Chapter 7 - The Collapse of Grayhaven
The flames roared high in the hearth, thick black smoke rising up the chimney as forty years of blackmails, lies, and stolen legacies turned to grey ash.
Mrs. Delaney let out a strangled cry, rushing toward the fireplace with a brass poker, but Roman stepped into her path, his broad chest blocking her like an iron wall.
"It's over, Aunt Evelyn," Roman said, using her real name for the first time in twenty years. "The secrets die tonight."
Isabella slammed her hand onto the desk, her calm composure finally cracking, exposing the raw, desperate child beneath. "You fool! That ledger contained the leverage that keeps the syndicate from tearing this city apart! Without those records, the rival families will be at our gates by morning!"
"Let them come," Roman said, turning his back on her. He looked at Daniel Knox. "Daniel."
Daniel straightened instantly. "Yes, Boss?"
"Call the federal prosecutor's office in Grayhaven," Roman commanded calmly. "Tell them Roman Bellaro wishes to surrender all physical evidence regarding the Bellaro organization's maritime operations."
Daniel’s jaw dropped. "Boss... you'll go to prison for twenty years!"
"No," Roman said, looking directly into his sister's wide, horrified eyes. "I will take responsibility for my actions. And I will make sure this house, these walls, and the poison inside them are torn down to the bedrock."
Isabella backed away toward the credenza, her hand hovering near a concealed red button beneath the desk trim. "I won't let you ruin us, Roman! I spent my whole life in the cold for this family!"
"You didn't spend your life for this family, Isabella," Eva spoke up, her quiet voice cutting through the panic like a blade. "You spent it for yourself. You liked being the ghost in the wall. You liked feeling smarter than everyone else while they bled in the light."
Isabella glared at Eva with pure, concentrated venom. "Shut up! You're nothing! A twenty-dollar-an-hour maid who didn't know how to keep her nose out of things that didn't belong to her!"
"Maybe," Eva said, stepping closer to Roman’s side. "But I know how to read a room. And I know you aren't going to press that button."
Isabella hesitated, her finger trembling against the desk trim. "Why wouldn't I?"
"Because if you trigger the estate's wipe sequence," Eva said, pointing toward the computer screen, "it flushes the server logs to the secondary cloud backup. The exact cloud backup the Federal authorities have been monitoring since Sebastian was moved to the guest room two hours ago."
Isabella’s breath hitched. "What?"
May you like
"I heard Paul on his radio while we were in the hall," Eva said simply. "He wasn't talking to security. He was talking to the US Marshals who have had this perimeter surrounded since midnight. Sebastian didn't just knock to be saved, Isabella. He knocked because he knew the federal wiretaps were active."
The distant, rising wail of sirens began to echo up the mountain road from the city below—dozens of them, their red and blue lights flashing against the dark limestone cliffs of Grayhaven.
