Chapter 6 - The Traitor UnmaskedBy dawn, the DeLuca estate resembled a military command center.
Federal agents and syndicate enforcers worked side by side, hauling boxes of financial records and encrypted hard drives out of the administrative offices.
Julian Vance sat handcuffed in the center of the grand library, staring blankly at the floor as two guards stood over him.
The heavy double doors swung open, and Roman walked in. He wore a fresh black suit, his expression carved from dark, unyielding granite. Behind him walked Maya, holding Ellie’s hand.
Julian looked up, panic and fury warring in his eyes. “Roman! You can’t do this! I built your financial portfolio! I made you millions!”
“You stole from my ports, Julian,” Roman said coldly, stopping a few feet away. “And worse... you sent armed men into a room where a child was sleeping.”
“It was the maid!” Julian shrieked, pointing a shaking finger at Maya. “She’s a nobody! She looked at the books because she thinks she’s smart—”
“She is smart,” Roman interrupted, his voice dropping into a lethal register. “She found the discrepancies you were too arrogant to cover properly. And unlike you, Maya has integrity.”
Julian opened his mouth to argue, but Roman raised a hand.
“Take him to the Cicero warehouse,” Roman instructed his chief guard without a trace of mercy. “Let the federal prosecutors have whatever is left of him after my accountants finish tearing his offshore accounts apart.”
As Julian was dragged away, screaming and kicking, the heavy doors closed, leaving absolute silence in the library.
Roman turned around, looking down at Maya and Ellie.
Maya’s heart hammered against her ribs. Now that the danger had passed, reality was setting in. She was just a maid. Roman was a billionaire syndicate boss. What happened next?
“Mr. DeLuca,” Maya began softly, looking down at the floor. “I... I suppose we should pack our bags. After everything that’s happened—”
“Pack your bags?” Roman raised an eyebrow, a faint, rare smile touching the corners of his chiseled mouth. “Where do you think you’re going, Maya?”
“Well, now that Julian is gone, and the estate is changing—”
“You aren't going anywhere,” Roman interrupted, stepping closer until he towered over her, his dark eyes softening with an intense, unwavering warmth. “You are officially the new Chief Financial Officer and Director of Estate Operations for DeLuca Global. Which means your salary increases by a factor of ten, your hours are strictly regulated, and your daughter gets her own wing in this mansion.”
Maya’s jaw dropped. “Mr. DeLuca—Roman, I can’t... I don't have a degree yet—”
“You have more brains than my entire board of directors combined,” Roman said firmly.
He knelt down on one knee so he was eye-level with little Ellie, who was still clutching her patched cloth rabbit.
“Well, Ellie,” Roman said softly, a genuine, warm smile breaking across his face. “You’ve used two wishes. You made your mother sleep, and you made the bad men go away. Do you have a third wish left?”
Ellie blinked her big dark eyes, looking from Roman to her mother, and then back to the most feared man in Chicago.
She leaned forward and whispered right into Roman’s ear, though everyone in the room could hear it clearly.
“I wish you would smile more,” Ellie said seriously. “Because Mama says handsome men look silly when they scowl all the time.”
Roman let out a sudden, rich, genuine laugh—a sound that echoed off the mahogany bookshelves, warm and resonant, chasing away the last shadows of the dark.
May you like
He scooped Ellie up into his arms, standing up as he looked down at Maya with a look that promised a future neither of them had ever dared to dream of.
“Well, little boss,” Roman murmured, resting his cheek against Ellie’s dark curls as he reached out to take Maya’s hand in his own. “Consider that wish granted.”
