Chapter 7 - WHEN MAYA WOKE
Maya woke three days later.
Roman was asleep in a chair.
That frightened her more than the gunshot.
“Roman?”
His eyes opened instantly.
“You're awake.”
“You look terrible.”
“You were shot.”
“People keep mentioning that.”
The bullet had passed through her side.
No major organs.
Lucky.
Roman didn't believe in luck anymore.
Leo arrived.
He didn't speak.
He climbed onto the bed and hugged her.
Maya touched his hair.
“Hey.”
He whispered:
“You came back.”
Three words.
More important than six impossible ones.
“Yes.”
“I thought you wouldn't.”
“I'm hard to get rid of.”
Elena stood in the doorway.
Isabella beside her.
For the first time, everyone was alive in the same room.
But Dante had survived too.
Police took him into custody.
Roman could have made him disappear.
He didn't.
Elena asked why.
“Because Leo is watching.”
That answer mattered.
Roman handed investigators evidence of Dante's crimes.
Then something harder.
Evidence of Roman's own.
Elena stared.
“What are you doing?”
“Ending it.”
Roman's empire had not been innocent.
Dante's betrayal didn't erase Roman's choices.
Roman understood that if he wanted Leo to grow into a different man, he couldn't keep teaching him that power meant escaping consequences.
The investigation began.
Assets were frozen.
Businesses seized.
Men fled.
Roman lost half his empire in six weeks.
Maya asked whether he regretted it.
“Yes.”
She blinked.
“Really?”
“I regret not doing it sooner.”
May you like
That answer she believed.
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