Chapter 1 - THE CLAUSE THAT SAVED A MAFIA BOSS
Arthur did not leave the diner quietly.
He stood so fast his coffee spilled across the contract.
“You're making a mistake, Roman.”
Roman remained seated.
“No. The mistake was yours.”
One of Roman's men opened the door.
Arthur looked at Sadi.
There was hatred in his eyes now.
Not embarrassment.
Not fear.
Recognition.
That frightened her more.
“You should have kept pouring coffee.”
Sadi swallowed.
Roman's expression changed.
“Arthur.”
One word.
Arthur stopped.
“If anything happens to her because she read your paperwork, I'll consider it an extension of tonight's negotiation.”
Arthur laughed bitterly.
“You don't even know who she is.”
Sadi froze.
Roman noticed.
“What does that mean?”
Arthur adjusted his coat.
“Ask her.”
Then he walked out.
The diner bells chimed.
Silence returned.
Sadi picked up the coffee pot.
“I should get back to work.”
Roman looked at her as though she'd lost her mind.
“You just stopped me from signing liability for a federal investigation.”
“And table six still needs coffee.”
“There is no table six.”
She looked.
The sleeping old man had left.
Damn.
Roman almost smiled.
Then he turned the contract toward her.
“You said the clause references a missing addendum.”
“Yes.”
“What would be in it?”
“Whatever they're trying hardest not to show you.”
Roman's bodyguard collected Arthur's abandoned copy.
Sadi noticed something.
A handwritten notation beside Section 14B.
Tiny.
Blue ink.
AR-17.
She leaned closer.
“Wait.”
Roman stopped.
“What?”
“That isn't part of the printed agreement.”
She pointed.
“AR-17 may reference a separate file.”
Roman took out his phone.
Before he could call anyone, Sadi remembered a case from law school.
Federal environmental liability.
Industrial contamination.
Warehouse land.
Arthur had called the deal a transfer of warehouse district properties.
Her pulse changed.
“What kind of warehouses?”
Roman studied her.
“Old shipping facilities.”
“Chemicals?”
“Some.”
Sadi looked at the contract again.
“If AR means Administrative Record, seventeen could be a federal evidence file.”
Roman's easy stillness disappeared.
“What are you saying?”
“I think Arthur wasn't only handing you an investigation.”
She swallowed.
“He may have been handing you contaminated property.”
Roman stared at her.
Then his phone rang.
His attorney.
Roman listened for twenty seconds.
His face went cold.
When the call ended, he looked at Sadi.
“Federal agents raided Arthur's warehouse three hours ago.”
Her stomach dropped.
“What did they find?”
Roman's answer was quiet.
May you like
“Human remains.”
And suddenly Section 14B wasn't about money anymore.
