Chapter 5 - BEFORE TREVOR
Sadie's mother had never talked about her father.
Not really.
She called him a mistake.
A man who left.
A closed door.
Sadie had stopped asking by the time she was twelve.
Now she sat across from her mother, Helen, in a small house outside the city.
Roman waited in the car.
Sadie had insisted.
This conversation belonged to her.
Helen stared at the photograph.
Her face drained of color.
"Where did you get this?"
"Who is he?"
Helen pushed the photograph away.
"Sadie."
"Who is he?"
Her mother closed her eyes.
"Thomas Vale."
Sadie stopped breathing.
Roman's father.
The founder of Vale Meridian.
A man who had died twelve years earlier.
"No."
Helen's eyes filled with tears.
"We were young."
Sadie stood.
"No."
"He wasn't married when I met him."
"Stop."
"He loved me."
"Stop!"
Helen flinched.
Sadie paced across the room.
"Are you telling me Thomas Vale was my father?"
"No."
Sadie stopped.
Helen wiped her face.
"No, sweetheart."
Sadie stared at her.
"Then what are you telling me?"
"Thomas helped me."
"Why?"
"Because your father worked for him."
Sadie slowly sat again.
"Who was my father?"
Helen looked toward the window.
"Daniel Mercer."
The name meant nothing.
"He was an accountant."
"For Vale?"
"Yes."
Sadie felt dread spreading through her.
"What happened to him?"
Helen's voice broke.
"He discovered money was disappearing."
Sadie didn't move.
"From Vale Meridian?"
"It had a different name then."
"Who was stealing it?"
"I don't know."
"You do."
Helen looked at her daughter.
For twenty-seven years, she had protected a secret.
Now it was destroying the only person she had tried to save.
"Arthur Grant."
Sadie went still.
Melissa's father.
Roman's CFO.
Helen continued.
"Your father collected evidence."
"What happened?"
"He died before he could give it to Thomas."
Sadie's mouth went dry.
"How?"
"Car accident."
Sadie understood immediately.
"You don't believe it was an accident."
Helen shook her head.
"Thomas didn't either."
Sadie stood.
"Why didn't you tell anyone?"
"I was pregnant."
Tears slid down Helen's face.
"Thomas came to me after Daniel died."
"He told me to disappear."
"He gave me enough money to leave the city."
"But I was scared."
"Of Grant?"
"Of everyone."
Sadie's mind raced.
"Then Trevor."
Helen's expression changed.
Sadie saw it.
"What about Trevor?"
"I begged you not to date him."
"You said you didn't like him."
"I knew his name."
Sadie's pulse hammered.
"Cole?"
Helen nodded.
"Trevor's father worked with Arthur Grant."
Sadie stood abruptly.
The room seemed too small.
Trevor hadn't randomly met her at a coffee shop.
He hadn't accidentally charmed her.
He hadn't simply become abusive later.
He had known.
Rachel's words returned.
He didn't choose you by accident.
Sadie grabbed her phone.
Roman answered instantly.
"Sadie?"
"Come inside."
Something in her voice made him move.
Thirty seconds later, Roman entered.
Sadie handed him the photograph.
Then she told him everything.
Roman listened without interruption.
When she finished, his face was unreadable.
Helen looked at him.
"You look like Thomas."
Roman's eyes remained on the photograph.
"Did my father know Sadie existed?"
Helen nodded.
"He protected us."
"How?"
"He created a trust."
Sadie frowned.
"What trust?"
Helen stared at her daughter.
"A trust in your name."
Sadie's heart stopped.
"How much?"
"I don't know."
Roman looked at Helen.
"Where are the documents?"
Helen swallowed.
"Thomas kept them."
Roman's phone buzzed.
Evelyn.
He answered.
She spoke for less than twenty seconds.
Roman's face changed.
"What?"
Sadie asked.
Roman lowered the phone.
"Someone filed a claim against my father's estate this morning."
"Who?"
"Trevor."
Sadie stared.
"On what grounds?"
May you like
Roman's expression became ice.
"He claims you're his legal wife."
