Grand Theft Auto IV (The Official Fan Novelization)

Chapter 21: Roman's Sorrow

   Niko drove off as he tried to call Roman. He needed to tell him the news and get out of Hove Beach quick.
  “Niko please come and meet me in the alleyway off of Hopper Street in EIC.” Roman whispered. “Quickly cousin.”
  “Roman, what are you doing? Why are you whispering? I will be there soon.” He hung up the cell phone and drove over to the location Roman told him to meet up. The alley was not too far ahead so he drove there in a flash.

  When Niko got to the alley, he didn’t see Roman anywhere. He saw his cab parked, but he was hoping that he wasn’t too late. He waited hoping for his cousin to pop out from somewhere in the corner, but there was still no sign of him. “Roman? Roman where are you?”
  “In here. I’m stuck.” Niko turned around and heard Roman’s voice coming from the trunk of the cab. “Let me out.”
  “Shit, man.” Niko came over to the trunk letting his cousin out. Roman took a breath of fresh air as the trunk lifted up. “What are you doing in there?”
  “I got scared… people started calling the house and hanging up.” As Roman spoke, he started getting out of the trunk of the cab. “You weren’t answering your phone! What happened?”
  “We’ve got a big problem.” Niko claimed. “Dimitri was not a man of his word.”
  “So we're dead?” Roman asked in panic.
  “More or less.” Niko sighed.
  “Everything was fine before you…”
  “Yes, yes.” Niko agreed with his head facing down.
  “Fine and now this. Thank you. Thanks a lot!” Roman yelled in anger.
  “I’m sorry.” Niko spoke in his language
  “Whatever.” Roman blurted in the language. “What’s done is done.”
  Niko stepped away and continued with the bad news. “Yes, but there’s a bigger problem…”
  “What?” Roman asked in a shocked tone.
  “That guy I owed money to, Bulgarin.”
  “Yes, the guy in Europe… who lives by the Adriatic.”
  “Yeah, yeah, he’s here now.” He said getting to the point.
  “Great.” He said in dismay.
  “I’m sorry. I’ve ruined your life.” Niko said walking away, not facing his cousin.
  “No. Don’t be like that… we can find a way out of this… bunch of idiot Russians…”
  “I will kill every one of them.” Niko said turning to Roman.
  “No… that’s exactly what you won’t do. We don’t have time for revenge. We can’t afford it.”
  “What can we afford?”
  Roman took a while to think about it. “We can lay low… and start over. Please… come on, let’s go back to the apartment.” Niko nodded and they both got in the cab, driving out of the alley. “We can pick up our stuff, and then get out of here. I’ll call Mallorie, she might have somewhere we can hide out.” Niko drove to the apartment as Roman dialed for Mallorie. “Hey beautiful. Listen, me and Niko are in a bit of trouble, need to get out of Broker a few days. Any of your cousin’s have a place we could use out in Bohan? You’re an angel, beautiful and kind. I love you. We’ll see you there.” He hung up the phone and sighed in relief. “Maybe things are not so bad.”
  “This, I did not expect.”
  “I was thinking of getting out of the cab business. Last night I had a dream…”
  “Really?” Niko asked.
  “Yes, you and I had a place of our own. A place where people come to eat and relax. A classy place. None of this fast-food, diner bullshit. We own a real restaurant, a tavern. It is a place of distinction you know?”
  “I can’t see myself settling down.”
  “Not now, but in the dream you’ve met the right woman. She is beautiful. Pure like my Mallorie. In the dream Mallorie and me are married. Everything is perfect. This could be the start of that. A fresh beginning.”
  “All I know is we have to get as far from Dimitri and Bulgarin as we can.”
  “We will, but I have left something important at the apartment. Something I must show you cousin.”

