Chapter 4 - The Marriage Was Never an Accident
Roman wanted to hate Victor.
It would have been easier.
But Victor’s confession had changed the shape of the truth.
“You manipulated Elena’s family.”
“Yes.”
“You created the debt.”
“Yes.”
“You let everyone believe I forced her into marriage.”
Victor lowered his eyes.
“Yes.”
Roman slammed his palm against the desk.
Elena flinched.
Roman immediately noticed and stepped back.
His anger was not for her.
Never for her.
Victor remained seated.
“I needed you together.”
“You had no right.”
“No.”
“Then why?”
Victor looked older suddenly.
“Because your fathers knew something neither of you did.”
Elena stepped forward.
“What?”
Victor looked at her.
“Their families were connected long before either of you were born.”
Daniel Marino had not been merely an employee.
He had been Roman’s father’s financial investigator.
The two men discovered a network siphoning money from multiple businesses.
They planned to expose it.
But someone learned about their investigation.
Roman’s father died soon after.
Daniel disappeared from the Duca world and raised Elena far away from it.
Victor claimed he had spent twenty years protecting both families.
Roman laughed bitterly.
“By lying?”
“By keeping you alive.”
“And the man upstairs?”
Victor’s face tightened.
“He worked for the people your father was investigating.”
“Is he alive?”
“Yes.”
Elena closed her eyes in relief.
Roman caught the reaction.
She had been carrying the possibility that someone died because of her.
Victor continued.
“He escaped before my people reached him.”
“Your people?”
“Yes.”
Roman’s eyes narrowed.
“You expect me to believe you’re still protecting me?”
“No.”
Victor stood.
“I expect you to verify everything.”
He placed a flash drive on the desk.
“Records. Names. Accounts. Twenty years of them.”
Roman did not touch it.
“Why give it to me now?”
“Because they know Elena found the letter.”
Victor looked toward her.
“And now they know the one thing your father managed to hide.”
“What?”
“The ledger wasn’t the proof.”
Roman frowned.
“Then what was?”
Victor looked at Elena.
“Her father.”
Roman and Elena exchanged a glance.
Daniel Marino was living quietly in Connecticut.
For years, Elena believed her father had become withdrawn after losing the family business.
Now Roman realized he had been hiding.
They drove there that afternoon.
Daniel opened the door.
When he saw Roman, he looked unsurprised.
When he saw Elena, he looked devastated.
“Dad?”
Daniel stepped outside.
“Elena, you shouldn’t be here.”
She stared at him.
“You knew.”
He said nothing.
“You knew Roman’s father.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
“And Victor?”
“Yes.”
“You let me believe our family was destroyed.”
“I was trying to keep you away from this.”
“By letting me marry into it?”
Daniel looked at Roman.
“That was never my plan.”
Roman studied him.
“My father wanted us together.”
Daniel’s face changed.
“He wrote that?”
“Victor said it.”
Daniel laughed without humor.
“Victor always did enjoy interpreting other people’s promises.”
Elena stepped closer.
“What happened twenty years ago?”
Daniel looked toward the road.
Then he invited them inside.
For three hours, everything Roman knew about his father changed.
His father had discovered the corruption.
Victor had wanted to expose it immediately.
Daniel argued they needed more proof.
The disagreement created mistrust.
Then Roman’s father died in what had been ruled an accident.
Victor believed Daniel betrayed them.
Daniel believed Victor did.
Both men disappeared into separate lives.
Neither realized the true traitor had been someone else entirely.
“Who?” Roman asked.
Daniel looked at him.
“Your father’s attorney.”
Roman’s blood went cold.
“Samuel Crane?”
Daniel nodded.
Samuel had been dead for twelve years.
But his law firm remained.
Run by his son.
Adrian Crane.
A man currently serving as legal counsel to the Duca companies.
Roman stood.
“He’s been inside my company for six years.”
Daniel nodded.
“That’s the point.”
Elena covered her mouth.
Victor had been right about one thing.
The danger was close.
But he had been wrong about who.
Roman called Matteo.
No answer.
He called again.
Nothing.
Then his phone received a message from Matteo’s number.
A photograph.
Matteo was sitting inside Roman’s office.
Across from him stood Adrian Crane.
Under the photograph were six words:
COME ALONE IF YOU WANT ANSWERS.
Elena saw the message.
“No.”
Roman looked at her.
“You’re not going alone.”
“Elena—”
“No more secrets.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“She’s right.”
Roman stared at both of them.
For most of his life, Roman had believed strength meant carrying danger alone.
Now two people who had every reason to fear his world were refusing to let him do exactly that.
Roman looked once more at the photograph.
Then at Elena.
“All right.”
Her eyebrows rose.
“All right?”
“We do this together.”
For the first time since the ballroom, Elena smiled.
Only slightly.
But Roman saw it.
Then another message arrived.
This one contained no photograph.
Just a sentence.
ASK ELENA WHY ADRIAN KNOWS HER MOTHER’S NAME.
Elena’s smile vanished.
Roman looked at her.
“What does that mean?”
She whispered the answer.
“My mother died when I was six.”
Roman waited.
May you like
Elena stared at the screen.
“And Adrian Crane was the lawyer who handled her estate.”
