Chapter 12 - THE SECOND INVESTIGATION
Dating Roman did not make Emily’s job easier.
If anything, it made it worse.
People watched.
Some staff worried she would soften.
She did not.
Her next report criticized Bellini Grand’s new scheduling software for penalizing workers who requested medical accommodations.
Roman read it.
Approved corrections.
No complaint.
Board chair joked:
“Love has not made her kinder to you.”
Roman answered:
“Good.”
Then another issue surfaced.
A contractor supplying temp housekeeping workers had charged workers illegal uniform fees.
Emily found it through a complaint from a new employee, Ana.
The vendor contract was signed after reforms.
Meaning the system still failed.
Roman was furious.
Emily stopped him.
“Don’t perform anger.”
He stared.
“Perform?”
“Yes. Fix process.”
They audited vendor.
Terminated contract.
Reimbursed workers.
Then instituted vendor-worker protections.
Progress.
But contractor owner made one claim:
Bellini management knew.
Who?
Not Keller.
New procurement director.
Hired by independent president.
Reform did not eliminate greed.
It required vigilance.
Emily realized something:
No single villain had caused everything.
Keller exploited a culture.
Frank exploited family.
Carlo exploited silence.
Roman exploited distance without meaning to.
Future people would exploit new systems if nobody watched.
That became her work.
Then Roman faced separate legal consequences for old Bellini family operations.
Financial compliance charges tied to businesses beyond hotel.
He told Emily before news broke.
“I may plead.”
“Did you do it?”
“Yes.”
“Then?”
“I’ll plead.”
Sentence likely short.
Maybe home confinement.
Maybe federal facility.
Emily sat.
“Do you expect me to wait?”
He smiled sadly.
“I’ve learned not to ask that.”
“Good.”
He received ten months in minimum-security facility after cooperation and restructuring.
Emily did not attend every hearing.
She attended sentencing.
Her choice.
Judge noted his cooperation, restitution and reform but emphasized wealth did not erase responsibility.
Good.
Before surrender, Roman came to her apartment.
Not penthouse.
Hers.
Small.
Plants dying.
He said:
“I love you.”
Emily froze.
Wrong timing.
Always.
Then she laughed softly.
“Of course you say that before prison.”
“I know.”
“Terrible.”
“Yes.”
She looked at him.
“I love you too.”
His eyes changed.
“But I’m not pausing my life for ten months.”
“I know.”
“I’ll visit if I want.”
“I know.”
“And if this changes us—”
“Then it changes us.”
Good.
Roman served eight months.
Emily visited three times.
Wrote twice.
Mostly worked.
Nora Scholarship launched.
Employee liaison program replicated in two other hotels under consulting agreement.
Her career became bigger than Bellini Grand.
When Roman returned, he texted:
Home.
She replied:
Eat something not institutional.
He wrote:
Commanding tone.
She answered:
Suggestion.
They had dinner the next week.
May you like
Restart.
Not resume.
