Chapter 10 - THE WOMAN WHO TRIED TO SILENCE HER
Vanessa Caruso was waiting in Roman's office when he returned.
She stood beside the window, her arms folded.
“I heard you found your sister.”
Roman closed the door.
“Yes.”
Vanessa's expression flickered.
“Congratulations.”
He looked at her.
“Did you know?”
She frowned.
“Know what?”
“That Lucia was alive.”
Vanessa stared.
Then looked away.
Roman's voice remained quiet.
“Answer me.”
She swallowed.
“My father told me there were things about your family I shouldn't ask.”
“That isn't an answer.”
Vanessa's eyes filled.
“I knew there was a girl.”
Roman went still.
“I didn't know she was your sister until recently.”
“How recently?”
Vanessa hesitated.
“Three months ago.”
Roman stared at her.
Three months.
She had known his mother was grieving a daughter who might still be alive.
And she had said nothing.
“Why?”
Vanessa's voice broke.
“Because my father said if the truth came out, everything would collapse.”
Roman looked at her.
“Our engagement?”
She nodded.
“The shipping contracts. The alliance. Everything.”
Roman felt sick.
“And Norah?”
Vanessa looked down.
“I knew she had been a witness.”
“Did you arrange for her to work here?”
“No. My father did.”
Roman's eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
Vanessa began crying.
“He wanted to know whether she remembered Carlo.”
Roman stared.
“Your father placed a threatened witness inside my mother's house?”
Vanessa nodded.
“I didn't know what he intended to do.”
Roman took a step backward.
For a moment, he couldn't speak.
Then he said:
“You need an attorney.”
Vanessa looked up.
“Roman—”
“You need to tell the investigators everything.”
She began sobbing.
“I love you.”
Roman looked at her.
“No.”
His voice was quiet.
“You loved the life you thought marrying me would give you.”
Vanessa stared.
He continued.
“Love doesn't watch a mother grieve for thirteen years while hiding the truth.”
She covered her face.
Roman opened the door.
“Gabriel will arrange for you to leave safely.”
Vanessa looked at him one last time.
Then walked out.
Roman stood alone.
May you like
For the first time, he understood that the woman he had planned to marry had been part of the machinery that kept his sister hidden.
And he had nearly invited that machinery into his family forever.
