Chapter 6 - The Debt Was Never About Money
Three weeks.
That was when everything had started.
Gary's sudden panic.
Carter's supposed debt collection.
Tyler's interest.
The marriage proposal nobody told Lydia existed.
It had never been about gambling.
Gary had sold Carter Voss the ledger.
Then Carter realized Gary had sold him an incomplete copy.
A portion was missing.
And Carter believed Lydia had it.
She didn't.
At least she thought she didn't.
Roman questioned Gary for nearly an hour.
No threats.
No violence.
Just questions.
Somehow that was worse.
Gary finally admitted he'd found the ledger inside an old toolbox Elaine left behind.
He'd sold it because he owed real gambling debts elsewhere.
Twenty-four thousand dollars.
Carter paid fifty thousand.
Then discovered several pages were missing.
“He thought I kept them,” Gary said.
“Did you?” Lydia asked.
“No.”
Roman watched him.
Gary immediately corrected himself.
“I don't think so.”
Lydia covered her face.
“You are exhausting.”
“I know.”
For once Gary didn't cry.
He looked small.
Old.
And ashamed.
“I kept thinking I could fix the next mistake.”
Lydia lowered her hands.
Gary continued.
“Then every fix became another mistake.”
It was the closest he'd ever come to understanding himself.
But it didn't erase anything.
“You need help,” Lydia said.
“I know.”
“No more money from me.”
Gary nodded.
“No more rescues.”
He nodded again.
“You enter a treatment program for gambling.”
His eyes watered.
This time Lydia didn't soften.
“Yes,” Gary whispered.
“And you tell Roman everything.”
“I will.”
Roman looked away.
He seemed uncomfortable witnessing something that intimate.
That made Lydia trust him slightly more.
Only slightly.
The missing ledger pages were eventually found somewhere absurd.
Inside Lydia's childhood copy of The Secret Garden.
Elaine had hollowed the interior cover and hidden microfilm beneath it.
Lydia found it while searching old boxes.
Roman stood beside her when she peeled away the cloth.
There it was.
The final evidence.
Enough to prove Victor's financial crimes.
Enough to restore Daniel Bennett's ownership interest.
Enough to expose Carter's blackmail scheme.
Roman stared at the microfilm.
“You did it.”
“My mother did.”
“She trusted you to finish.”
Lydia looked at him.
“She trusted both of us.”
Their eyes held.
For several seconds, neither moved.
The relationship between them had changed gradually.
It wasn't fear anymore.
And it wasn't simply curiosity.
Roman saw her clearly.
That was dangerous in a different way.
Most people in Lydia's life wanted something.
Gary wanted rescuing.
Carter wanted leverage.
Tyler wanted possession.
Roman seemed to want only the truth.
And perhaps her.
But he had never asked.
Never pushed.
Never used her father's debt.
Never even mentioned attraction.
That restraint made it harder to ignore.
“Roman.”
“Yes?”
“Why did you really replace Tyler at Bellamy's?”
He paused.
“I learned Carter planned to use the dinner to pressure you.”
“So?”
“So I stopped it.”
“You didn't know me.”
“No.”
“Then why care?”
Roman looked toward the microfilm.
“At first, I didn't.”
Lydia waited.
“I wanted information.”
“At first.”
“Yes.”
“And after?”
His eyes moved toward her hands.
Again.
Always her hands.
Roman gently took one.
It was the first time he'd touched her.
His grip was warm.
Careful.
“You walked into a room terrified and deliberately made yourself ridiculous because it was the only control anybody had left you.”
Lydia said nothing.
Roman's thumb brushed once across her fingers.
“I recognized that.”
“Why?”
“Because I spent half my life pretending to be the man Victor wanted me to be.”
The honesty hurt more than flirtation would have.
Lydia stepped closer.
Roman didn't.
He let her choose the remaining distance.
She did.
Then his phone rang.
Roman glanced at the screen.
Victor.
Roman answered.
His uncle spoke first.
“You found Elaine's pages.”
Roman's expression changed.
“How do you know?”
Victor laughed softly.
“Because I wanted you to.”
Lydia's blood chilled.
Roman activated speaker.
Victor continued.
“You think you've uncovered a conspiracy, Roman.”
Roman remained silent.
“You've uncovered bait.”
Roman and Lydia looked at one another.
Then Victor said the sentence that changed everything.
“Daniel Bennett isn't dead.”
Roman's fingers tightened around the phone.
Victor continued.
“And if you want to meet your father, bring me the ledger.”
The call ended.
Roman didn't move.
Lydia stared at him.
After thirty-eight years, the father Roman had believed dead might still be alive.
But Lydia noticed something Roman didn't.
Victor had made one mistake.
Her mother had taught her to recognize altered recordings.
The faint background hiss.
The repeated breath pattern.
Victor's call had contained an inserted audio segment.
Daniel's supposed voice in the background wasn't live.
Lydia looked at Roman.
“He's lying.”
Roman frowned.
“How do you know?”
“Because your father's voice was edited into the call.”
Roman went still.
May you like
Lydia held up the phone.
“And I think I know where the original recording came from.”
