Chapter 9 - MIA'S CHOICE
Roman slept for nineteen hours.
Human.
When he woke, Mia was sitting beside the hospital bed in a private clinic Tomas apparently owned.
He opened his eyes.
Looked at his hands.
Then at her.
"You stayed."
Mia held up a terrible vending-machine coffee.
"I paid three dollars for this. I'm not leaving until I finish it."
Roman smiled.
His voice was stronger.
"You could've bought a better coffee."
"With what?"
Roman frowned.
"My money."
Mia nearly choked.
"No."
"I have money."
"I noticed the tower."
"A great deal of money."
"Still no."
Roman watched her.
"You lost your apartment because of me."
"Matteo."
"Because you saved me."
Mia set down the cup.
"Don't do that."
"Do what?"
"Turn everything into a debt."
Roman became still.
"I'm serious."
"So am I."
"You don't owe me."
"I owe you my life."
"No."
"Mia."
"You're doing the mafia boss voice."
His eyebrow moved.
"That voice doesn't work on me."
"I've noticed."
She folded her arms.
"You needed help."
"And you gave it."
"So?"
"People don't do that without wanting something."
Mia's expression softened.
"Maybe yours don't."
Roman looked away.
That landed.
She regretted the sharpness immediately.
"Roman."
"It's true."
He stared at the window.
"Before this, everyone wanted something."
"Power?"
"Money."
"Protection."
"Access."
"Fear."
Mia watched him.
"And me?"
He looked at her.
"I still don't understand you."
She laughed.
"That's probably healthy."
His expression became serious.
"I heard everything."
"When?"
"Your apartment."
Mia frowned.
"When I couldn't speak."
Roman looked at his hands.
"You talked because you thought I was a dog."
Mia's cheeks warmed.
"Oh no."
"You sing terribly."
"No."
"You complain about customers after midnight."
"Roman."
"You owe Lucy forty dollars."
"She knows."
"You lie when you say you're fine."
Mia went quiet.
Roman continued softly.
"You counted money after every shift."
Her throat tightened.
"You skipped dinner twice so I could eat."
"You were injured."
"You slept on the floor because you thought the radiator side was warmer for me."
Mia looked down.
Roman reached for her hand.
Stopped before touching.
"May I?"
She looked at him.
Then placed her hand in his.
His fingers closed around hers.
Warm.
Human.
"I knew who you were before I remembered who I was."
Mia didn't breathe.
Roman's thumb moved slowly across her knuckles.
"I spent months trying to hold onto Roman Vescari."
His voice lowered.
"Then you called me Cookie."
Mia laughed through sudden tears.
"That name saved you."
"It nearly killed me."
"Drama queen."
Roman smiled.
Then his face became serious again.
"I don't know what happens now."
"That's reassuring."
"I mean with me."
He glanced toward the door.
"Vittorio wants me to take control again."
"Do you want to?"
Roman didn't answer.
Mia knew.
"Part of you does."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because I built something."
"You also said it hurt people."
"It did."
"Can it become something else?"
Roman considered.
"Maybe."
"That's not confidence."
"Confidence nearly got me killed in a church."
"Twice."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
He squeezed her hand.
"Matteo is stable."
Mia's smile disappeared.
"As stable as a cursed wolf can be?"
"Serafina says the curse is different now."
"Because he deserved it?"
Roman flinched.
"I don't know if anybody deserves that."
Mia stared at him.
"Even after what he did?"
"Especially because I know what it feels like."
That answer mattered.
More than Roman realized.
Two days later, Mia returned to the remains of her apartment.
Most of the building was destroyed.
The fire department allowed her inside for ten minutes.
Roman came with her.
No security.
No expensive suit.
Just jeans, black coat, borrowed boots.
Mia stepped over wet plaster.
Her room was almost unrecognizable.
She found her mother's coffee mug broken beneath fallen drywall.
One green piece remained intact.
Mia picked it up.
Roman watched.
"My mom hated that mug."
"Why did you keep it?"
"Because she hated it."
He nodded like that made perfect sense.
In a metal box under the bed frame, she found photographs.
