Chapter 5 - The Glass Penthouse
High above the noise of Riverport, on the eighty-fourth floor of the Blackwood Tower, the world was quiet.
Floor-to-ceiling glass walls looked out over the sprawling city lights, shimmering like a sea of fallen stars. In the center of the living room, a fire crackled quietly in a recessed hearth of black slate.
Sadi sat on the deep leather sofa, her right leg propped up on a velvet ottoman. An ice pack was wrapped carefully around her bruised calf.
The sound of soft footsteps approached. Roman walked in, carrying a mug of chamomile tea and honey. He had shed his suit jacket, wearing only his white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms, revealing the dark ink of intricate tattoos winding up his wrists—symbols of an empire built on blood and loyalty.
He knelt down beside the sofa, placing the mug on the low glass table, and gently touched Sadi’s ankle.
"Does it hurt?" he asked softly.
Sadi looked down at him. Even now, after a year of marriage, it took her breath away how gentle this terrifying man could be with her. The world saw Roman Moretti as an executioner, an untouchable shadow that swallowed rivals whole. But in this apartment, behind double-locked reinforced doors, he was the man who made sure she ate breakfast, the man who held her through night terrors, the man who had never once raised his voice in her presence.
"It aches a little," she admitted quietly. "Nothing compared to what I used to feel when I pulled fourteen-hour shifts on cracked linoleum."
Roman’s jaw tightened, the muscle ticking under his skin. "You shouldn't have had to feel that either."
Sadi smiled faintly, reaching out to run her fingers through his dark, thick hair. "Roman. It’s okay. Really. Trevor didn't break me then, and he certainly can't break me now."
Roman leaned his cheek into her palm, closing his eyes for a brief moment. "Julian looked into him this afternoon."
Sadi paused. "And?"
"Three years ago, you had an account at First State Bank," Roman said, his voice dropping into that dangerously calm cadence. "Six hundred and forty-two dollars. Your entire life savings. He withdrew it using your emergency authorization code at 3:14 AM on a Thursday, four hours before your eviction notice was served."
Sadi pulled her hand back slightly, staring down at her lap. Hearing the facts spoken so plainly reopened an old, dull wound. "I spent three days sleeping on the subway after that," she whispered. "I didn't have enough money to buy a sandwich. I thought I was going to freeze."
Roman opened his eyes. The warmth was gone, replaced by an ancient, merciless cold. He took her small hand into his own, pressing a firm, reverent kiss to her knuckles.
"He stole from you," Roman said. "He humiliated you. And today, he raised his foot against you."
"Roman, he’s already lost his job," Sadi said gently, trying to soothe the beast before it broke out of its cage. "His girlfriend dumped him. He was terrified of you. That’s enough. Let him rot in his own insignificance."
"Insignificance is too kind a punishment for men like him, Sadi," Roman countered quietly. "Men like Trevor only learn when their world collapses entirely. If you spare a snake because it’s small, it will still bite you the moment you turn your back."
He stood up, walking toward the vast glass window, looking out over the city that bowed to him.
"Tomorrow night is the St. Jude Children’s Hospital Gala at the Grand Plaza," Roman said, his back turned to her. "Sterling & Hayes bought a corporate table months ago. Trevor spent his entire bonus buying two tickets to sit at that table to impress his peers."
Sadi looked up. "He'll still go?"
"A desperate man clings to the theater of success even while his house burns down," Roman replied, turning his head to look at her over his shoulder. "He believes that if he can network tomorrow, if he can charm the city’s elite, he can salvage his reputation."
Roman turned around, walking back toward her with the slow, predatory grace of an apex predator.
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"I bought that charity three weeks ago, Sadi," Roman whispered softly, a dark gleam in his obsidian eyes. "Tomorrow night, you will wear the diamond necklace I bought you in Milan. You will wear the emerald silk dress that makes you look like an empress. And you will watch as the world Trevor worshipped drops him into the abyss."
***
