Chapter 8 - THE SECOND THREAT DIDN’T COME FROM ROMAN’S FAMILY, AND THAT MADE IT MORE DANGEROUS
Detective Morales traced nothing useful from the call.
Burner phone.
Public location.
No clear voice.
Emma was furious.
Not afraid.
That came later.
Roman was the opposite.
He became frighteningly calm.
“No.”
Emma said immediately.
He stared.
“I haven’t said anything.”
“Your silence has become suspicious.”
Morales almost smiled.
They sat in the back office.
Titan lay beneath Emma’s desk.
Morales asked:
“Who besides family benefits from Calder restructuring failing?”
Roman answered:
“Competitors.”
“Former partners.”
“People tied to old contracts.”
“Short list?”
“No.”
Emma groaned.
“Wonderful.”
Morales continued:
“Julian’s diversion may have exposed another group’s interests.”
Roman frowned.
“How?”
“Pier Nine records.”
“Some people named there are alive.”
“Some are active.”
“You cooperate.”
“They get nervous.”
Emma looked at Roman.
“So this threat may be because you chose to tell the truth.”
“Yes.”
He sounded unsurprised.
Emma hated that.
Roman continued:
“Emma leaves Boston.”
“No.”
Morales looked between them.
Roman said:
“Temporary.”
“No.”
“Emma.”
“Stop volunteering my life.”
The words landed.
Roman went still.
Emma continued:
“You don’t get to decide where I live because you’re scared.”
Morales suddenly found her notebook fascinating.
Roman took a breath.
“You are being threatened because of me.”
“Yes.”
“That creates responsibility.”
“Responsibility is not ownership.”
Silence.
Titan lifted his head.
Emma softened.
“You can tell me what you think is safest.”
“You can offer choices.”
“You cannot make one.”
Roman looked down.
“Fine.”
“What are the choices?”
Roman actually answered.
“Sofia’s apartment.”
“Hotel.”
“Estate guesthouse.”
“Lena’s rehab apartment.”
“Leaving the city.”
Emma thought.
“Lena.”
Roman nodded.
No argument.
Morales looked impressed.
“Therapy?”
Roman frowned.
“Dog training.”
Emma smiled.
The threat investigation eventually produced a name through an unexpected route.
Not phone records.
Not surveillance.
A customer.
Three days after the call, an older man entered Second Chance and bought dog food.
Emma recognized him from somewhere.
Not personally.
Newspaper.
Harbor labor union photo.
He stared at Titan too long.
Emma noticed.
Roman’s security noticed.
Dante quietly photographed his license plate from outside.
Morales identified him.
Peter Vane.
Former Pier Nine contractor.
His company had received irregular payments listed in the old records.
When questioned, Vane admitted making the call.
He insisted it was meant to scare Emma into staying away.
“Why her?”
Morales asked.
Vane answered:
“Because Calder listens to her.”
That sentence reached Roman later.
Emma laughed.
“That is absurd.”
Roman said nothing.
She stared.
“What?”
“I do.”
Emma looked down.
That was inconvenient.
Vane had not been part of Julian’s plan.
He was trying to intimidate Roman away from cooperation.
He was charged over the threat and separate conduct discovered during the investigation.
The immediate danger eased.
But the larger public story exploded.
Headlines linked Calder businesses to federal inquiries.
Old rumors became new reporting.
Roman’s hotels lost conferences.
A waterfront lender paused financing.
Board members resigned.
Emma’s store became part of the story because someone leaked the origin of Titan’s escape.
A local reporter stood outside.
DOG LEADS TO CALDER FAMILY INVESTIGATION
Emma hated every word.
Customers doubled for three days.
Then some stopped coming because armed security remained nearby.
She confronted Roman.
“Security needs to go.”
“No.”
“Business is suffering.”
“Threat was real.”
“Dante standing outside with an earpiece makes mothers buying hamster bedding uncomfortable.”
Roman considered.
“Plainclothes.”
“One person.”
“Yes.”
“And not at the door.”
“Across street.”
“Fine.”
Emma exhaled.
“You compromised quickly.”
“I’m learning.”
“Unsettling.”
Roman looked around.
“Your lease.”
Emma stiffened.
“What?”
“Sofia mentioned it.”
“Traitor.”
“Landlord raising rent?”
“Yes.”
“I can help.”
“No.”
“You didn’t let me finish.”
“I know the genre.”
Roman almost smiled.
“I was going to offer legal review.”
Emma stopped.
Not money.
Not purchase.
A service.
“Your real-estate attorney?”
“Yes.”
“Free?”
“He already owes me time.”
“That is still your money.”
“Emma.”
She sighed.
“Fine.”
The attorney reviewed the lease.
The increase was legal but negotiable.
More importantly, the building owner wanted to sell within a year.
Emma felt sick.
“Of course.”
Roman said nothing.
She looked at him.
“If you say buy it, I throw you out.”
“I wasn’t.”
“Thinking?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t.”
He nodded.
“What do you want?”
The question surprised her.
“I don’t know.”
“Then find out.”
That was new too.
Emma eventually spoke with a small-business lender and a neighborhood development nonprofit.
The possibility existed for her to buy the storefront herself.
Not with Roman’s money.
With a loan.
With terrifying monthly payments.
With risk.
Roman listened while she explained.
“Do it.”
She stared.
“You’re supposed to say this is financially irresponsible.”
“I’ve seen your books.”
“What?”
He froze.
Emma’s eyes narrowed.
“Roman.”
“Sofia.”
“I’m going to kill her.”
“She showed me projections.”
“Why?”
“Because she believes the store can survive.”
Emma folded her arms.
“And you?”
“I think you have spent four years keeping it alive through grief, bad margins, and a dog-food subscription war.”
“You’ll figure out a mortgage.”
Emma stared.
“That was almost supportive without becoming controlling.”
“I can ruin it if you want.”
“No.”
Titan walked between them carrying a stuffed lobster.
Roman looked at him.
“Drop.”
Titan stopped.
Emma raised one eyebrow.
Roman sighed.
“May I have the lobster?”
Titan walked over.
Dropped it into Roman’s hand.
Emma stared.
Roman smiled.
“Progress.”
It was.
Not only for the dog.
Roman had stopped treating every relationship like compliance should be immediate.
The next stage of the investigation would test whether that change survived something harder than Titan refusing a command.
Roman’s attorneys informed him federal prosecutors were willing to discuss cooperation.
In exchange, Roman would have to provide information about businesses his father built, transactions Victor protected, and decisions Roman himself had made after inheriting them.
No guarantee of immunity.
No guarantee he kept his empire.
Only a chance to tell the truth before someone else told a worse version.
Emma asked:
“What will you do?”
Roman looked at Titan.
Then her.
“Tell them everything I can prove.”
“Even your part?”
“Yes.”
“Why now?”
Roman was quiet for a long time.
Then:
May you like
“Because everyone in my family kept using loyalty to delay the day truth became expensive.”
“I think the bill arrived.”
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