Chapter 6 - The Night Roman’s Father Died
Victor did not run.
He did not lie.
He sat beneath the broken glass ceiling and told Roman everything.
Twenty years earlier, Roman’s father had called him shortly after midnight.
He had discovered Samuel Crane’s network.
He wanted to bring the evidence to federal investigators outside the city.
Victor drove.
Halfway there, a second vehicle appeared behind them.
Victor accelerated.
The roads were wet.
Roman’s father told him not to stop.
Then another car blocked the road ahead.
Victor swerved.
Their vehicle left the road.
Roman’s father was badly injured.
Victor survived.
“When I woke up,” Victor said, “your father was still alive.”
Roman’s face was expressionless.
“What did he say?”
Victor’s voice broke.
“He told me to protect you.”
Roman swallowed.
“And?”
“He gave me the key to locker 417.”
Victor stared at the ground.
“Then I heard another car coming.”
Samuel’s people.
Victor knew if they found the letter, they would find Roman next.
“So I left him.”
Elena covered her mouth.
Roman stared at Victor.
“You left my father?”
“To hide the evidence.”
“He was alive.”
“Yes.”
“You left him there.”
“Yes.”
Victor did not defend himself.
“When I returned with help, he was gone.”
Roman’s hands curled.
For twenty years he had imagined his father’s final moments.
Never this.
“You should have stayed.”
“I know.”
“You should have protected him.”
“I know.”
“I trusted you.”
Victor looked up.
“And I have lived every day knowing I failed the man who trusted me first.”
Roman turned away.
Elena followed him several steps but stopped.
Some grief needed space.
Roman stood beneath the broken conservatory roof.
He had spent his entire adult life believing anger made him strong.
Now anger felt useless.
It could not return his father.
It could not erase Victor’s decision.
It could not restore twenty years.
Elena finally approached.
“Roman.”
“I don’t know what to do with this.”
“You don’t have to know tonight.”
He looked at her.
“I spent my life believing there was one enemy.”
“And now?”
“Now everyone was wrong in different ways.”
Elena gently took his hand.
“Being wrong isn’t always the same as being evil.”
Roman looked back at Victor.
“No.”
It wasn’t forgiveness.
Not yet.
But it was the beginning of understanding.
They returned to the city before sunrise.
Adrian had already made his final move.
News outlets received anonymous documents accusing Roman’s companies of decades of financial crimes.
Banks froze accounts.
Business partners called.
Reporters surrounded the Duca tower.
Adrian intended to bury Roman beneath his father’s crimes before Roman could reveal the truth.
Matteo entered the conference room.
“He’s forcing you into public view.”
Roman nodded.
“He thinks I’ll hide.”
Victor stood near the window.
“That’s what your father would have done.”
Roman looked at him.
Victor corrected himself.
“That’s what I told your father to do.”
“And?”
“He refused.”
Roman thought for a moment.
Then smiled faintly.
“Good.”
Elena looked at him.
“What are you planning?”
“The one thing Adrian doesn’t expect.”
“What?”
“I’m going to tell the truth.”
At noon, Roman Duca walked into a press conference.
No entourage.
No threats.
No theatrics.
Elena stood beside him.
Daniel, Matteo, and Victor stood behind.
Roman addressed the cameras.
“My family has hidden secrets for twenty years.”
The room erupted.
He continued.
“Today that ends.”
Roman turned over the documents to investigators.
Every account.
Every shell company.
Every record.
Including evidence that could damage his own businesses.
A reporter shouted:
“Are you admitting your companies benefited from illegal financial activity?”
Roman looked directly into the cameras.
“I’m admitting that protecting a family name is less important than telling the truth.”
Elena looked at him.
For the first time, she saw Roman not as the powerful man everyone feared.
She saw the man he had always tried to hide.
Hours later, Adrian Crane was detained for questioning as investigators moved through his offices.
But one problem remained.
Adrian had disappeared before authorities reached him.
Matteo entered Roman’s office late that evening.
“We found his abandoned car.”
“Where?”
“Near the airport.”
Roman frowned.
“Did he leave the country?”
“No.”
Matteo placed a phone on the desk.
“We found this inside.”
A video waited on the screen.
Roman pressed play.
Adrian appeared.
Behind him was Roman’s childhood home.
The house where his father had raised him.
Adrian smiled into the camera.
“You wanted the truth, Roman?”
He stepped aside.
On the wall behind him was a framed portrait of Roman’s father.
“I left one final answer where this began.”
The video ended.
Elena looked at Roman.
“What answer?”
Roman stared at the screen.
Then he remembered something his father used to tell him as a child.
If you ever get lost, go home.
Roman grabbed his coat.
Elena grabbed hers.
He looked at her.
“You’re coming?”
She raised an eyebrow.
“You still have to ask?”
May you like
For the first time in a very long time, Roman laughed.
Then they went home to uncover the final secret.
