Chapter 7 - Her Choice
Amelia looked at Roman across the clearing.
Rain from the night before still clung to the trees.
Armed men stood on both sides.
Gabriel watched her with open curiosity.
Valyria stood close enough that their sleeves touched.
Daniel remained near Amelia’s shoulder.
Everyone waited.
Roman did not repeat the question.
Do you want to come with me?
A week ago, Amelia would have moved toward him automatically.
A month ago, she would have been angry that he even needed to ask.
Now she understood why the question mattered.
Roman had spent years believing protection justified control.
He decided where security stood.
Which roads she used.
Which risks mattered.
Which obligations came first.
For once, he was asking.
Amelia swallowed.
“I want to leave.”
Roman nodded.
“With Daniel.”
Pain flickered through his eyes.
He nodded again.
“All right.”
Gabriel laughed softly.
“Beautiful.”
Roman finally looked at him.
“You wanted to break my marriage.”
“I wanted you to see what your precious loyalty costs.”
“You murdered someone.”
“So have men under your command.”
Roman’s expression changed.
Amelia noticed.
Gabriel noticed too.
“That bothers you now?” Gabriel asked.
Roman lowered his weapon slightly.
“Yes.”
Gabriel frowned.
That was not the answer he expected.
Roman continued.
“You wanted to destroy my empire.”
He looked toward Amelia.
“You were right about one thing.”
Gabriel’s smile returned.
“What?”
“It should be destroyed.”
Stefano turned sharply.
Even Amelia stared.
Roman looked back at Gabriel.
“You thought my power mattered more to me than she did.”
“It always has.”
Roman shook his head.
“No. I just behaved like it did.”
Gabriel’s men shifted uneasily.
Matteo appeared from behind a tree.
Roman saw him.
“Cousin.”
Matteo laughed.
“Still dramatic.”
Roman’s voice stayed calm.
“You sold my wife’s routine.”
“You took what should have been ours.”
“Ours?”
“Our fathers built everything.”
“Our fathers built graves.”
Matteo’s jaw tightened.
“You turned the Duca name into your personal kingdom.”
Roman glanced at the armed men around him.
“Then take it.”
Silence.
Matteo frowned.
“What?”
“The warehouses. Clubs. routes. accounts.”
Stefano stared.
Roman continued.
“You want the empire? Take what survives federal seizure.”
Matteo’s face changed.
“Federal seizure?”
Roman smiled coldly.
“While you were hiding, I gave them everything attached to Gabriel.”
Gabriel’s expression finally cracked.
“You did what?”
“Accounts. properties. political payments. shipping manifests.”
“You implicated yourself.”
“Yes.”
Everyone went silent.
Amelia could not breathe.
Roman had not merely attacked Gabriel.
He had burned his own protection.
Gabriel stepped forward.
“You would destroy your own organization?”
Roman’s eyes moved to Amelia.
“I already destroyed something more important.”
Gabriel raised his weapon.
The movement was fast.
Stefano fired first.
Chaos exploded.
Amelia dropped.
Daniel covered her.
Valyria screamed.
Shots cracked through the trees.
Roman’s men moved defensively.
Gabriel disappeared behind a vehicle.
Matteo ran.
Roman could have pursued him.
Instead, he moved toward Amelia.
Another shot struck the dirt nearby.
Roman shielded her with his body.
“Are you hit?”
“No.”
“The baby?”
“I’m okay.”
He looked at her stomach.
Then her face.
For one heartbeat they were husband and wife again.
Terrified.
Connected.
Then Daniel pulled Amelia toward the vehicle.
“We need to go.”
Roman stepped back immediately.
No argument.
No command.
Just:
“Go.”
Amelia looked at him.
“You’re staying?”
“I have to end this.”
She almost said, You always have to.
The old resentment rose.
But something was different.
He wasn’t asking her to wait.
He wasn’t promising dinner.
He wasn’t expecting forgiveness.
He was simply taking responsibility for the danger he had created.
“Don’t die,” she said.
Roman’s expression softened.
“I’ll try.”
