Chapter 4 - THE GHOST OPENS THE DOOR
Roman could have called the police immediately.
Instead, he made one phone call.
"Freeze Grant's access."
Sadie watched him.
"Everything?"
"Everything."
Roman hung up.
"Corporate accounts, buildings, servers, vehicles, expense cards."
"Can you do that?"
Roman looked at her.
"It's my company."
Within eleven minutes, Arthur Grant ceased to exist inside Vale Meridian.
His security badge stopped working.
His corporate cards died.
His passwords became useless.
His company car was remotely disabled.
Trevor's problem was different.
Roman didn't own Trevor.
So Roman did something worse.
He investigated him.
By sunrise, Evelyn had uncovered six shell companies.
Three false identities.
Four suspicious loans.
And one name Sadie hadn't heard in years.
Rachel Monroe.
Sadie stared at the file.
"No."
Roman looked at her.
"Who is she?"
"My old roommate."
"The one who disappeared?"
Sadie looked up sharply.
"I never said she disappeared."
Roman realized his mistake.
Sadie stood.
"How do you know about Rachel?"
Roman didn't answer.
"Roman."
"I investigated your past before we married."
Sadie stared at him.
"You what?"
"For security."
"You investigated me?"
"Yes."
Anger rose inside her.
"Without telling me?"
Roman's silence confirmed it.
Sadie walked away from the table.
"That's not protection."
"Sadie."
"That's surveillance."
Roman didn't follow.
He knew better.
She turned.
"How much do you know?"
"Enough."
"About Trevor?"
"Some."
"About my mother?"
"Yes."
"My debt?"
"Yes."
"Sleeping in my car?"
Roman's jaw tightened.
"Yes."
Sadie laughed bitterly.
"So while I was telling you those things because I trusted you, you already knew?"
"I knew facts."
Roman's voice remained calm.
"I didn't know what they meant to you."
"That's convenient."
"It isn't."
For the first time that morning, Roman looked hurt.
Sadie hated that she noticed.
"I should have told you."
"Yes."
"I was wrong."
That stopped her.
Roman rarely apologized quickly.
Powerful men often believed apologies weakened them.
Roman didn't.
"I was afraid."
Sadie frowned.
"Of me?"
"Of losing you."
She stared at him.
Roman continued.
"People have used relationships to reach me before."
"So you investigated me."
"Yes."
"And then?"
"I discovered you were working two jobs while sending half your money to your mother."
Sadie's eyes lowered.
"I discovered Trevor had emptied your savings."
Roman's voice softened.
"I discovered you slept in your car for nineteen nights and still showed up for work every morning."
Sadie swallowed.
"And I discovered you never asked anyone for pity."
Roman stepped closer.
"I stopped investigating after that."
"Why?"
"Because I already knew what mattered."
Sadie looked away.
The anger hadn't vanished.
But something else had entered it.
Understanding.
Evelyn cleared her throat.
"I hate interrupting this."
They both looked at her.
"But Rachel Monroe matters."
Sadie turned.
"Why?"
Evelyn placed a bank statement on the table.
Rachel had received $75,000 from one of Trevor's shell companies.
Two days later, she vanished.
Sadie's skin went cold.
"Where is she?"
"We don't know."
"Find her."
Roman looked at Evelyn.
"Already happening."
Sadie's phone rang.
Unknown number again.
She answered before Roman could stop her.
"Hello?"
Breathing.
Then a woman's whisper.
"Sadie?"
Sadie froze.
"Rachel?"
A sob came through the phone.
"Oh my God."
Sadie gripped the table.
"Rachel, where are you?"
"I can't tell you."
"Are you safe?"
"No."
Roman moved closer.
Rachel whispered quickly.
"Trevor knows you're looking."
"Rachel, listen to me—"
"No, you listen."
Her breathing became frantic.
"He didn't choose you by accident."
Sadie stopped.
"What?"
"He knew who you were before he ever met you."
The call disconnected.
Sadie stared at the phone.
Roman's eyes narrowed.
"What did she mean?"
Sadie didn't know.
But someone else did.
Three miles away, Trevor sat inside an empty office staring at a photograph from twenty-seven years earlier.
May you like
The photograph showed Sadie's mother.
Beside her stood Roman's father.
