Chapter 6 - Finding Roman Costa
Sadie spent two weeks searching.
Eventually Evelyn gave her the answer.
Roman had moved to a small coastal town in Maine.
No mansion.
No guards.
No empire.
Sadie found him renovating an old restaurant overlooking the Atlantic.
Roman Costa—the man who once commanded rooms merely by entering them—was standing on a ladder trying unsuccessfully to repair a ceiling light.
He looked down.
Nearly fell.
“Sadie?”
She crossed her arms.
“You're terrible at disappearing.”
Roman climbed down.
“What are you doing here?”
“Returning something.”
She handed him his note.
Roman stared at it.
“I meant every word.”
“I know.”
“You deserve someone normal.”
“Probably.”
His jaw tightened.
Sadie stepped closer.
“But apparently I have terrible taste.”
Roman stared at her.
She smiled.
“You don't get to decide what I deserve.”
Roman's defenses finally broke.
He admitted he'd noticed her long before the flowers.
He noticed how she quietly left food outside sick employees' rooms.
How she hummed while cooking when she thought nobody could hear.
How she saved money for culinary school.
How she smiled at flowers because nobody had given her anything beautiful in years.
“And when Toby gave you those carnations…”
Sadie raised an eyebrow.
“You became jealous.”
“No.”
“Roman.”
“Extremely irritated.”
“Jealous.”
He sighed.
“Fine.”
Sadie laughed.
Then Roman revealed why he'd bought the restaurant.
He remembered reading her culinary-school application.
Her dream wasn't merely to become a chef.
She wanted her own restaurant someday.
Roman had purchased the building but left ownership documents unsigned.
He placed them before her.
Sadie refused.
Instead she offered another idea.
Partnership.
Equal ownership.
Roman agreed.
But there was one problem.
Neither knew whether their relationship could survive outside the strange circumstances that had brought them together.
So they made a rule.
No secrets.
No controlling each other's lives.
No disappearing.
And absolutely no intimidating bakery delivery boys.
Roman reluctantly agreed to the last one.
Six months later, their restaurant opened.
They named it Carnation.
On opening night, Sadie was preparing dinner when a young employee entered the kitchen carrying flowers.
“Someone left these for you.”
Sadie smiled.
“Roman?”
The employee shook his head.
“No. A woman.”
Sadie looked at the card.
Her smile vanished.
The message contained only one sentence.
Your mother didn't tell you everything about the night you were born.
And beneath it was a name Sadie had never heard before.
A name Roman recognized instantly.
He went pale.
“Sadie…”
“What?”
Roman slowly took the card from her.
May you like
“That woman is supposed to have been dead for thirty years.”
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