Chapter 11 - THE WOMAN WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO DISAPPEAR
The payment was dated three years earlier.
Two days before Sadie fled Roman's penthouse.
Rebecca traced the transaction.
The money had moved through three shell companies.
Then into an account controlled by Vittorio.
Sadie stared at the documents.
“I was supposed to be kidnapped?”
Rebecca nodded.
“That's what the evidence suggests.”
Roman sat beside her.
His face was grim.
“Why?” Sadie whispered.
Elena looked down.
“Because of me.”
Sadie turned.
“What?”
Elena swallowed.
“I had the evidence. Vittorio wanted leverage.”
Sadie's hands trembled.
Roman looked at Elena.
“You never told me.”
She shook her head.
“I didn't know until later.”
The room fell silent.
Sadie stood.
For three years, she'd believed Roman was the greatest threat to her life.
Now she was learning that someone had planned to use her as a weapon against her own sister.
She looked at Roman.
“You knew someone was after me.”
He nodded.
“Yes.”
“And you let me run.”
“Yes.”
Sadie stared.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
Roman's voice broke.
“Because I thought you'd be safer if you hated me.”
She closed her eyes.
For a moment, she wanted to forgive him.
Then she remembered the fear.
The loneliness.
The years of hiding.
She looked at him.
“You don't get to decide what I can survive.”
Roman nodded.
“I know.”
She swallowed.
“If there's ever going to be anything between us again, you have to understand that.”
Roman looked at her.
“I do.”
Sadie turned toward the window.
May you like
For the first time, she wasn't sure whether forgiveness meant returning to the past.
Maybe it meant building something entirely different.
