Chapter 6 - The Man Everyone Feared
Three months later, the Regency had new management.
Victor Doyle faced multiple criminal charges.
Patrick Doyle withdrew from several businesses and accepted new boundaries with the Valentis.
The peace survived.
Barely.
But Elena's life had changed more than anyone's.
She refused Roman's offer of money.
She refused an apartment.
She refused a job at the Onyx Room.
Then she accepted something Roman hadn't expected.
Partnership.
Not in his underground world.
In something legitimate.
Roman purchased an old downtown building and funded a nonprofit legal and employment center for women escaping abusive workplaces.
Elena ran it.
Her first condition had been simple.
"My name goes on the paperwork."
Roman nodded.
"Fine."
"Not yours."
"Fine."
"You don't control hiring."
"Fine."
"You don't get to scare employees."
Roman frowned.
"What if they deserve it?"
"No."
"Fine."
"And no mysterious men standing outside meetings."
"That's security."
"That's terrifying."
"They're professional."
"They look like they bury professionals."
Roman considered this.
"Two guards."
"One."
"Two."
"One."
"One and Sal."
"Sal counts as three."
From across the room, Sal said:
"I appreciate that."
Elena laughed.
Roman watched her.
She had changed.
Not completely.
She still sometimes froze when someone raised his voice unexpectedly.
She still hated being approached from behind.
But she no longer disappeared.
One evening, Roman arrived as she was locking the center.
"You've been avoiding me," he said.
"I've been working."
"For eleven days?"
She smiled.
"You counted?"
"No."
"Eleven is suspiciously specific."
Roman put his hands into his coat pockets.
"I've been trying to give you space."
"You're bad at it."
"Very."
They walked down the sidewalk.
Elena finally asked the question that had been hanging between them for months.
"Why did you really stop that night?"
Roman looked ahead.
"I told you."
"You hate messes?"
"Yes."
"Roman."
He sighed.
"My mother."
Elena stopped.
Roman turned toward her.
"When I was fourteen, my mother left my father."
Elena waited.
"He wasn't a good man."
Roman's voice remained controlled.
"One night she asked someone for help."
"What happened?"
"Nobody stopped."
Elena's expression changed.
Roman looked away.
"She survived. Eventually she got us both away from him."
"So when you saw me..."
"I saw someone everyone else had already decided wasn't their problem."
Elena stepped closer.
"You never told me."
"You never asked the right question."
She smiled faintly.
"Still avoiding answers."
"Occupational habit."
They reached her car.
Elena didn't open the door.
"Roman."
"Yeah?"
"I'm not afraid of you anymore."
His expression shifted.
"Maybe you should be."
"No."
"You know what I am."
"I know what you've done."
"That isn't the same thing."
"You're right."
She moved closer.
"I also know what you didn't do."
Roman remained silent.
"You never forced me to stay."
"No."
"You never touched me when I said no."
"No."
"You listened even when you hated what I was saying."
"Usually."
"And when you could have started a war, you found another way."
Roman looked at her.
"Because you asked me to."
Elena smiled.
"Exactly."
She kissed his cheek.
Roman froze.
Elena opened her car door.
"Goodnight, Roman."
He stared at her.
"That's it?"
She laughed.
"You'll survive."
"I'm beginning to question that."
She drove away smiling.
Sal stepped from the building.
Roman glared.
"How long have you been standing there?"
"Long enough."
"Say one word and you're fired."
Sal nodded.
"Of course, Romeo."
Roman stared at him.
May you like
"You're fired."
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