Chapter 4 - The Woman at the Long Table
One night became two.
Two became twenty.
Sienna repaired wiring throughout Roman's mansion simply because she couldn't tolerate how badly some of it had been installed.
Roman started leaving coffee beside her toolbox.
She started insulting his expensive suits.
“You own twelve identical black jackets.”
“They aren't identical.”
“They're black.”
“One is Brioni.”
“Black.”
“One is Kiton.”
“Still black.”
Roman looked offended.
Sienna laughed.
Nobody laughed at Roman DeLuca.
Nobody except her.
Slowly, she discovered the man beneath the mythology.
Roman cooked.
Badly.
He loved old architecture.
He secretly financed three neighborhood youth centers.
And every Sunday morning, he visited Nico's grave alone.
Roman discovered things about her too.
Sienna had postponed college twice to take care of Lucy.
She still listened to her father's jazz records when she couldn't sleep.
She pretended not to be afraid of losing her house.
One December morning, she opened her banking app.
The mortgage balance was zero.
Sienna drove directly to Roman's mansion.
He was holding a meeting with twelve men around a long walnut table.
She walked straight inside.
Marco tried stopping her.
He failed.
Sienna dropped her phone onto the table.
“Did you do this?”
Every man went silent.
Roman looked at the screen.
“Yes.”
“I didn't ask you to.”
“You needed it.”
“You don't get to buy my problems away.”
“I wasn't buying anything.”
“Then what do you call paying off someone's mortgage?”
Roman stood.
The room became tense.
He was six-foot-three, heavily built, tattoos visible across his fingers and beneath the collar of his charcoal shirt.
Sienna didn't move.
“Leave us,” Roman said.
The room emptied instantly.
Sienna shook her head.
“That's creepy too.”
Roman stepped closer.
“I couldn't watch you drown when fixing it required one phone call.”
“I don't want to owe you.”
“You don't.”
“Everybody owes Roman DeLuca.”
His expression softened.
“Not you.”
That frightened her more than anything else.
May you like
Because she believed him.
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