Chapter 8 - The Strike
CRACK.
The sound of Harper’s palm hitting Roman’s cheek echoed through the vast ballroom like a gunshot.
The reaction was instantaneous. Three hundred people gasped in collective shock. A champagne glass slipped from a woman’s fingers nearby, shattering loudly on the white marble floor.
Behind Harper, a dozen of Roman’s bodyguards reached inside their tailored jackets, their fingers closing around the grips of hidden firearms.
Roman’s head had snapped sideways from the impact. A dark red mark was already blooming across his sharp cheekbone, and his lower lip had split open where the sharp edge of Harper’s silver ring had cut the skin.
Before his men could draw their weapons, Roman raised one single hand.
Every guard stopped dead in their tracks, their guns remaining halfway out of their holsters.
For three agonizing seconds, nobody in the Bellamy Grand Hotel dared to breathe.
Slowly, deliberately, Roman turned his face back toward Harper.
He reached up with his thumb, wiping away a tiny droplet of blood from his split lip. He looked down at the red smear on his skin, then looked up at Harper.
Harper expected explosive rage. She expected him to order his men to drag her out into the alleyway.
Instead, Roman smiled.
It was not a warm smile. It was not a kind smile.
It was the cold, proud smile of a apex predator who had just watched his counter-strategy lock perfectly into place.
"Now tell them why," Roman said, his voice terrifyingly calm, carrying across the silent ballroom.
Harper’s chest rose and fell rapidly beneath the emerald silk of her dress. She turned slightly, looking at Silvio, whose triumphant expression had suddenly frozen into confusion.
"Six months ago," Harper spoke, her voice ringing out clear and strong against the marble walls, "Roman Moretti told me he saved my brother’s life."
She turned back to face Roman directly, locking her eyes onto his.
"Tonight I found out he was the one who put it in danger."
The room erupted into quiet, shocked whispers. Silvio stepped forward, his eyes wide with surprise, sensing that the script had flipped in a direction he had not anticipated.
Harper reached into her clutch and pulled out the flash drive, holding it high so every captain and council member could see it.
May you like
"You really want me to tell them?" Harper asked Roman, her voice laced with deliberate challenge.
Roman’s smile faded slightly, replaced by a sharp, calculating stare. His eyes narrowed, playing along with the public drama they had constructed in real time. "Tell them, Miss Evans."
