Chapter 11: Secured Safe Room
Returning to Roman’s city townhouse felt entirely different now that the legal machinery was in full motion. The federal marshals had established a rotating security detail at the perimeter, and every window of the brownstone had been secured against potential interference from Helena’s remaining fixers. Yet, despite the ironclad physical security, an unsettling friction hung in the air inside the house.
I sat at the worn wooden table in the back study, the very table that had served as our command center since the night we fled the ballroom. Lily was curled up asleep on the leather sofa nearby, clutching a small stuffed rabbit Roman had quietly bought for her earlier that week. Her breathing was deep and even, free from the restless nightmares that had plagued her during our first few nights here.
Roman stood by the tall arched window, staring out into the rain-slicked courtyard where a single streetlamp cast long, amber shadows across the pavement. His phone buzzed continuously against the mahogany surface—text messages from board members, urgent calls from news outlets, and encrypted updates from the legal team tracking the asset seizures at the Fifth Avenue penthouse. He ignored them all, his dark suit jacket draped over the back of a chair, his sleeves rolled up to reveal forearms corded with tension.
“The penthouse has been cleared,” Roman said without turning around, his voice low and gravelly. “The marshals recovered three hard drives from her personal safe. But Marcus called five minutes ago with a troubling piece of news.”
“What kind of news?” I asked, leaning forward, resting my elbows on the table.
Roman turned, his face carved into hard planes by the dim light of the study. “Arthur Vance isn't in custody. He slipped out of his Westchester office two hours before the federal raid. He took a secure server backup and a cache of physical ledgers containing every offshore transaction Helena used to bury the family's illicit holdings over the past twenty years.”
“If Arthur has those ledgers, he has enough leverage to negotiate immunity or, worse, sell them to the highest bidder in the press,” I said, a cold knot forming in my stomach. “He could burn the foundation to the ground just to save himself.”
“He thinks he’s holding all the cards,” Roman replied, walking over to the table and pulling out a chair opposite me. He sat down, leaning his elbows on the wood, his eyes locking onto mine with an intensity that made my breath catch. “Arthur was my mother’s shadow for thirty years. He knows every secret she ever buried, every lie she ever told. But he made one critical mistake.”
“What mistake?”
“Greed,” Roman said softly. “Arthur never trusted my mother entirely. He kept a duplicate set of encrypted communications on a private flash drive—not to protect her, but to ensure that if she ever tried to throw him under the bus like she did so many others, he’d have insurance.”
“And you know where that drive is?”
“I know who he uses as a courier,” Roman said, his expression darkening. “A low-level legal assistant named Sarah Miller. She’s been funneling his digital communications out of a downtown transit locker for the past six months. Marcus’s investigators tracked her IP address an hour ago. She’s scheduled to make a final drop at a deserted marina down by the Hudson River at midnight.”
I looked over at Lily, then back at Roman. The gravity of the situation pressed down on us like a physical weight. We were so close to finishing this, but leaving the townhouse tonight meant walking directly into a trap set by desperate people with nothing left to lose.
“I’m coming with you,” I said, my voice steady, leaving no room for argument.
May you like
Roman started to shake his head, opening his mouth to object, but he stopped when he saw the look in my eyes. He knew as well as I did that we couldn't afford to trust anyone else with this. The betrayal we had already survived had taught us that much.
“Alright,” Roman said quietly, reaching across the table to place his hand over mine. “We go together.”
