Chapter 10 - THE TRADE ADRIAN NEVER EXPECTED
Roman wanted to send every man he had after Adrian.
I grabbed his wrist before he could reach the door.
“If you charge into this blindly, you'll give him exactly what he wants.”
He looked down at my hand, then at my face. Nobody in his organization would have dared speak to him that way.
But I wasn't thinking about his reputation.
I was thinking about Noah.
Victor contacted the hospital while a separate security team escorted my brother to a protected room. The message had been designed to frighten me, and we refused to let Adrian decide our next move.
Roman agreed to attend the meeting at an abandoned warehouse, but he wouldn't go alone. Law enforcement was notified through a lawyer who had been documenting the threats and financial evidence.
I insisted on joining the planning session.
Adrian believed I was frightened enough to obey. That was his mistake.
We sent a message agreeing to the meeting, but attached a condition of our own: Adrian had to bring the original ledger.
When Roman arrived, Adrian stood beneath a flickering light with three men beside him.
“You always were sentimental,” Adrian said. “First your mother, now a waitress.”
Roman didn't answer.
Adrian ordered his men to search Roman for recording devices. They found nothing because the recorder had been placed inside a bag I carried separately.
I watched from a secured vehicle nearby, listening through an earpiece.
Then Adrian made a terrible mistake.
He began bragging about how easily he had controlled Roman's life.
“Your mother should have stayed gone,” he said. “Your father should have minded his own business.”
Roman took one step forward.
“You killed him.”
Adrian smiled.
“I protected what was mine.”
The words rang through my earpiece.
May you like
Then every light in the warehouse went out.
A crash followed, and the communication line went silent.
