Chapter 5 - THE WOMAN HE COULD NO LONGER COMMAND
Elena signed herself out against medical advice at 5:45 a.m.
The obstetrician was furious.
“If contractions start, you come back immediately.”
“Yes.”
“No stress.”
Elena almost laughed.
The doctor did not.
“Mrs. Marino.”
“I understand.”
Roman arranged an ambulance to follow three vehicles behind.
He did not tell Elena.
She noticed within six blocks.
“Is that ambulance following us?”
Roman looked forward.
“No.”
Elena stared.
He sighed.
“Yes.”
“Roman.”
“I’m improving slowly.”
She almost smiled.
Pier Seventeen sat on the Hudson like something forgotten.
Cold concrete.
Rusting warehouse doors.
Gray morning light.
Marco drove.
Roman sat beside Elena in the back.
She carried a black case.
Copies of the trust evidence.
Not originals.
Roman had asked once where the originals were.
Then stopped himself.
Elena noticed.
“Growth.”
“Don’t enjoy it.”
They entered the warehouse at 6:02.
Bellandi stood near the center.
Silver hair.
Long dark coat.
Elegant as always.
Vivien and Daniel Mercer sat against a wall with their hands bound.
Alive.
Sabrina stood beside Bellandi wearing a cream coat.
Roman looked at her.
For a second, he remembered nights.
Promises.
Her hand on his chest.
The version of himself he became around her.
Then he saw Elena beside him.
Pregnant.
Pale.
Still there.
Shame almost made him physically ill.
Sabrina smiled.
“You brought him.”
Elena answered:
“He doesn’t listen.”
“Learning,” Roman said.
Bellandi laughed.
“Marriage improving?”
“No,” Elena replied.
Roman accepted that.
Bellandi held out his hand.
“The documents.”
Elena lifted the case.
“First Vivien and Daniel.”
“No.”
“Then we stand here.”
Bellandi studied her.
“I always understood why Vittorio liked you.”
Roman looked at Elena.
She said nothing.
Sabrina’s expression tightened.
Bellandi continued:
“You have more spine than his son.”
Roman almost smiled.
“Probably.”
That seemed to disappoint Bellandi.
Sabrina stepped forward.
“Give him the case.”
Elena looked at her.
“You’re nervous.”
“No.”
“You are.”
Sabrina’s jaw tightened.
Elena continued:
“You didn’t tell him everything.”
Bellandi looked sideways.
Sabrina said:
“Don’t.”
Elena smiled.
There.
The first fracture.
Bellandi asked:
“What didn’t she tell me?”
Elena looked directly at Sabrina.
“That you found the trust papers before Roman found my letter.”
Sabrina went still.
Roman had not known that.
Bellandi’s eyes narrowed.
“When?”
Sabrina said:
“She’s lying.”
Elena continued calmly:
“You cut open my wedding dress.”
“No.”
“You burned the originals.”
Sabrina’s eyes flashed.
“There were no cameras in that room.”
Silence.
Elena smiled.
“Thank you.”
Sabrina realized too late.
Bellandi turned slowly toward her.
“How do you know there were no cameras?”
Sabrina’s face drained.
Roman almost admired Elena.
Almost.
Bellandi struck Sabrina across the face.
Hard.
She fell.
“Search her,” he ordered.
Two men grabbed her.
Sabrina screamed:
“She’s manipulating you!”
“Yes,” Elena said.
“Very easily.”
Marco’s voice came through Roman’s concealed earpiece.
Thirty seconds.
Roman moved slightly closer to Elena.
Bellandi opened the case.
Copies.
He immediately understood.
“These are not originals.”
“No.”
“Where are they?”
“Somewhere only Marco and I know.”
Roman looked at Elena.
She glanced at him.
He didn’t ask.
Trust.
Finally.
Bellandi raised his gun.
“You think pregnancy protects you?”
“No.”
Elena looked at him.
“I think killing me guarantees Roman burns your family to the ground.”
Bellandi smiled.
“Maybe.”
Then gunfire erupted outside.
Marco’s team.
Glass shattered.
Bellandi’s men moved.
Roman pulled Elena down behind a concrete barrier.
Vivien screamed.
Daniel rolled sideways as one guard abandoned them.
Marco’s men entered through two doors.
Chaos.
Roman stayed over Elena.
Not chasing Bellandi.
Not hunting Sabrina.
Protecting what was directly in front of him.
Maybe he was finally learning priorities.
Then Anthony Rizzo appeared behind them.
Roman saw him too late.
Anthony raised a gun.
“Elena!”
Roman turned.
Anthony fired.
Elena dropped.
Roman screamed.
He shot Anthony twice.
The man fell.
Roman crawled toward Elena.
Blood.
He saw blood.
“No.”
His hands shook.
“Elena.”
She grabbed his coat.
“Roman.”
“Where are you hit?”
“I’m not.”
“What?”
Her face twisted.
Pain.
Then water spread beneath her.
She stared at him.
“My water broke.”
Roman froze.
Another contraction hit.
Elena cried out.
Marco rushed toward them.
“Is she shot?”
“No.”
Elena glared.
“Apparently I’m having a baby in a criminal warehouse.”
Roman almost laughed from terror.
Vivien reached them.
“We need the ambulance.”
Roman picked Elena up.
She hit his shoulder.
“Put me down.”
“No.”
“I can walk.”
“Not this time.”
She started to argue.
Then another contraction hit.
Her fingers dug into his neck.
“Fine.”
Roman carried her toward the doors.
Behind them, Bellandi escaped into the chaos.
Sabrina disappeared too.
Anthony lay dead.
Three men were wounded.
Two arrested by plainclothes officers Marco had quietly brought into the outer perimeter.
Roman barely noticed.
The ambulance doors opened.
He climbed in with Elena.
A paramedic checked her.
“Thirty-five weeks?”
“Yes.”
“Contractions?”
“Two minutes.”
The paramedic’s expression changed.
Roman saw it.
“What?”
The man looked at Elena.
“Mrs. Marino, I don’t think we have much time.”
Elena stared at Roman.
“This is your fault.”
Roman nodded immediately.
“Yes.”
She almost laughed.
May you like
Then screamed through another contraction.
And while the Marino empire burned behind them, their son decided he had waited long enough to enter it.
