Chapter 6 - Secrets in the Silk
The sound of automatic gunfire cut through the heavy rain like thunder.
Roman didn't hesitate. He pushed Emma behind his lead security guard—a massive man named Marco—and surged forward into the dark warehouse like a shadow.
Emma didn't stay on the ground.
Ignoring Marco’s harsh warning, she scrambled behind a stack of wooden crates, peering into the cavernous, dimly lit interior of the structure.
Inside, three men in dark raincoats were backing toward a side exit, firing blindly into the shadows. In the center of the concrete floor, tied to a wooden chair, was Luca. His suit was torn, blood dripping from a cut on his forehead, but he was breathing.
Then, Roman appeared.
He moved with terrifying, fluid speed. Two shots rang out—clean, precise, echoing off the high corrugated roof. Two of the attackers dropped instantly.
The third man grabbed Luca, pulling a knife and pressing it against Luca's throat. "Back off, Varelli! Back off or I bleed him!"
Roman stepped into the light of a single hanging bulb. He didn't raise his gun. He simply stood there, rain dripping from his dark hair, looking at the man with cold, terrifying indifference.
"You have five seconds to drop that blade," Roman said smoothly. "If you touch his skin, I won't kill you tonight. I'll spend the next six months ensuring every person who shares your last name suffers."
The sheer, absolute authority in Roman’s voice broke the man's nerve. His hand trembled.
In that split second of hesitation, Roman fired.
A single round struck the man's shoulder. He screamed, dropping the knife and falling backward onto the concrete.
Within seconds, Roman’s men flooded the floor, securing the building, cutting Luca's ropes, and dragging the wounded attacker away into the dark.
Emma ran onto the floor, dropping to her knees beside Luca. "Luca! Oh God, are you okay?"
Luca coughed, holding his bruised ribs, looking at Emma with wide, disbelieving eyes. "Emma? What... what are you doing here?"
"Your cousin brought me," Emma said, her voice shaking as she used her scarf to press against the cut on his head.
Roman walked over, standing over them like a dark storm cloud. He reached down, grabbed Luca by his lapel, and hauled him up effortlessly.
"You were careless, Luca," Roman said, his tone harsh. "You took a meeting without checking the perimeter. You put Paige in danger. You put her in danger."
Roman glanced down at Emma, his eyes dark with residual adrenaline.
"I'm sorry, Roman," Luca muttered, hanging his head. "I thought I could handle it."
"You can't," Roman growled. "Get in the SUV. Marco will take you to my estate. A doctor is already waiting."
Luca nodded weakly, letting two guards assist him out the door.
The heavy warehouse grew quiet again, save for the rain drumming against the roof.
Emma stood up slowly, her hands covered in faint smears of Luca's blood, her body shaking from the adrenaline crash.
Roman turned to face her. The lethal mask he wore during the fight slowly melted away, leaving behind an intense, raw exhaustion.
He walked up to her, reaching out with a dark glove to gently cup her jawline.
"You disobeyed me," Roman whispered softly.
"You don't own me," Emma choked out, though she didn't pull away from his touch.
"I could have lost you tonight," Roman said, his voice cracking slightly—the first genuine show of vulnerability she had ever heard from him. "Do you have any idea what that did to me when I saw your car pull up?"
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Emma looked up into his dark, burning eyes, realizing with a sudden, overwhelming shock that the feared mafia king wasn't angry because she had ruined his operation.
He was terrified because he loved her.
