Chapter 5 - The Trap at the Port
The rain was lashing against the floor-to-ceiling windows of the estate office, turning the ocean outside into a churning gray blur.
Paige stared at the computer monitor, her fingers resting lightly on the mechanical keyboard. The data on the screen was glowing green against the dark interface—a real-time tracking manifest of a cargo ship currently docked at Port Terminal 4.
Vessel: The Sea Harrier.
Manifest: Heavy machinery components.
Actual Contents: Unreported medical supplies and counterfeit pharmaceutical precursors.
“They’re using the municipal import licenses,” Paige said aloud, her voice echoing in the empty room.
The door opened, and Roman walked in, shaking the water from his dark trench coat. He tossed the coat onto a leather armchair and walked straight to the desk.
“What did you find?”
“The Vane Holdings account isn't just an embezzlement scheme,” Paige explained, clicking open a sub-folder. “It’s a secondary logistics network. Whoever is running it is bringing uninspected cargo through Port Terminal 4 every Thursday night, bypassing customs entirely by using your family’s security clearance codes.”
Roman leaned over her shoulder, his broad chest nearly brushing the back of her chair. She could smell the sharp, clean scent of rain and cedar on his skin.
“My clearance codes,” Roman repeated, his voice dropping an octave. “Only three people have the master override code for Terminal 4. Me, Luca, and—” He stopped.
“And who?” Paige asked, turning her head to look up at him.
“Marcus,” Roman said, his jaw tightening into a hard line. “My cousin. He oversees port security.”
The pieces clicked together with terrifying clarity.
“That’s why the audits never flagged it,” Paige realized. “Marcus has been authorizing the manifests from the inside. He’s the one using Vane’s ghost identity.”
Roman stood up slowly. He walked over to the window, staring out into the stormy night. His hands were clenched into tight fists at his sides. For all his cold exterior, Paige could see the heavy toll the realization was taking on him. Marcus wasn't just an employee; he was family—one of the few remaining relatives who had survived the purge after the car bomb.
“Marcus has a daughter in college,” Roman said, his voice dangerously quiet. “A house in the suburbs. A clean life. Why would he risk all of it to run counterfeit pharmaceuticals through my port?”
“Greed doesn't need a logical reason, Roman,” Paige said gently, standing up from the desk and walking over to stand a few feet away from him. “Sometimes people just want more than they have, even if it means burning down the house to get it.”
Roman turned around, looking down at her with those hollow, tired eyes.
“You’re remarkably calm for someone who just uncovered a treasonous conspiracy inside a mafia syndicate,” he noted.
“I’m an auditor,” Paige replied with a faint, tired smile. “I spend my life finding out that the people people trust the most are usually the ones stealing from the safe.”
Roman reached out, his warm fingers brushing against the edge of her compression bandage on her right wrist. The gesture was so unexpected, so tender, that Paige’s breath caught in her throat.
“Does it still hurt?” he asked, his voice losing its hard edge.
“Only when it rains,” she whispered, not pulling away.
May you like
Roman held her gaze for three long, suspended heartbeats. The distance between them felt charged, heavy with unsaid words and months of quiet proximity that had slowly transformed a debt into something entirely different.
“Tomorrow night, the Sea Harrier unloads its final cargo manifest,” Roman said, dropping his hand and stepping back, regaining his professional composure. “We’re going down to Terminal 4. I want you to see how a ledger is balanced in my world.”
