillar as bullets tore through the warehouse windows. His men returned fire. Glass rained down. Ava hit the floor, gripping the phone so tightly her fingers went numb.
When the smoke cleared, Mallory was alive.
Barely.
Roman stood over him.
For one terrifying second, Ava thought Roman would execute him.
Instead, Roman stepped back.
“Call the police,” he said.
Ava stared at him.
May you like
Roman looked at her.
“You wanted the truth,” he said. “Let it be public.”
