Chapter 6 - The Night Roman Costa Lost Everything
Vincent smiled.
"Give me the card."
Gemma slowly stood.
"You're going to kill me anyway."
"Probably."
"Then why should I?"
Vincent's smile faded.
"Because dying quickly is a privilege."
Gemma's fear was real.
But so was her anger.
"You killed my mother."
"Your mother made unfortunate choices."
"My father."
"Same problem."
"And Roman's real father."
Vincent's eyes sharpened.
"You've been busy."
Gemma backed toward the desk.
Vincent raised the gun.
"No."
She stopped.
"You know what I find fascinating about Roman?" Vincent asked. "He spent his entire life trying not to become Vittorio."
He laughed.
"And Vittorio wasn't even his father."
"Who was?"
"You saw the name."
Gemma had.
Michael Moretti.
Vincent's younger brother.
Roman's biological father.
Michael had tried to leave the criminal world.
Vincent killed him.
Vittorio raised Roman as his own because Roman's mother begged him.
The secret remained buried for decades.
"Why does it matter now?" Gemma asked.
"Because blood matters to men like Roman."
"No. It matters to men like you."
Vincent's expression hardened.
Gemma's hand reached the desk.
She knocked over a lamp.
Darkness.
Gunshot.
Gemma ran.
A bullet struck the wall.
She reached the hallway.
Then another gunshot.
She fell.
Not from a bullet.
Someone tackled Vincent.
Dominic.
The two men fought.
Gemma grabbed the gun.
Vincent escaped through the stairwell.
Dominic helped her stand.
"Roman?"
"Released."
"How?"
"The prosecutor received your father's files."
Gemma looked at him.
"I didn't send them."
Dominic smiled.
"I did."
Roman returned forty minutes later.
He entered the penthouse and saw Gemma.
Everything else disappeared.
He crossed the room and pulled her into his arms.
"You okay?"
"Yes."
"You're sure?"
"Roman."
He held her tighter.
Gemma realized his hands were shaking.
Roman Costa's hands never shook.
She whispered, "I'm okay."
He closed his eyes.
Then she told him.
Everything.
Michael Moretti.
His real father.
Vincent.
Roman listened without interruption.
When she finished, he sat in silence.
"So my entire life..."
"Was built on a lie."
Roman laughed once.
It sounded broken.
Gemma sat beside him.
"Your blood doesn't decide who you are."
"You don't understand."
"I understand better than you think."
She took his hand.
"My father was a criminal."
Roman looked at her.
"My mother lied to me."
Her voice softened.
"But they also loved me. People aren't one thing."
Roman stared at their joined hands.
"What if I don't know who I am without the Costa name?"
Gemma answered immediately.
"You're the man who gave his coat to a stranger."
Roman looked at her.
"The man who saved Sofia after her father betrayed him."
She moved closer.
"The man who protected my father eleven years ago."
Roman's eyes filled with emotion he would have killed anyone else for noticing.
"That's who you are."
He kissed her forehead.
Then his phone rang.
Vincent had taken control of the docks.
He wanted Roman there at midnight.
Alone.
Roman prepared to go.
Gemma blocked the door.
"No."
"Gemma."
"Every time somebody says 'come alone,' you people actually go. Has nobody in organized crime noticed how stupid that is?"
Roman stared.
Dominic laughed.
Even Roman smiled.
So they made another plan.
Midnight.
Roman entered the dock warehouse alone.
Or appeared to.
Vincent waited.
"You finally learned."
Roman stopped.
"Learned what?"
"That you're not a Costa."
Roman smiled.
"I learned I don't care."
Vincent's expression changed.
Roman continued.
"You spent your entire life worshipping blood. That's why you never understood loyalty."
Dominic's men surrounded the building.
Police waited beyond them.
Federal agents had received the full evidence.
Vincent realized it.
"You'd destroy your own organization?"
Roman looked at him.
"To end this?"
"Yes."
Vincent raised his weapon.
"So sentimental."
Gunfire erupted.
Roman dove behind a container.
Vincent ran.
Gemma watched remotely from the security van.
Then she saw something Roman couldn't.
Vincent climbing toward the overhead crane.
"Roman!"
Her warning came through his earpiece.
Roman looked up.
Vincent fired.
The bullet struck Roman's shoulder.
He fell.
Gemma ripped off her headset.
Dominic shouted for her to stay.
She didn't.
Gemma ran into the warehouse.
"ROMAN!"
Vincent saw her.
Perfect.
He grabbed Gemma and pressed the gun against her neck.
Roman struggled to stand.
"Let her go."
Vincent smiled.
"Drop your weapon."
Roman did.
Gemma looked at him.
"Don't."
Roman ignored her.
Vincent laughed.
"The great Roman Costa."
He pressed the gun harder against Gemma.
"Brought down by a woman in a green dress."
Roman's expression became strangely calm.
"Yes."
Gemma looked at him.
Roman continued.
"Because she's worth more than everything you spent your life trying to own."
Vincent's finger tightened.
Then Gemma remembered something.
Roman had taught her one defensive move.
Only one.
She drove her heel backward.
Vincent stumbled.
Roman moved.
A gunshot exploded.
Gemma screamed.
Vincent fell.
Roman collapsed beside him.
For several seconds, Gemma couldn't understand what she was seeing.
Then blood spread beneath Roman.
"No."
She ran.
Roman lay on his back.
His eyes struggled to focus.
"Gemma."
"No. Don't talk."
She pressed both hands against the wound.
"Stay with me."
Roman smiled faintly.
"You still have my coat?"
She started crying.
"Shut up."
"I liked you in it."
"Roman!"
Sirens approached.
His eyes began closing.
Gemma touched his face.
"No. Look at me."
Roman forced his eyes open.
"There's something..."
"Tell me later."
"In case there isn't."
"There is."
"I love you."
Gemma stopped breathing.
Roman smiled weakly.
Then his eyes closed.
"Roman?"
No response.
"Roman!"
Paramedics rushed inside.
They pulled her away.
Gemma screamed his name as they worked.
One paramedic began chest compressions.
Another prepared the defibrillator.
Gemma stood covered in Roman's blood.
May you like
And for the first time since this began, she understood exactly what losing him would mean.
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