  “Your kidding me?” Roman said as Niko drove towards their now burning apartment building. “Holy fuck, it’s fucking burning. The whole place… I’ve got to go in, I’ve got to get something.”
  “Leave it, cousin.” Niko said, pulling Roman away as he struggled to get out of the car. He wasn’t sure what he left, but Niko knew it was too late. They found their place and decimated it. “This place is gone.” Niko then drove away from the building as Roman told him to head for the Cab Depot.
  “They burnt it… they fucking burnt it, Niko!” Roman yelled, freaking out more than usual in the small space of the car. “Do you know how long it took me to get a place of my own? You got off the boat and I was here for you.”
  “I know you were.”
  “I got here and I had nothing, nobody. I worked my way up from the fucking dirt.” Niko got to the depot only to see the same result. “It’s on fire, fuck!” Roman freaked out more. “I’ve got nothing left. Not my home, not my business, nothing. They took it all.”
  “I’m sorry, Roman, I’m really sorry but we have to go. We’ll meet Mallorie in Bohan. You still have her.” He tried cheering him up, driving to their new place.
  “And you, for all the good you’ve done me.” He said in a harsh tone. It was the maddest Niko had ever seen Roman. “Do you know how long it took me to get set up here? You don’t because it was easy for you. You had it all at day one. It took me months to get some cash together. Finally I bought a cab and then another, then I got the depot. I slept under my desk at that place for over a year. Then I got the apartment, the apartment you thought was so shitty. Well it doesn’t matter. Now it’s gone along with everything else.”
  “I said I was sorry.” Niko repeated.
  “You have a lot to apologize for. Since you got here I’ve had my computer smashed, I’ve been beaten up, I was kidnapped and then shot in the stomach, my apartment got burned down and so did my business. Things have been going so great, just great, since you showed up.”
  “You remember that time we went to the bar back home and found it razed to the ground?” Niko tried to distract and cheer up. “Just a pile of rubble… everything smashed, except for that one bottle of vodka.”
  “Yeah… we sat down and finished it off there and then. Wait, wait. I don’t want to talk about back home. We’re here in America now and I should be thinking about my life here, my life which is ruined. Just drive, shut up and drive.” Roman began to cry. All that he worked for when he got here was gone, all cause of Niko coming here. Roman’s cell phone started to ring. He saw it was Mallorie and answered the call. “Hey beautiful, what’s up?” He asked her in tears, sniffling. “No, what do you mean? I haven’t been crying, it’s my allergies. Niko’s wearing this new cologne. Yeah, trying to impress Michelle or something. We’re coming to your cousin’s, are you there? Great, see you in a bit, beautiful.” He hung up the phone and continued speaking to Niko. “My dream, it was just that… a dream.” He cried. “I can’t have the tavern now. I have nothing to buy it with. I have, I have nothing.”
  “I told you, you still have Mallorie.”
  “But I wanted to really have her. I wanted to marry her.”
  “You can still do that.”
  “I had bought her a ring. That is what I wanted to show you. I was a beautiful ring. It was worthy of her. Now I have nothing! Come on, Roman, pull yourself together.” He told himself. You’ve been here before. Positive mental attitude. Come on.”
  “At least they want me dead and not you.” Niko told him.
  “I do not think it would be much difference to them, Niko. One dead Bellic will give them a little bit of happiness while they wait for next. I do not care though. We are in this situation. We must deal with it. Bring on Bohan.”
  “Okay.” Niko said, as he pulled up to their new home.
  “Here we are, the beginning of our new lives… again.” Both of them got out of the car and headed inside of the apartment building.
  Once Roman entered the room and went inside, Niko got a look at the place and didn’t think it was much of an improvement. It was much larger, but still looked like crap.
  “Not so bad…” Roamn said. “I mean, I don’t think we’ll be impressing women with our wonderful hot tub, but, err, this looks okay.”
  Niko couldn’t believe the way his cousin was acting after the fuss he made getting over from Broker to Bohan. “Yes, great!” He said sarcastically.
  “Come on, what’s… what’s wrong?”
  “What’s wrong? What’s wrong? Where should I start? Alright, I’ll start with you - what’s wrong with you?” He yelled. “Fifteen minutes ago you were cowering in fear because you didn’t know what was going to happen. Now, you know everything is shit and we are going to be killed, and you’re all cheerful. I don’t get it!”
  “I guess I’m an optimist.”
  “An idiot, not an optimist.”
  “I was bored of Broker anyway!” Roman sarcastically said. “I’m glad you turned up and made some Russian killers burn down my home and business!” Niko laughed. “Oh yeah, thanks Niko! Thanks a bunch! Is that better?”
  “Much!” Niko yelled loudly at Roman.
  The door opened and Niko turned to see that it was Mallorie worried sick. “Thank god you’re okay…” She came up to kiss Roman “both of you.”
  “We’re fucked - we’re broke and on the run.” Niko complained.
  “No, I’m from up here, Niko. I know a bunch of people who might be able to help out. Why don’t you come and meet me at the community center later on?” She looked at her watch, mostly in a hurry. “I’ve got to go to work/ Bye, Pappy.” She told Roman kissing more on the cheeks. “And have a shower - you smell a little, erm, mature?” She backed away and went out the door.
  “So…” Roman told Niko. “I guess we start again.”
  “Sure.” Niko sighed. “I’m going out.” Roman waved as Niko left the building.

  As Niko took a walk down the streets of Bohan, his phone rang. He saw that it was Dimitri calling then answered it. “Niko Bellic, we did not find your body with the others in the warehouse. Mr. Bulgarin and I were very disappointed.”
  “I was loyal to you, Dimitri. Why did you turn on me?”
  “You think I could survive in a cesspit of a city like this by aligning myself with a bottom feeder like you? You, who has so many enemies? You robbed Bulgarin, you killed Mikhail. You know no more of loyalty than I do.”
  “You know why I killed Faustin. It was not my choice.”
  “I will find you, Niko. I have burnt you and your cousin out of Hove Beach. I will smoke you out of any other hiding place you have in this city. See you soon, Niko.” He hung up the phone, not worrying about the situation for now. HE walked over to the community center and wanted to see who these friends of Mallories were. He was going to need all the help he could get right now for him and Roman.