Daniel drove Amelia away.
Roman watched until the vehicle disappeared.
Then he turned back toward the war.
By sunset, three of Gabriel’s properties had been raided.
Two captains surrendered.
Matteo vanished.
Gabriel escaped.
Roman voluntarily met federal investigators through attorneys and began handing over records.
Stefano found him in the study at midnight.
“You realize what you’re doing.”
“Yes.”
“We could lose everything.”
“Yes.”
“Properties. businesses.”
“Yes.”
“People will turn on us.”
“Yes.”
Stefano stared.
“You planned this?”
“No.”
“That makes it worse.”
Roman almost smiled.
Stefano sat.
“Why?”
Roman looked around the study.
“This house has bulletproof windows.”
“So?”
“My child would have grown up thinking bulletproof windows were normal.”
Stefano said nothing.
“I told myself I was creating safety.”
Roman looked at Amelia’s ring.
“I created a beautiful prison.”
Stefano poured himself whiskey.
“What do you want instead?”
Roman’s answer was immediate.
“I don’t know.”
That frightened him more than enemies ever had.
For most of his life, Roman always knew the objective.
Survive.
Expand.
Protect.
Repay.
Now he wanted something he could not force.
A second chance.
Across the state, Amelia sat on Daniel’s porch wrapped in a blanket.
Valyria had gone elsewhere under protection.
Claire Serrano had vanished again.
The immediate danger had decreased.
But Amelia could not stop thinking about Roman’s words.
It should be destroyed.
Daniel brought tea.
“You heard what he did.”
“Yes.”
“Federal cooperation.”
“Yes.”
“He may face charges.”
“I know.”
Daniel sat beside her.
“You’re worried.”
Amelia looked into the dark fields.
“He’s my husband.”
“You left your ring.”
“That doesn’t erase ten years.”
Daniel nodded.
“What do you want?”
Amelia laughed quietly.
“Everybody keeps asking me that.”
“Maybe because you finally get to decide.”
She looked at him.
“That is incredibly annoying.”
Daniel smiled.
“Family gift.”
Amelia touched her stomach.
“What if he changes?”
Daniel thought.
“People can change.”
“And if I forgive him?”
“That’s different.”
“How?”
“Change is his responsibility. Forgiveness is yours.”
Amelia stared at the horizon.
Daniel continued.
“You don’t owe him forgiveness because he burns down his empire.”
“I know.”
“You don’t owe him because he loves you.”
“I know.”
“And you don’t owe yourself permanent anger just to prove what happened mattered.”
Amelia’s eyes filled.
“That part is harder.”
“I know.”
Two days later, Roman received an envelope.
No return address.
Inside was a single ultrasound photograph.
His child.
On the back Amelia had written:
The baby is healthy.
Nothing else.
Roman sat alone for a long time.
Then he placed the photograph beside her wedding ring.
He did not call.
Did not trace the envelope.
Did not send men.
For once, he understood that respecting Amelia’s boundary might be the only love she was willing to accept from him.
Three weeks passed.
Roman dismantled businesses.
Closed illegal operations.
Sold legitimate properties to pay legal settlements.
Provided information against corrupt officials who had protected him.
Baltimore reacted as though a king had abdicated without warning.
Rivals moved.
Allies panicked.
Headlines speculated.
Roman ignored them.
Then one morning, Stefano rushed into his office.
“Gabriel surfaced.”
Roman looked up.
“Where?”
“Not here.”
“Where?”
Stefano placed a photograph on the desk.
Roman’s blood went cold.
A farmhouse.
Daniel Hartwell’s car in the driveway.
A telephoto image of Amelia standing near the porch.
“She’s been found,” Stefano said.
Roman was already moving.
But at the farmhouse, Amelia had just discovered the same thing.
A small white box sat outside the front door.
Inside was a silver baby rattle.
Under it, a note.
Roman chose wrong once.
Let’s see what you choose when the baby is born.
Amelia’s hands began to shake.
Gabriel was no longer trying to break Roman.
May you like
He was coming for their child.
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