Water damaged.
But recognizable.
Mia sank onto the floor.
Roman crouched beside her.
"That's her?"
Mia handed him one.
Her mother stood outside the diner, laughing into the camera.
"Rose Sullivan."
Roman studied it.
"You look like her."
"Everybody says that."
"You have her smile."
"You never saw me smile in this photograph."
"I've seen you smile."
Mia looked at him.
His gaze held hers.
Dangerous territory.
She stood.
"We should go."
Roman didn't move.
"Mia."
"What?"
"What are you afraid of?"
She laughed once.
"Today? Structural collapse."
"Me."
Her smile disappeared.
Roman stood.
"You're afraid of me."
"I'm not."
"You are."
Mia looked toward the burned window.
"I'm afraid of what happens around you."
Fair.
Roman accepted it.
"People shoot at you."
"Sometimes."
"Buildings burn."
"Rarely."
"Your brother became a wolf."
"That was new."
She almost smiled.
Then stopped herself.
"Roman, I spent my entire adult life trying to make things stable."
"I know."
"You are not stable."
"No."
"You have enemies."
"Fewer now."
"Not helping."
He stepped closer.
"I'm not asking you to join my world."
"Then what are you asking?"
Roman hesitated.
It might have been the first time Mia had ever seen him uncertain.
"Dinner."
She blinked.
"What?"
"Dinner."
"Like a date?"
"Yes."
"You're asking me on a date in my burned apartment?"
"I've had very little practice recently."
She stared.
Then laughed.
Roman smiled.
"Is that a yes?"
"No."
His smile disappeared.
"It's a maybe."
He looked hopeful.
"That is not permission to buy the restaurant."
"I wasn't going to."
"You absolutely were."
Roman said nothing.
Mia pointed.
"See?"
That evening she returned to the safehouse.
Lucy was waiting.
The second Mia opened the door, Lucy slapped her shoulder.
"You disappeared for two days."
"I'm sorry."
"Your apartment burned down."
"I know."
"Men in suits moved me to a hotel."
"Also sorry."
"And then I find out the dog you rescued is apparently a handsome crime lord."
Mia stared.
"Who told you?"
"Tomas."
Across the room Tomas suddenly became very interested in a newspaper.
Lucy lowered her voice.
"He's ridiculous."
"Who?"
"Roman."
"I know."
"No. Ridiculously attractive."
Mia grabbed her arm.
"Stop."
Lucy smiled.
"Oh my God."
"What?"
"You like him."
"No."
"You have the face."
"What face?"
"The face you had with Caleb in sophomore year."
"Caleb stole my laptop."
"Bad example."
Mia looked across the room.
Roman stood speaking with Vittorio.
Black suit.
White shirt.
No tie.
Completely human.
He felt her looking.
Turned.
Their eyes met.
Lucy whispered, "You're doomed."
Mia sighed.
"Probably."
Then every phone in the room rang simultaneously.
Tomas checked his.
His face changed.
Roman walked toward him.
"What?"
Tomas turned the screen around.
A live news broadcast showed Vescari Tower.
The headline read:
FEDERAL RAID UNDERWAY AT VESCARI HOLDINGS
Roman stared.
Vittorio swore.
Mia frowned.
"Why is that bad? Aren't you trying to become legitimate?"
Roman looked at the screen.
"Because the warrants were signed eight months ago."
Tomas's eyes narrowed.
"Matteo."
Roman nodded.
"He planned for this."
A second alert appeared.
Then a third.
Bank accounts frozen.
Properties seized.
Arrest warrants pending.
And finally—
ROMAN VESCARI SUSPECTED ALIVE — WANTED FOR QUESTIONING IN MULTIPLE HOMICIDES.
Mia stared at Roman.
His face became unreadable.
Tomas whispered, "He framed you before he cursed you."
Roman looked toward the room where Matteo was being kept.
Eight months as an animal.
And somehow his brother had still found a way to attack him after losing.
Roman said quietly,
"He wasn't trying to steal my empire."
Mia looked at him.
May you like
Roman's expression darkened.
"He was trying to make sure I could never come back."
