Chapter 3 - THE ECHO OF A GAMBLE
The silence in the boutique was absolute.
Even the ambient jazz music playing through the Galleria’s hidden speakers seemed to fade into nothingness.
Chloe, Trevor’s fiancé, stood entirely paralyzed. Her perfectly manicured hands trembled as she looked back and forth between the man she was supposed to marry, who was currently cowering on the floor, and the terrifyingly calm stranger in the bespoke suit who had just laid claim to his life.
“Trevor?” Chloe whispered, her voice cracking. “What is he talking about? What debt?”
Trevor didn’t look at her. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from Roman. The arrogance that had puffed up his chest just minutes ago had been completely punctured. He looked exactly like what he was: a coward who had finally been cornered.
“You… you can’t do that,” Trevor stammered, scrambling backward on the marble floor until his back hit the glass display case. “My debt was with the Moretti family. You can’t just buy it.”
Roman tilted his head, his dark eyes entirely devoid of emotion.
“The Morettis no longer operate in this city,” Roman said softly. “They handed over their ledgers to me last night. You owed them four hundred thousand dollars. Now, you owe me.”
Sadi stood frozen, her mind struggling to process the sheer magnitude of what was happening.
For three years, Trevor had haunted her memories as the man who got away with it. The man who had taken her money, broken her heart, and seamlessly transitioned into a life of luxury while she scrubbed diner counters to survive.
She had thought he was a success story.
She hadn’t realized he was just a ghost, running from a much darker shadow.
“Roman,” Sadi whispered, touching her husband’s arm.
Roman immediately softened, turning his attention to her. The transition was so stark, so absolute, it made Trevor flinch.
“We’re leaving,” Roman said to her, his tone gentle. He placed a hand on the small of her back, a protective barrier between her and the filth on the floor.
“Wait!” Trevor shouted, panic overriding his common sense as he struggled to his feet. “You can’t just walk away! I have the money! My father-in-law is Judge Harrison. He’s paying off the markers next week! You can’t touch me!”
Roman paused. He didn’t turn around, but Sadi felt the muscles in his arm instantly pull tight, like coiled steel wire.
“Judge Harrison,” Roman repeated, the words tasting like ash in the air.
“That’s right,” Trevor said, leaning on the glass counter for support, a desperate, pathetic smirk trying to form on his lips. “You mess with me, you mess with the State Supreme Court. Chloe’s family is untouchable.”
Roman slowly turned his head. He looked at Chloe, who shrank back, tears now spilling over her heavily mascaraed eyelashes. Then, he looked at Trevor.
“Untouchable,” Roman mused quietly. “How fascinating.”
He didn’t say another word. He simply guided Sadi out of the boutique, walking past the two massive bodyguards, Arthur and Silas, who immediately fell into step behind them, forming an impenetrable wall.
The walk through the Galleria was a blur. Shoppers instinctively parted for them, sensing the predatory shift in the atmosphere.
When they reached the private underground parking garage, a black armored SUV was already waiting, the engine idling with a low, menacing purr. Arthur opened the door, and Roman handed Sadi inside before sliding in next to her.
The tinted windows rolled up, sealing them in a soundproof cocoon of leather and quiet power.
Sadi didn’t lean back. She sat on the edge of her seat, her heart pounding a frantic rhythm against her ribs.
“You bought his debt,” Sadi said, her voice shaking, breaking the heavy silence. “Why?”
Roman reached into his pocket and pulled out the tarnished silver pocket watch. He placed it gently in her open palm.
“Because I knew he had this,” Roman said quietly.
Answer one: Roman had targeted Trevor specifically to retrieve her father’s watch.
Sadi looked down at the cracked glass, her vision blurring with hot tears. She ran her thumb over the cold metal. But as the emotional weight of the watch settled over her, a massive, glaring hole opened in the narrative.
“You didn’t know I was at the mall today,” Sadi said, looking up, her dark eyes locking onto his. “I didn’t tell you I was going shopping. And you couldn’t have bought a four-hundred-thousand-dollar mafia debt just to get back a watch that’s worth fifty bucks at a pawn shop.”
Roman held her gaze. He didn’t deflect. He didn’t lie.
“You’re right,” Roman said, his voice heavy with a secret he had been carrying for too long. “I didn’t buy the debt for the watch, Sadi. I bought the debt because of what Trevor used as collateral to get the money in the first place.”
“What collateral?” Sadi asked, a cold spike of dread piercing her stomach. “Trevor had nothing. We were broke. He lived off my tips.”
Roman reached into the inner pocket of his suit jacket. He pulled out a folded piece of thick, yellowed paper.
He hesitated for a fraction of a second—a rare, almost imperceptible display of vulnerability—before he handed it to her.
Sadi unfolded the paper.
It was a birth certificate.
Her breath stopped. The world around her ceased to spin.
The name printed at the top was Leo Rossi.
Her little brother. The brother she had raised after their parents died. The brother Child Protective Services had ripped from her arms three years ago, claiming she was an unfit guardian. She had spent every dollar she had trying to find where the state had placed him, only to hit dead end after dead end.
“Trevor didn’t just call CPS to get Leo taken away,” Roman said, his voice dropping to a harsh, ragged whisper. “He forged your signature, Sadi. He transferred legal guardianship to a private, off-the-books adoption agency owned by the Moretti family. He sold your brother to clear his gambling debt.”
The paper slipped from Sadi’s fingers, fluttering to the floor of the SUV.
Trevor hadn’t just left her. He had sold the only family she had left.
And worse—the horrific, world-shattering reversal hit her with the force of a freight train.
“Chloe,” Sadi whispered, her blood turning to ice. “Judge Harrison.”
May you like
Roman nodded slowly, his eyes burning with a dark, lethal fire.
“Yes,” Roman said. “Trevor didn’t just sell Leo to a random family. He sold him to the Harrisons. He is marrying Chloe to get access to the child he used as collateral.”
