The Offer Sadi Refused Twice
Chapter 10 - The Offer Sadi Refused Twice
Roman offered her a job at nine the next morning.
Sadi said no before he finished the sentence.
They were sitting in a hospital cafeteria while Teresa slept upstairs.
Roman had coffee.
Sadi had oatmeal she had forgotten to eat.
“I am not asking you to become family counsel.”
“No.”
“Independent contract review.”
“No.”
“Temporary.”
“No.”
“Paid.”
“That part was assumed.”
Roman leaned back.
“You have not heard the number.”
“I don’t want to.”
“You are late on rent.”
Her spoon stopped.
“How do you know that?”
Roman immediately knew he had made a mistake.
“My security checked—”
Sadi stood.
“No.”
“Sadi.”
“You ran a background check on me.”
“Yes.”
“Without asking.”
“Yes.”
She picked up her bag.
Roman did not try to stop her.
Good.
“I needed to know whether Arthur could pressure you.”
“You needed to ask me.”
“You would not have told me.”
“That was my choice.”
He looked down.
“Yes.”
She waited.
Roman was bad at apology.
She could see the machinery grinding.
“I’m sorry.”
The words sounded rusty.
She almost sat.
Almost.
Instead:
“Do not investigate my finances again.”
“I won’t.”
“Do not pay my rent.”
“I wasn’t going to.”
“You thought about it.”
“Yes.”
“Do not.”
“Fine.”
“And I do not work for you.”
Roman nodded.
“All right.”
She left.
At noon, her manager fired her.
Belladonna had received three calls from reporters.
Someone posted a photograph of Sadi beside Roman outside Warehouse Twelve.
The restaurant owner did not want “criminal attention.”
Sadi stood in the manager’s office wearing her uniform and listened to a man who had paid her below minimum after tip credit explain that the restaurant had standards.
She laughed.
He looked offended.
She took her final check.
Three hundred and eleven dollars.
Outside, Roman’s car was parked across the street.
Sadi stared at it.
Roman was not inside.
Only his driver.
The driver rolled down the window.
“Mr. Moretti said I am not to offer you anything.”
“Smart man.”
“He did ask me to give you this if you were fired.”
An envelope.
Sadi almost refused.
Then curiosity won.
Inside was a business card.
Mara Velez.
And one sentence in Roman’s handwriting.
SHE NEEDS A CIVILIAN CONTRACT ANALYST FOR THE TASK FORCE. NOT ME.
Sadi stared.
That was annoyingly respectful.
She called Mara.
“Did Roman arrange this?”
“No.”
“Truth.”
“He told me you were unemployed.”
Sadi closed her eyes.
Mara continued.
“I already wanted you.”
“For what?”
“Bellini document review.”
“I’m not a lawyer.”
“You don’t need to be for document analysis under supervision.”
“Pay?”
Mara named a figure.
Sadi sat on a bench.
It was almost three times her waitress income.
“When?”
“Tomorrow.”
Sadi looked at Belladonna.
Then at the black car.
“I’ll think about it.”
“You will say yes.”
“That sounds like Roman.”
“I’m older. I can get away with it.”
Sadi smiled.
“I’ll call you.”
She went home.
Teresa was there with Bianca.
The two women sat at the kitchen table drinking tea like they had not spent nine years maintaining a secret alliance.
Sadi put her final paycheck down.
“I got fired.”
Teresa looked horrified.
Bianca asked, “How much did they pay?”
Sadi told her.
Bianca’s expression became murderous.
“I have lawyers.”
“No.”
“I didn’t say for you.”
Sadi laughed.
“Please do not sue my old restaurant for sport.”
“No promises.”
Teresa smiled for the first time in days.
Sadi sat.
“I got offered task-force work.”
Her mother’s face changed.
“No.”
Sadi stared.
“Excuse me?”
“It’s dangerous.”
“So was cleaning tables at two in the morning.”
“This is different.”
“Yes. It has health insurance.”
Teresa closed her eyes.
“Sadi.”
“No.”
The word came harder.
“You hid Carlo’s work. You hid the key. You hid Bianca. You hid where my tuition came from.”
Tears entered Teresa’s eyes.
“I was protecting—”
“Do not.”
Teresa stopped.
Sadi softened her voice.
“You get to tell me what you’re afraid of.”
She took her mother’s hand.
“You do not get to make the decision for me.”
Teresa looked at her.
Then nodded.
“All right.”
Bianca watched.
Something like approval.
Sadi looked at her.
“You are not exempt.”
Bianca raised an eyebrow.
“From?”
“Telling Roman the truth.”
Her expression cooled.
“I told him.”
“Parts.”
Bianca said nothing.
Sadi had learned the look.
“What are you still hiding?”
Teresa glanced at Bianca.
Bianca sighed.
“David Harlan did not have the second books when he died.”
Sadi stared.
“You said he had them.”
“I said Carlo gave them to him.”
“Where are they?”
“Harlan returned them three years ago.”
“To who?”
Bianca looked toward Teresa.
Sadi’s mother whispered:
“To me.”
Sadi stood so quickly her chair scraped.
“You have them?”
“Not anymore.”
“Where?”
Teresa began to cry.
“I gave them to someone I trusted.”
“Who?”
Her mother looked terrified.
“Your law school boyfriend.”
Sadi went still.
Ethan Cole.
The man she had planned to marry.
The man who left two months after she dropped out because he said he could not spend his twenties waiting for her life to become easier.
She had not spoken to him in two years.
May you like
Teresa whispered:
“Ethan works for Arthur Bellini now.”
