Chapter Three
1206 Words
Romano
She came in crying and dropped to her knees immediately.
I said nothing because my silence was a language people understood very well in this world.
“Please… Don Romano.” she whispered.
“My husband...they’ve taken him.”
She dragged herself forward before stopping, she knew better than to cross the invisible line. “I beg you, please help me. I don’t know who else to turn to.”
Luca glanced at me briefly, then back to her. “Who took him?”
She swallowed. “Men he owes money to, gambling debts, sir."
Her voice broke again, before she continued, “They called last night saying if we don’t pay in two days, they’ll kill him.”
“How much?” Luca asked.
She closed her eyes.
“One hundred thousand dollars.”
The number was small to men like us, but impossible for people like her.
I leaned back in my chair, tapping my fingers on the desk.
“I have nothing,” she said quickly. “I’ve served this family all my life. My daughter is still in college. I don’t know who else to go to. I don’t know what else to do.”
She bowed her head again, “I’m begging you, please.”
“Stand up,” I said.
She lifted herself to her feet shakily, though she still couldn’t bring herself to meet my eyes.
“One hundred thousand dollars,” I repeated.
“Yes,” she said, barely audible.
I nodded once, then asked her, “And what do you think something like that costs?”
Her lips parted, but no sound came out.
She knew, everyone knew, nothing in the mafia world came without a cost.
“I have nothing to offer,” she said.
I tilted my head slightly. “Really?”
“I can work,” she said quickly. “For life, if you want. The money can be deducted from my salary every month.”
"And how long do you think it would take you to repay one hundred thousand dollars that way?”
Jane swallowed and looked down, doing the calculation with her fingers.
“I earn about one hundred and twenty thousand a year, if half of my salary is deducted… I can pay it back within two years.”
I laughed, it surprised even Luca.
“I don’t have two years,” I said flatly.
Jane shook her head violently, “No,” she said, falling to her knees again, “Please. Please, Don Romano. I’ll do anything.”
“You can take more,” she said quickly, “More than half. Seventy percent. Eighty. Whatever you want.”
Her voice broke. “Just leave enough for us to eat. I’ll survive on whatever is left.”
I watched her.
People always thought desperation made them honest. It didn’t. It just stripped them down to instinct.
“I don’t need your money,” I said.
Jane froze. Then, she lifted her head, looking confused. “What?” she whispered.
I didn't speak, I was never known to repeat my words.
Her mouth opened, then closed again. "Then… then I don’t understand,” she said. “I have nothing else to give you.”
That wasn’t true, she just didn’t know it yet.
“You have something of mine,” I said.
Jane stared at me, genuinely lost now. “Something of yours?"
I leaned back in my chair, studying her the way I would any negotiation that had finally reached its turning point.
An image of a certain lady flashed through my mind. For years, she’d moved through my halls quietly, believing herself invisible. People like her never realized how much I noticed.
Her brows pulled together. “I don’t understand,” she said again, more urgently this time. “Please. Tell me.”
I paused. It wasn't because I was uncertain, but because timing mattered. Because names carried weight, and once spoken, they couldn’t be taken back.
“Your daughter,” I said finally.
Jane inhaled sharply. “Aria?”
I nodded once.
“Yes,” I said. “Aria, I want her.”
Jane’s face drained of color so fast I thought she might faint. “No,no, no.” she said immediately.
She shook her head violently, scrambling backward on her knees. “You don’t mean that. You can’t.”
“She’s just a girl, she’s innocent. She’s young. She has nothing to do with this world.”
I watched her unravel without flinching.
“Exactly,” I said.
Her eyes widened.
“She is perfect, it means she hasn’t been shaped yet.”
"Perfect?” she cried.
“She is innocent, So there will be no habits for me to break or loyalties to undo. I can mold her however I like.”
“Aria is of no use to you. She’s not like us. She wouldn’t survive here.” She pressed.
I almost smiled. “She has survived it her whole life,"
"She’s my child,” she cried. “She’s all I have.”
“And your husband is dying,” I replied simply.
“I’ll settle your husband’s debt and he’ll be released alive.”
Jane stared at me like she was seeing a stranger, like she didn’t recognize the boy she’d once watched grow up in this estate.
“You have twenty-four hours,” I said.
Jane pushed herself up slowly, she looked broken and I couldn't care less. This had to be done.
At the door, she paused, her hand trembling on the handle. “If… if I say yes,” she asked without turning around, “what happens to my daughter?”
I didn’t answer right away.
“She becomes mine, a Moretti.”
Jane closed her eyes. Then she walked out.
The door had barely closed when Luca turned to me.
“So you’re really doing this.”
I didn’t look at him.
I reached for the document on my desk instead, flipping it open, my attention fixed on the numbers printed neatly on the page.
Shipment reports. They were orderly, even predictable unlike people.
“I’ve been patient enough,” I said.
Luca exhaled, running a hand over his face. “You know you don’t have to go this route,” he said. “We could find the men who took her husband. We could take him back without paying them a cent.”
“I know.” I replied.
“And yet...” Luca started.
“I don’t care about the process,” I cut in, finally lifting my eyes to him. “I only care about the outcome.”
Luca sighed again, “And if Jane doesn’t agree?”
I closed the file slowly.
“That changes nothing,” I said.
His brows pulled together. “Romano...”
“Aria will still be mine, with her consent or without her mother’s blessing. This was never a negotiation.”
Luca frowned.
“The opportunity presented itself, I won’t let it pass.”
"The poor girl." He shook his head because he knew me well enough to understand that once I decided something, it was already done.
I picked up the document once more. Business, as always, went on.
- Writer
