Chapter 5 - The Price of ProtectionAn hour later, the garage had emptied. Sullivan was gone, Maria was on a bus north, and Ben had been packed into a secure safehouse upstate with enough money to clear his slate and start over under strict supervision.
Only Norah and Roman remained in the private office adjoining the garage.
Norah sat in a leather armchair, staring blankly at her hands. The mud from the garage floor had dried on her sneakers. Her entire world had been upended in less than twelve hours.
Roman walked in carrying two cups of black coffee, placing one on the mahogany table beside her before leaning against the edge of the desk.
"Your brother is safe," Roman said quietly. "He'll be working a legitimate logistics job in Peoria by Tuesday. No gambling dens. No loan sharks."
"You bought Sullivan’s entire operation," Norah said, her voice barely a whisper. "Just like that."
"It was a bad investment anyway," Roman replied smoothly. "And now there's no leak in my house."
Norah looked up, her gray eyes meeting his amber gaze. There was no anger left in her—only a heavy, exhausting realization of the cage she lived in.
"You did all of this to protect your estate," she said. "Not me."
Roman pushed off the desk, walking over until he stood directly in front of her chair. He didn't loom over her; he knelt down, bringing his face level with hers, his strong hands resting on the armrests of her chair, trapping her gently in his space.
"If I wanted to protect only my estate, Norah, I would have thrown your brother to Sullivan and fired you for breaking curfew," Roman said, his voice rough and low. "I didn't do that."
Norah’s breath hitched. "Why?"
"Because from the first day you walked into my library with your hair tied back in that ridiculous clip, trying to pretend you were invisible... you haven't been invisible to me," Roman admitted, his thumb reaching out to gently brush a smudge of dirt from her cheekbone.
May you like
She froze, her skin burning where his thumb touched her. "Roman..."
"You think you're a servant in this house," he continued, his eyes burning with an intensity that defied the coldness of his reputation. "You aren't. You never were. And now that Sullivan is gone, and the leaks are plugged... you are going to realize that walking away from me was never an option."
