Chapter 2 - The Photograph in the Locked Drawer
Sadie didn't move.
“Tell me why you have my mother's photograph.”
Roman's face hardened.
“Your mother worked for my father.”
“My mother was a waitress.”
“That was what she told you.”
The room suddenly felt too small.
Roman revealed that twenty-five years earlier, Evelyn Bennett had worked inside the Costa organization—not as a criminal, but as an accountant who had discovered financial records powerful men wanted buried.
Then she'd disappeared.
Sadie had always believed her mother had simply abandoned her.
Roman told her something very different.
“She didn't leave you willingly.”
Sadie's eyes filled with tears.
“How do you know?”
Roman hesitated.
Because Evelyn had once saved Roman's life.
When Roman was nine years old, someone inside his father's organization had attempted to seize control of the Costa empire. Evelyn discovered the conspiracy and secretly warned Roman's mother.
Without Evelyn, Roman would have died that night.
Years later, Roman discovered Evelyn had a daughter.
Sadie.
“So you hired me because of her?”
“Yes.”
“You've been watching me for three years?”
“Protecting you.”
“I didn't ask you to.”
“No.”
Roman's voice softened.
“But your mother did.”
Sadie's anger disappeared.
“What?”
Roman unlocked another drawer.
Inside was a sealed letter.
The envelope had yellowed with age.
Across the front was written:
For my daughter, Sadie.
Her mother's handwriting.
Sadie reached toward it.
Roman stopped her.
“Before you open this, understand something.”
“What?”
“Once you know what your mother knew, you cannot unknow it.”
Sadie stared at the letter.
Then she broke the seal.
Inside, her mother had written about a hidden ledger containing names, accounts, and evidence capable of destroying the men who had betrayed the Costa family.
But one sentence changed everything.
If Roman ever gives you this letter, trust him. He will pretend his heart is made of stone. It isn't.
Sadie slowly raised her eyes.
Roman looked uncomfortable for perhaps the first time in his life.
Then she reached the final paragraph.
Her blood turned cold.
Her mother claimed the ledger was hidden somewhere Roman's enemies would never search.
Somewhere close to Sadie.
Roman asked quietly, “Does she say where?”
Sadie read the final line again.
The key has been with you since you were a child.
Sadie's fingers instinctively touched the silver necklace beneath her uniform.
Roman's eyes followed her hand.
Neither spoke.
Sadie slowly pulled out the pendant she'd worn since she was six.
Roman's expression changed.
“That isn't a pendant.”
He took it carefully and twisted its base.
A tiny metal key slid free.
Sadie stared.
Then the lights went out.
The entire mansion plunged into darkness.
Seconds later, Roman's security radio exploded with voices.
Someone had entered the estate.
And whoever they were…
May you like
they had been waiting twenty-five years for Sadie to discover that key.
---
