Chapter 3 - Locker 417
The old Duca terminal had been abandoned for eighteen years.
Officially.
Roman discovered within forty minutes that the property had never truly been sold.
It had passed through three shell companies before ending up under the control of a foundation Victor managed.
Roman stared at the documents on Matteo’s tablet.
“He owned it the entire time.”
“Looks that way.”
Elena stood beside them.
“So if your father hid something there…”
“Victor had twenty years to find it.”
“But maybe he couldn’t.”
Roman looked at the key.
“Because he didn’t have this.”
They entered the terminal shortly before dawn.
No entourage.
No spectacle.
Only Roman, Elena, Matteo, and two trusted security staff who stayed near the entrance.
Dust covered the old ticket counters.
Faded clocks remained frozen above the platforms.
Elena slowly walked through the main hall.
“I remember coming here with my father.”
Roman glanced at her.
“How old were you?”
“Seven. Maybe eight.”
“Did you know my family owned it?”
“No.”
She smiled faintly.
“My father used to say the owner was a difficult man who drank terrible coffee.”
Roman almost smiled.
“That sounds like my father.”
They found the underground storage room.
Hundreds of metal boxes lined the walls.
Box 417 was in the final row.
Roman inserted the key.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then the lock clicked.
Inside was a ledger.
A cassette tape.
Three photographs.
And a sealed letter.
Roman recognized his father’s handwriting.
SON, IF YOU FOUND THIS, THEN I FAILED TO COME HOME.
Roman sat down.
Elena remained beside him without touching him.
He opened the letter.
His father had discovered a financial scheme inside the family companies.
Someone had been moving money through false suppliers and hidden accounts.
But the theft was not the worst part.
The stolen money was being used to buy influence over people surrounding the Duca family.
Police officers.
Accountants.
Business managers.
Security personnel.
His father had realized the corruption reached close to him.
Very close.
Roman continued reading.
Then his eyes stopped.
Matteo noticed.
“What?”
Roman handed him the letter.
Matteo read one sentence aloud.
“Victor knows I’m investigating, but I still don’t know whether he is protecting me… or protecting himself.”
Nobody spoke.
Elena opened the ledger.
Names filled the pages.
Payments.
Dates.
Initials.
Then she stopped.
“My father.”
Roman looked.
A payment appeared beside the name Daniel Marino.
Elena’s father.
She went pale.
“No.”
Roman took the ledger.
Three payments.
All twenty years ago.
Matteo’s voice was careful.
“Elena…”
“My father wasn’t part of this.”
“We don’t know that,” Roman said.
She turned toward him.
“Yes, I do.”
“You were a child.”
“He is not a criminal.”
Roman closed the ledger.
“I didn’t say he was.”
“You thought it.”
“I thought we need facts.”
Elena stepped away.
For the first time that night, Roman saw anger replace fear.
“Your entire life, people have expected you to assume the worst.”
“Elena.”
“And maybe that kept you alive.”
She looked at the ledger.
“But don’t do it to my father.”
Roman walked toward her.
“I won’t.”
She searched his face.
“You promise?”
“I promise we find the truth before we judge anyone.”
Her expression softened.
Matteo cleared his throat.
“There’s something else.”
One of the photographs showed Roman’s father.
Another showed Victor.
The third showed Daniel Marino.
All three men stood together outside the terminal.
On the back:
The three of us know. Only one will betray the others.
Elena whispered, “My father knew your father.”
Roman looked at her.
“And neither of them ever told us.”
They returned to the Duca residence at sunrise.
Roman expected Victor to disappear.
Instead, Victor was waiting in Roman’s library.
Alone.
He sat in the same chair where he had advised Roman hundreds of times.
“You found the locker,” Victor said.
Matteo immediately moved forward.
Roman raised a hand.
“Leave us.”
“Boss.”
“Outside.”
Matteo reluctantly obeyed.
Elena stayed.
Victor noticed.
“So that’s how it is now.”
Roman stood across from him.
“You tell me.”
Victor sighed.
“I loved your father.”
“Then explain the ledger.”
“I can.”
“The photograph.”
“I can explain that too.”
“The letter.”
Victor’s expression changed.
“That letter was never supposed to reach you.”
Roman leaned forward.
“Why?”
“Because your father was wrong.”
“About you?”
“About everything.”
Victor looked at Elena.
“And now Daniel Marino’s daughter has dragged you into the same mistake.”
Elena stiffened.
“My father?”
Victor laughed quietly.
“You really don’t know?”
Roman stepped closer.
“Know what?”
Victor’s smile disappeared.
“Daniel Marino didn’t work for your father.”
He looked at Elena.
“Your father was his partner.”
Elena froze.
Victor continued.
“The money you thought your family lost eight months ago?”
Roman felt something shift inside him.
“What about it?”
Victor looked directly at him.
“It wasn’t lost.”
A long silence.
“I took it.”
Elena stared at him.
“You destroyed my family?”
Victor nodded.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Victor looked at Roman.
“To force you to marry her.”
Roman went completely still.
Even Elena seemed unable to speak.
Victor leaned back.
“Because twenty years ago your father made me promise one thing.”
Roman’s voice was almost inaudible.
“What?”
Victor smiled sadly.
“That if he failed, I would someday put Daniel Marino’s daughter beside his son.”
Roman stared at Elena.
May you like
For the first time, the mystery was no longer whether Victor had betrayed his father.
It was why Roman’s father had wanted Elena in his life before Roman and Elena had ever even met.
