Chapter 3 - The Stalker at the Door
Roman put the call on speaker.
Caleb’s voice filled the office.
“Send Norah outside.”
Roman remained calm.
“Why?”
“Because she’s none of your business.”
Norah snapped, “I haven't been your business for six months.”
Caleb laughed.
“There she is.”
Roman looked at her.
“You want to speak?”
“No.”
“Good.”
He muted the phone.
Norah blinked.
“I was speaking.”
“And now you're not.”
“I hate you.”
“Get in line.”
He unmuted it.
“Caleb, you bribed one of my employees to manipulate staffing inside my club.”
“So?”
“So you've confused stalking a frightened woman with being powerful.”
Norah looked at Roman.
Caleb’s voice sharpened.
“Send her out.”
“No.”
“You don't even know her.”
Roman looked at Samuel’s photograph.
“I know enough.”
Caleb went quiet.
Then he said, “Ask her what Samuel left behind.”
Norah froze.
Roman noticed.
“What did Samuel leave behind?”
Caleb laughed.
“Ask her.”
The call ended.
Roman turned.
“Norah?”
“I don't know.”
“You reacted.”
“Because Caleb has been asking me the same question.”
“What question?”
“He thinks Samuel left me something.”
“Did he?”
“No.”
Roman studied her.
She became irritated.
“Stop looking at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you’re interrogating a witness.”
“I am interrogating a witness.”
“I’m not one of your men.”
“No. My men answer faster.”
Norah stood.
“I’m leaving.”
Roman blocked the door.
“You can't.”
“Move.”
“Caleb is outside.”
“And your solution is locking me in here with another dangerous man?”
Roman’s expression changed slightly.
Norah realized what she had said.
But she didn't apologize.
Finally Roman stepped aside.
“You're right.”
She blinked.
“What?”
“You're right.”
“That happens more often than men expect.”
Roman opened the door.
“You may leave whenever you want.”
Norah stared suspiciously.
“Really?”
“Yes.”
She stepped into the hallway.
Roman followed.
Gideon was waiting.
Roman said, “Escort her through the front entrance.”
Norah stopped.
“Why the front?”
“Cameras. Witnesses. Security.”
She understood.
“And Caleb?”
“Will not approach you.”
“How do you know?”
Roman looked toward the monitors.
“Because he wanted you isolated.”
Norah hesitated.
Then another guard hurried over.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“We found Dennis.”
“Where?”
“Parking garage.”
“Bring him.”
Minutes later, the supervisor was shoved into Roman’s office.
Dennis looked terrified.
Roman stood behind his desk.
Norah remained near the door.
Roman asked one question.
“How much?”
Dennis swallowed.
“Mr. Falco—”
“How much did Mercer pay you?”
“Five thousand.”
Norah stared.
Dennis wouldn't look at her.
Roman continued.
“What did he ask you to do?”
“Put Norah in VIP.”
“Why?”
“He said he needed her fired.”
Norah frowned.
“Fired?”
Dennis nodded.
“He said if you saw her make a serious mistake, you'd throw her out through the alley.”
Roman became perfectly still.
Norah whispered, “He knew.”
Gideon understood first.
“He knew our procedures.”
Roman looked at Dennis.
“How?”
Dennis shook his head.
“I don't know.”
Roman stepped around the desk.
“You knew sending her into that room could get her killed.”
“I thought—”
Roman grabbed Dennis’s collar.
Norah flinched.
Roman saw it.
His hand immediately released the man.
“Get him out.”
Gideon dragged Dennis away.
Norah stared at Roman.
“You stopped.”
Roman adjusted his cuff.
“Yes.”
“Because I reacted?”
Roman didn't answer.
Norah looked toward Samuel’s photograph.
“My father taught you something, didn't he?”
Roman finally met her eyes.
“He taught me that fear makes men careless.”
“And yet you ordered me into an alley because of a broken bottle.”
Roman’s jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
“You almost became exactly what he saved you from.”
That landed harder than any insult Sullivan had made all night.
Roman said nothing.
Norah picked up her coat.
“I'm going home.”
Roman nodded.
Then Gideon rushed back.
“She's not.”
Norah sighed.
“Why now?”
Gideon held up his phone.
“Because Mercer just sent this.”
The image showed Norah’s apartment.
Taken from inside.
On her kitchen table sat an old wooden box.
The same box Samuel had given her before he died.
Under the photograph was a message.
COME HOME ALONE.
Roman looked at Norah.
“What’s inside that box?”
Norah whispered:
May you like
“I never opened it.”
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