Chapter 5 - The Engagement That Never Existed
They found Elias Mercer without firing a shot.
Tessa used the one weakness Bishop had never considered dangerous.
His daughter.
Chloe sat in Roman’s private conference room, staring at the engagement ring on her finger.
Tessa entered alone.
“Your father used you.”
Chloe looked up.
“Get out.”
“I need Mercer.”
“No.”
“Then Roman goes down with your father.”
Chloe laughed bitterly.
“You expect me to care about Roman now?”
“No.”
Tessa sat opposite her.
“I expect you to care about yourself.”
That worked.
Chloe’s eyes narrowed.
Tessa slid a phone across the table.
“Your father’s accounts connect you to the conspiracy.”
“I didn’t know.”
“Prove it.”
“How?”
“Give me Mercer.”
Chloe stared at the phone.
“If I help you, my father is finished.”
“He finished himself.”
Long silence.
Finally Chloe picked up the phone.
“He has an apartment on West Seventy-Third.”
Roman was listening from the adjoining room.
Twenty minutes later, Marco’s men confirmed Mercer was there.
But Roman stopped them from entering.
“No violence.”
Marco frowned.
“He has evidence that could bury us.”
“Exactly why nobody touches him.”
Tessa looked at Roman.
“What are you thinking?”
Roman took out his phone.
“We give him a better option.”
Mercer answered on the third ring.
“Castell.”
“Elias.”
“You finally figured it out.”
“Tessa did.”
Mercer laughed.
“Of course she did.”
Tessa folded her arms.
Roman continued.
“Bishop intends to make you the fall guy.”
Silence.
“You’re lying.”
“Tessa?”
She stepped closer.
“Fairmont transfers. Authorization chain C-seven. Your signature appears on eleven transactions.”
Mercer stopped breathing for a moment.
Tessa continued.
“Bishop’s signature appears on none.”
“You’re bluffing.”
“I’ll send page one.”
She did.
Thirty seconds passed.
Then Mercer said, “What do you want?”
“Everything,” Roman replied.
“And what do I get?”
“A chance to walk into a federal office with your own attorney before Bishop tells them you acted alone.”
Mercer was silent.
Then:
“One hour.”
The call ended.
Marco stared at Roman.
“You’re letting him cooperate?”
“I’m letting him choose.”
Tessa studied Roman.
Five years earlier, he would have solved the problem differently.
Roman noticed her stare.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“That wasn’t nothing.”
“You’re changing.”
His expression softened.
“I’m trying.”
By sunrise, Mercer had turned over copies of Bishop’s records to his attorney and investigators.
Senator Bishop’s carefully constructed alliance collapsed before breakfast.
Chloe removed Roman’s ring herself.
She placed it on his desk.
“I suppose there won’t be a wedding.”
Roman looked at her.
“There never should have been.”
Chloe nodded.
Then she looked at Tessa.
“You won.”
Tessa shook her head.
“This wasn’t a competition.”
“It was to me.”
“That was your mistake.”
Chloe left.
The office became quiet.
Roman and Tessa were alone again.
Just as they had been hours earlier.
The resignation letter still sat on the desk.
Roman picked it up.
Tessa’s heart tightened.
He handed it to her.
“You’re free.”
She looked at him.
“You’re accepting it?”
“I should have accepted it the first time.”
Tessa slowly took the paper.
Roman stepped away.
“No locked doors. No orders. No strategic arguments.”
“Roman—”
“You stayed tonight because you chose to protect what you built.”
“Yes.”
“Now I’m choosing to respect what you asked for.”
Tessa stared at the letter.
She had imagined this moment for three days.
She had expected relief.
Instead, it hurt.
Roman walked toward the window.
Behind him, Tessa quietly folded the resignation letter.
May you like
And put it into her bag.
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