Chapter 3 - The Secret She Kept for Fourteen Months
Ethan Romano did not frighten easily.
Fear was useful when it belonged to someone else.
In himself, he treated it like a defect.
Something to be identified.
Contained.
Eliminated.
But the message on Vivien’s phone created a different kind of fear.
Not because the sender had threatened him.
Because they had threatened her.
“What did you do for me?”
Vivien looked exhausted.
“Not now.”
“Someone is threatening you.”
“I know.”
“And you were going to tell me?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
She looked at him.
“That’s what I was trying to do.”
The answer hit him again.
Every path returned to the same failure.
He had not listened.
Ethan pulled out his phone.
Vivien immediately sat straighter.
“What are you doing?”
“Calling security.”
“No.”
He looked at her.
“No?”
“Not yet.”
“Vivien—”
“Please.”
There was something in her expression that stopped him.
She was scared.
But not only of the sender.
Of what Ethan would do after learning the truth.
He lowered the phone.
“You have five minutes.”
Her eyebrows rose.
“Five?”
“You wanted five minutes.”
The irony was not lost on either of them.
Vivien almost smiled.
Then she looked down.
“It started before I came to work for you.”
Ethan waited.
“Fourteen months ago, I was working at the Carlton hotel.”
“I know.”
“You don't know everything.”
She took a slow breath.
“One night there was a private event upstairs. Finance people. Lawyers. Investors.”
Ethan's eyes narrowed.
“Which investors?”
“I didn't know at first.”
She continued.
“I was covering for another coordinator who called in sick. One of the conference rooms was reserved under a false company name.”
Ethan leaned back.
“Go on.”
“I found a folder after the meeting.”
“What kind of folder?”
“Financial records.”
Something shifted behind Ethan's eyes.
Vivien noticed.
“I didn't understand most of it.”
“Most?”
“I understood enough.”
She looked at him.
“Your name was everywhere.”
Ethan's jaw hardened.
“What records?”
“Transfers. Property companies. Shipping invoices.”
Ethan stood.
“Do you still have them?”
“No.”
“Where are they?”
“I gave them to someone.”
“Who?”
Vivien hesitated.
“Your attorney.”
Ethan stared at her.
“Sterling?”
She nodded.
Ethan stepped back.
Sterling Brooks had served as legal counsel to the Romano family for nearly twenty years.
Six months before Vivien was hired, Sterling had quietly uncovered a financial scheme involving one of Ethan’s senior managers.
The manager had been stealing from Romano companies through shell corporations.
Ethan had always wondered how Sterling found the first evidence.
He looked at Vivien.
“You were the source.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't Sterling tell me?”
“I made him promise.”
“Why?”
“Because I didn't know you.”
Ethan laughed once without humor.
“You found documents proving someone was stealing from me, gave them to my attorney, and then came to work for me?”
“I didn't plan the second part.”
“How convenient.”
Vivien went still.
The instant the words left his mouth, Ethan knew he had made another mistake.
Her eyes hardened.
“If you think I arranged any of this—”
“I didn't say that.”
“You didn't have to.”
“Vivien.”
She reached for the call button.
“Leave.”
Ethan's expression changed.
“I was asking a question.”
“No. You were doing what you always do.”
“And what's that?”
“Deciding what people are before they get a chance to explain.”
The hospital monitor began beeping faster.
Ethan noticed.
“Calm down.”
Vivien laughed incredulously.
“Do not tell me to calm down.”
The door opened.
A nurse entered.
“Everything okay?”
Vivien closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
The nurse looked at the monitor, then at Ethan.
“I think Ms. Ashcroft needs to rest.”
Ethan nodded.
He walked toward the door.
“Ethan.”
He stopped.
Vivien looked at him.
“I didn't come to work for you because of those documents.”
He said nothing.
“I didn't know the agency was sending me to your estate until the morning of the interview.”
“And you stayed.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Vivien swallowed.
“Because after I met you, I realized Sterling had been right.”
“About what?”
She looked away.
“That you weren't the man people said you were.”
Ethan stood silently.
“Then why keep the secret?”
“Because the man who stole from you never acted alone.”
Ethan's expression changed.
Vivien continued.
“Someone else was involved.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“You have evidence?”
“I had suspicions.”
“Based on what?”
“The messages started three months ago.”
Ethan turned back toward her.
“Three months?”
She nodded.
“You've been receiving threats for three months and said nothing?”
“I didn't know if they were real.”
“Vivien.”
“I didn't want to cause problems.”
His face hardened.
“You being threatened is a problem.”
“I know that now.”
“You should have known that then.”
Vivien looked tired.
“I was trying to protect everyone.”
Ethan laughed bitterly.
“Of course you were.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means apparently that's all you do.”
Her expression softened slightly.
Ethan rubbed a hand across his face.
“You take care of Marco.”
Silence.
“Maria.”
She looked at him.
“The staff.”
He stepped closer.
“Me.”
Vivien said nothing.
“And when exactly were you planning to take care of yourself?”
Her eyes filled.
“I don't know.”
Ethan's anger disappeared.
“So you protected my money.”
He paused.
“My house.”
Another pause.
