Chapter 2 - THE PHOTOGRAPH THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
Sadie ran outside.
The November wind struck her face like ice.
Roman stood beside his car.
Tommy opened the rear door, but Roman raised one hand.
He looked at Sadie.
“You found the photograph.”
She stopped several feet away.
“Where is she?”
Roman's expression tightened.
“Safe.”
“Don't lie to me.”
“I'm not.”
She held up the photograph.
“Where did you get this?”
Roman glanced toward the street.
“Not here.”
Sadie laughed bitterly.
“Three years, Roman. Three years I spent believing my sister was dead.”
“I know.”
“No, you don't.”
Her voice cracked.
“You don't know what it was like to wake up every morning wondering whether I'd abandoned her.”
Roman looked away.
For a moment, his face seemed older.
Then he said:
“Elena disappeared because someone wanted you to believe I killed her.”
Sadie froze.
“What?”
Roman looked back at her.
“And I let you believe it.”
The confession landed like a physical blow.
“Why?”
“Because if you stayed near me, they would have killed you too.”
Sadie stared at him.
She remembered the basement.
The screaming.
The blood.
The night she fled.
“You expect me to believe you protected me by making me terrified of you?”
“No.”
Roman's voice was quiet.
“I expect you to hate me for it.”
She swallowed.
“Then tell me the truth.”
He hesitated.
“Your sister discovered something about my organization.”
“What?”
“Evidence of a trafficking operation.”
Sadie's stomach turned.
“Human trafficking?”
Roman nodded.
She stepped backward.
“And you knew?”
“I discovered it too late.”
“Too late for whom?”
Roman's jaw tightened.
“For the people already hurt.”
Sadie stared.
The wind moved between them.
Finally, she whispered:
“Who was responsible?”
Roman looked toward Tommy.
Then back at her.
“My father.”
Roman's father, Vittorio DeSantis, had been dead for two years.
At least that was what the newspapers said.
Sadie remembered the funeral.
The closed casket.
The flowers.
The photographs of a grieving son.
She looked at Roman.
“Your father is dead.”
Roman's expression hardened.
“That's what he wanted everyone to believe.”
Sadie stepped back.
“No.”
“Nora—”
“Don't.”
He stopped.
She stared at him.
“I'm not getting into your car. I'm not going to your house. And I'm not disappearing again.”
Roman nodded.
“Then I'll tell you what I can here.”
She waited.
He looked toward the photograph.
“Elena and her daughter are living under protection. But someone has discovered their location.”
Sadie's blood turned cold.
“Who?”
May you like
Roman swallowed.
“My father.”
