Chapter 2 - The Man Who Raised Him
Roman locked the ballroom down without raising his voice.
Nobody left.
Nobody made calls.
Nobody approached Elena.
It was not rage controlling him now.
It was calculation.
Victor had taught Roman that lesson himself.
“When everyone else panics,” Victor used to say, “the calmest man in the room owns the room.”
Roman almost laughed at the memory.
Twenty years of advice suddenly sounded different when spoken by a possible traitor.
Matteo joined him in a private reception room beside the ballroom.
Elena sat on a velvet chair while a hotel medic quietly checked her hands.
Roman remained across from her.
“Nothing serious,” the medic said. “She appears physically fine.”
Roman nodded.
“Thank you.”
When the door closed, he turned to Elena.
“Start at the beginning.”
She looked toward Matteo.
Roman noticed.
“Anything you say to me can be said in front of him.”
Elena hesitated.
Matteo’s jaw tightened.
“You don’t trust me?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You looked at me.”
“Because I don’t know who Roman can trust anymore.”
Matteo looked toward Roman.
Roman gave a slight nod.
“She’s right.”
The words wounded Matteo more than an accusation would have.
Still, he stepped backward.
“I’ll wait outside.”
“No,” Roman said.
Matteo stopped.
“If Victor is involved, I need the two people I trust most in this room.”
Elena looked at Roman.
“Two?”
Roman held her gaze.
“You and Matteo.”
Something softened briefly in Elena’s face.
Then she told him everything.
She had gone upstairs because she had received a note.
A handwritten message had been slipped into her handbag during dinner.
If you want to know why Roman really married you, go to his private office at eleven. Come alone.
Roman frowned.
“You thought I wrote it?”
“No.”
“Then why go?”
“Because I wanted to know.”
The answer hurt.
“You could have asked me.”
“I have.”
Roman remembered.
Three months into their marriage, Elena had stood in his library and asked why he had chosen her.
Roman had replied, “It made sense.”
She had smiled sadly.
“Of course it did.”
He had watched her leave.
Now he understood what his silence had cost.
“What happened when you reached the office?”
“The door was open.”
“That’s impossible.”
“I know.”
“Who was inside?”
“A man I didn’t recognize at first. He was going through your desk. Then Victor entered.”
Roman leaned forward.
“Victor spoke to him?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
Elena closed her eyes, remembering.
“He said, ‘You were supposed to remove the letter years ago.’”
Matteo swore under his breath.
Roman remained still.
“What letter?”
“I think the one you’re holding.”
Roman glanced at his father’s envelope.
“What happened next?”
“The other man realized I was there.”
“And Victor?”
“He looked at me.”
Elena swallowed.
“He didn’t look surprised.”
Roman felt cold.
“He expected you.”
“I think so.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
She stared at her hands.
“The man came toward me. I backed into a table. There was broken glass. He slipped while trying to stop me from leaving.”
Roman understood.
The stains on Elena’s hands were not evidence that she had attacked anyone.
She had simply tried to help after the man fell and cut himself.
“He was alive when you left?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you tell me he was dead?”
“Because Victor told me he was.”
Roman’s head lifted.
“When?”
“As I ran down the hall.”
Elena’s voice trembled.
“He said, ‘Don’t bother asking him questions. He won’t be answering anything.’”
Silence settled over the room.
Matteo spoke first.
“We need to find that man.”
“We will,” Roman said.
Then his phone vibrated.
A security message.
PRIVATE ELEVATOR ACTIVATED — PENTHOUSE LEVEL.
Roman stood.
Victor knew the building.
He knew Roman’s habits.
He knew the security system because Roman himself had given him unrestricted access.
Matteo reached the door.
“I’ll take six men.”
Roman stopped him.
“No.”
Matteo turned.
“Boss—”
“If Victor wants chaos, we don’t give it to him.”
Roman looked at Elena.
“You stay here.”
“No.”
“Elena.”
“I spent eight months doing what you told me because I thought distance was the price of being married to you.”
Roman stared at her.
“But tonight I learned something.”
“What?”
“You’re not protecting me by keeping me ignorant.”
Roman had no reply.
She stood.
“If Victor used me to bring that letter out, then I’m part of this.”
“Elena—”
“And I heard something else upstairs.”
Roman froze.
“What?”
“I didn’t tell you because I wasn’t certain.”
“What did you hear?”
“Victor was talking about your father.”
Roman waited.
Elena said the words carefully.
“He said your father discovered that someone had been stealing from the Duca companies.”
Matteo frowned.
“Twenty years ago?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“Victor said he had spent twenty years making sure Roman blamed the wrong family.”
Roman felt the floor shift beneath him.
The entire foundation of his adult life had been built on one belief.
His father’s death had been blamed on the Bellandi family.
Victor had helped Roman rebuild.
Victor had encouraged every rivalry.
Every grudge.
Every suspicion.
“What else?”
Elena looked directly at him.
“He said your father left proof.”
“The letter?”
“No.”
Roman’s eyes narrowed.
Elena shook her head.
“He called the letter a key.”
“A key to what?”
“I don’t know.”
Then Matteo reached into the envelope again.
“There’s something inside the lining.”
Roman took it.
A tiny brass key fell into his palm.
Attached to it was a metal tag.
417.
Matteo stared.
“A locker?”
“Maybe.”
Elena’s face changed.
“What?”
Roman asked.
“I know that number.”
“From where?”
“The old Duca train terminal.”
Roman stared at her.
“My father sold that building before he died.”
“No,” Elena whispered.
“My father worked there when I was a child.”
Roman’s heartbeat slowed.
“Elena…”
She looked at the brass key.
“There were private storage boxes beneath the terminal.”
Matteo stepped closer.
“How do you know?”
“My father used to manage the records.”
Roman suddenly understood why Victor had brought Elena into this.
Her family debt.
Her father.
The marriage.
Maybe none of it had been random.
Then Elena said something that made the room go silent.
“Roman, I don’t think Victor chose me because I was your weakness.”
May you like
Roman watched her.
“I think he chose me because my father knows what your father hid.”