“My people.”
His voice lowered.
“And now you're lying in a hospital bed because you couldn't find five minutes to protect yourself.”
Vivien whispered:
“That isn’t fair.”
“No.”
He looked at her.
“It isn’t.”
The next morning, Ethan was still at the hospital.
He had slept for perhaps forty minutes in a chair.
Vivien woke just after six.
She found him by the window.
“You stayed?”
He turned.
“Yes.”
“You didn't have to.”
“I know.”
The words made her blink.
For once, he had done something because he wanted to.
Not because obligation demanded it.
Dr. Harris arrived at eight.
The latest tests showed the arrhythmia could likely be controlled with medication, though a procedure might still be required.
“Stress and exhaustion will make this worse,” he explained.
Ethan looked directly at Vivien.
She ignored him.
“No work for at least two weeks.”
Vivien frowned.
“Two?”
“At least.”
“I can't—”
“Yes,” Ethan said.
Both doctor and patient looked at him.
Vivien narrowed her eyes.
“You don't get a vote.”
“I own the place you work.”
“Which does not make you my doctor.”
Dr. Harris hid a smile.
Ethan sat back.
“Fine.”
Vivien eyed him suspiciously.
“Fine?”
“Take three weeks.”
“Ethan.”
“Four.”
“Stop.”
The doctor laughed.
“I'll leave you two to negotiate.”
When he was gone, Vivien gave Ethan a tired look.
“You're impossible.”
“People keep saying that.”
Her mouth almost curved.
For a few seconds, the tension lifted.
Then her phone buzzed again.
Both looked at it.
Ethan picked it up first.
Unknown number.
One photograph.
He opened it.
Vivien sitting at the hospital window.
Taken minutes earlier.
Ethan's face changed instantly.
Someone was watching.
He moved toward the blinds.
“Don't.”
Vivien sounded frightened.
Ethan closed them anyway.
He called his head of security.
“Lock down this floor.”
Vivien sat upright.
“Ethan.”
He ignored her.
“Check every entrance, every camera, everyone who came through reception since midnight.”
He ended the call.
“Now you're overreacting.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Someone just photographed you through a hospital window.”
She looked toward the glass.
“We're twelve floors up.”
Ethan stopped.
That was true.
He looked at the photograph again.
The angle was wrong.
Not from outside.
From the hallway.
He zoomed in.
A reflection in the window.
A figure.
Dark jacket.
Phone raised.
Ethan moved toward the door.
Vivien grabbed his wrist.
“Don't.”
He looked down at her hand.
“Why?”
“Because whoever this is wants you angry.”
“I am angry.”
“Exactly.”
He stared at her.
She continued.
“They've been trying to provoke me for months.”
“Why you?”
“I don't know.”
“Then we're finding out.”
His security team checked the floor.
No one matching the reflection remained.
But one thing did emerge.
The hospital cameras showed a man leaving the corridor twelve minutes earlier.
His face was partially hidden.
Yet Ethan recognized him.
Not immediately.
Then completely.
A man he had not seen in six years.
Julian Mercer.
Former accountant for Romano Holdings.
The man who had disappeared three weeks before Ethan discovered millions missing from his companies.
Ethan stared at the security still.
He had believed Julian fled the country.
Apparently, he had not.
Vivien watched Ethan's expression.
“You know him.”
“Yes.”
“Who is he?”
Ethan's voice turned cold.
“The man who nearly destroyed my company.”
Vivien swallowed.
“Why would he care about me?”
Ethan looked again at the photograph.
Then something occurred to him.
He turned to her.
“When you found those files fourteen months ago… was Julian's name in them?”
Vivien went silent.
Too silent.
Ethan stepped closer.
“Vivien.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell Sterling?”
“I did.”
Ethan froze.
“What?”
“Sterling knew.”
His face changed.
“You said Sterling used the files to find the theft.”
“He did.”
“But Julian disappeared before I confronted anyone.”
Vivien nodded slowly.
Ethan's voice lowered.
“Only three people knew an investigation had started.”
Vivien's eyes widened.
Ethan continued.
“Me.”
He counted.
“Sterling.”
Another.
“And the person Sterling warned.”
The implication filled the room.
Vivien whispered:
“You think someone told Julian to run.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Ethan looked at her.
“I don't know.”
His phone rang.
Sterling Brooks.
Ethan stared at the name.
The timing was impossible to ignore.
He answered.
“Sterling.”
A familiar voice came through.
“I heard Vivien is in the hospital.”
Ethan's eyes moved to her.
“Who told you?”
A pause.
Then Sterling said:
“We need to talk.”
“About Julian Mercer?”
Silence.
Ethan's expression hardened.
Sterling exhaled.
“Ethan, there are things you don't know.”
“How many?”
Another pause.
“Too many.”
Ethan's voice dropped.
“Start talking.”
But Sterling’s next words changed everything.
“Not over the phone.”
“Why?”
“Because Julian isn't the person you should be afraid of.”
Ethan looked toward Vivien.
“Then who is?”
Sterling answered quietly.
“Someone inside your house.”
And suddenly the Romano estate no longer felt like home.
May you like
It felt like a trap.
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