Chapter 5 - The Empty Chair
The first time Roman kissed Sienna, nothing exploded.
Nobody interrupted.
There was no dramatic declaration.
It happened in the kitchen at 2:11 in the morning.
Sienna was making grilled cheese.
Roman was standing beside her.
She turned.
He was closer than expected.
They stopped.
His eyes dropped briefly toward her mouth.
“Sienna.”
“Yes?”
“Tell me to move.”
She didn't.
Roman waited.
Still she didn't.
So he kissed her.
Slowly.
Carefully.
Nothing like the dangerous man everyone described.
When they separated, Sienna whispered:
“This seriously complicates my employment contract.”
“You haven't been my employee for three months.”
“Then why do you keep paying me?”
“Because you keep returning the money.”
She smiled.
Then Roman's phone rang.
Marco.
Roman answered.
His expression changed immediately.
“What?”
Sienna watched all warmth disappear from his face.
Someone had accessed the mansion's security network.
Not from outside.
From inside.
The same encryption signature used during the opera-house sabotage.
Roman looked toward the security cameras.
There were only six people with that level of access.
Marco was one.
Roman's consigliere was another.
His security chief.
His accountant.
His uncle.
And his cousin Dante DeLuca.
The man Roman had grown up believing was his brother.
Sienna suddenly remembered something.
At the opera house, one relay had been removed.
The other hadn't.
It had been replaced with an older model.
She had seen the same model recently.
In Dante's private garage.
“Roman.”
He looked at her.
May you like
“I know who's doing it.”
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