Chapter 5 - Evelyn Brooks’s Last Secret
Natalie read the note three times.
“What does that mean?”
Roman watched her.
“You tell me.”
The words came out colder than he intended.
Natalie looked hurt.
“You think I’m hiding something?”
“I think someone wants me to believe you are.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
Roman rubbed his jaw.
“No. I don’t think you’re hiding something.”
“Good.”
“But your grandmother clearly knew more than either of us realized.”
Natalie returned to Evelyn’s apartment the next morning.
This time Roman came with her.
They searched everything.
Nothing.
Then Roman noticed an old sewing machine.
It was heavier than expected.
Beneath it was a false wooden panel.
Natalie stared at him.
“How did you see that?”
“My childhood was unusual.”
“I’m learning that.”
Inside was a cassette tape and another letter.
Natalie recognized Evelyn’s handwriting.
Roman found an old cassette player.
They listened.
Evelyn’s voice filled the room.
“Natalie, if you hear this, I’m sorry.”
Natalie’s eyes immediately filled with tears.
She hadn’t heard her grandmother’s voice in years.
“I kept you away from the Duca family because I wanted you to have an ordinary life.”
Natalie laughed softly through her tears.
“That worked well.”
Roman glanced at her.
The recording continued.
“Carlo discovered Thomas Mercer had been stealing from the company.”
Roman closed his eyes.
There it was.
Confirmation.
“Thomas created shell vendors and diverted money. At first, Carlo wanted to handle it privately because Thomas had been his closest friend since childhood.”
Evelyn paused.
“That was a mistake.”
Roman’s jaw tightened.
“By the time Carlo decided to expose him, Thomas had enough information to damage everyone.”
Natalie listened silently.
Then Evelyn said something unexpected.
“Vincent Hale tried to help us.”
Roman looked up.
“Vincent discovered one account. I didn’t trust him. I thought Thomas had sent him. I was wrong.”
Natalie remembered the photograph.
DON’T TRUST VINCENT.
Her grandmother had written it before learning the truth.
“After Carlo died, Thomas believed the evidence had died with him. I allowed him to believe that.”
Evelyn’s voice became softer.
“But I created a failsafe.”
Natalie whispered, “Me.”
“Yes,” Evelyn said on the recording as if answering her.
Natalie froze.
“I arranged for Natalie to eventually enter the hotel’s employment system. Not immediately. Years later, when nobody would connect her to me. If the shell accounts ever became active again, automated discrepancies would eventually appear in departments she could access.”
Roman stared at Natalie.
Her grandmother had known exactly what kind of person she would become.
Someone who noticed.
Someone who refused to sign a lie.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” Evelyn continued. “I used your honesty as insurance.”
Natalie wiped away a tear.
“But I knew you. I knew that if something was wrong, you wouldn’t look away.”
The recording ended.
For a long time, neither spoke.
Then Roman said quietly, “She was right.”
Natalie looked at him.
“About what?”
“You.”
Something shifted between them.
It had been happening gradually.
In hallways.
Over terrible coffee.
Between arguments.
Roman had spent years surrounded by people who either feared him or wanted something from him.
Natalie did neither.
She challenged him.
Mocked his coffee.
Insulted his hotel.
And when she discovered evidence that could have destroyed her career, she protected Harold instead of herself.
Natalie looked at Roman differently too.
The frightening reputation was real.
People feared him for reasons she didn’t fully understand.
But she had also watched him quietly restore Harold’s position.
She had seen him personally apologize to employees who had been ignored.
She had watched him spend an hour listening to Victoria without once raising his voice.
The man behind the reputation was far more complicated.
“Roman?”
“Yes?”
“Why does everyone fear you?”
He looked toward the window.
“My family operated differently when I was young.”
“That is the most diplomatic answer imaginable.”
“My father believed fear kept people loyal.”
“Did it?”
“No.”
Roman looked at her.
“It kept them afraid.”
“And you?”
“I learned there are better ways.”
Natalie smiled faintly.
“Like terrifying people in three-piece suits?”
“Effective tailoring helps.”
She laughed.
This time Roman did too.
It was quiet.
Brief.
But real.
Then his phone rang.
Vincent.
Roman answered.
“I know it’s Thomas,” Vincent said.
Roman said nothing.
Vincent continued.
“I should have told you years ago.”
“Yes.”
“I was trying to prove it.”
“You had nine years.”
“And Thomas had enough information to destroy your father’s legacy and half the legitimate companies you inherited.”
Roman’s expression hardened.
“You should have trusted me.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“That sentence has caused more damage in my life than almost any other.”
Natalie heard it.
She thought about Evelyn.
About Victoria.
Everyone had tried to protect someone by hiding the truth.
And every secret had created another.
Vincent gave Roman an address.
“Thomas is leaving New York tonight.”
“How do you know?”
“I’ve been tracking one of his accounts.”
“Where?”
“Private terminal at Teterboro.”
Roman started toward the door.
Natalie followed.
“No.”
She stopped.
“Excuse me?”
“This ends tonight.”
“Exactly.”
“And you’re staying here.”
Natalie stared.
“Roman Duca, after everything we’ve just learned about secrets supposedly protecting people, you’re going to protect me by hiding information?”
He stopped.
She raised an eyebrow.
“That’s what I thought.”
Roman sighed.
“Fine.”
They never reached Teterboro.
Halfway there, Vincent called again.
“He changed plans.”
“Where?”
“The Harrington Grand.”
Roman frowned.
“Why would he go back?”
Then Natalie understood.
“The gala.”
“What?”
“The charity account.”
Tonight’s gala was expected to raise more than four million dollars.
If Thomas still had access—
Roman called Elena.
“Freeze every hotel-controlled transfer.”
“I already tried.”
Roman’s expression darkened.
“What happened?”
“Someone changed the authorization hierarchy.”
“Who?”
Elena hesitated.
“The system says you did.”
Roman closed his eyes.
Thomas still possessed an executive clone.
A digital copy of Roman’s authority.
They raced back to Manhattan.
When they arrived, the ballroom glittered with hundreds of guests.
Thomas Mercer stood onstage.
Smiling.
Welcoming donors.
Acting like nothing was wrong.
Roman watched from the back.
Natalie stood beside him.
“What now?”
Roman’s gaze settled on Thomas.
“We let him think he won.”
Thomas finished his speech.
Applause filled the ballroom.
Then he spotted Roman.
For half a second, his smile disappeared.
Roman smiled instead.
Thomas knew.
Across the room, Vincent appeared.
Elena stood near the control booth.
Victoria entered through another door.
Harold followed.
Everyone Thomas had manipulated was now in the same room.
His face changed.
He walked toward Roman.
“You should have stayed away.”
Roman replied quietly, “You should have left Natalie alone.”
Thomas looked at her.
“You have no idea what your grandmother did.”
Natalie stepped forward.
“She kept records.”
Thomas smiled coldly.
“She did much more than that.”
He reached inside his jacket.
Roman immediately moved between them.
But Thomas produced no weapon.
Only an envelope.
He handed it to Natalie.
Inside was a bank statement.
Natalie stared at it.
An account in Evelyn Brooks’s name.
Balance:
$4,870,000.
Thomas leaned closer.
“Your grandmother wasn’t investigating the missing money.”
Natalie looked up.
May you like
Thomas smiled.
“She was receiving it.”
