Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN BEHIND THE LOCKED DOOR
The private medical facility stood on twenty acres of wooded land outside Greenwich, Connecticut.
It had no sign visible from the main road.
Its website described it as an exclusive residential wellness center.
Roman arrived with an independent attorney and a licensed investigator.
Narelli stayed in New York.
He had insisted she rest.
For once, she listened.
Inside the facility, a nervous administrator greeted them.
“Mr. Kinsley.”
Roman's expression hardened.
“You know who I am?”
“Yes.”
“Then you know why I'm here.”
The administrator swallowed.
“I understand you have questions.”
Roman placed a photograph on the desk.
It showed his mother at forty-three.
Dark hair.
Green eyes.
A beautiful smile.
“Is this woman a patient here?”
The administrator looked at the photograph.
Her face changed.
“I can't disclose patient information without proper authorization.”
Roman leaned forward.
“My mother was declared dead twenty years ago.”
The administrator went pale.
His attorney intervened.
“We're requesting verification through lawful channels. We have documentation suggesting identity fraud and unauthorized financial arrangements.”
The administrator hesitated.
Then made a phone call.
An hour later, Roman received an answer.
A woman named Margaret Kinsley had indeed been admitted nineteen years earlier.
Her records contained serious inconsistencies.
And the facility's legal counsel had agreed to cooperate with the investigation.
Roman sat in the waiting room, staring at the wall.
Then a door opened.
A woman entered.
She was older.
Her hair was white.
Her movements slow.
But her eyes—
Roman stood.
Green.
Exactly the same shade as his.
The woman looked at him.
For a moment, she seemed confused.
Then her lips trembled.
“Roman?”
His knees nearly gave way.
“Mom?”
She covered her mouth.
“Oh, my baby.”
Roman crossed the room.
May you like
He fell to his knees before her wheelchair.
And for the first time since he was twenty-one, Roman Kinsley cried in his mother's arms.
