Chapter 6 - ROMAN DIDN’T USE ME AS BAIT
Roman’s first idea was terrible.
“We let them think you found something.”
“No.”
He stopped.
“I hadn't finished.”
“You didn't need to.”
Dante hid a smile.
Roman glared.
I continued:
“I am not walking into a room hoping Evelyn comes after me again.”
“You wouldn't be alone.”
“No.”
He went quiet.
Then:
“You're right.”
That was faster than expected.
The adult investigation moved without me.
Good.
Marcus continued attending work.
Roman treated him normally.
Evelyn remained hidden.
Publicly, Roman announced their engagement was “under private review” and took medical leave for forty-eight hours.
Marcus moved.
Immediately.
He convened an emergency governance committee.
Proposed accelerating the port transfers.
Claimed Roman’s “recent psychological instability” threatened negotiations.
Rachel documented everything.
Then Marcus made another mistake.
He sent Evelyn a message from a burner phone:
Once the committee signs, Harper no longer matters.
Police obtained it through the warehouse investigation.
My name.
Again.
Marcus had been involved directly.
Then Aster House records showed payments to the two men who held me.
Everything connected.
Still, prosecutors wanted more on the financial transactions.
Roman gave Marcus exactly enough rope.
The emergency meeting remained scheduled.
Roman publicly stayed home.
Privately, he entered Calder headquarters through a lower parking level.
I stayed with Caleb.
That was my job.
Not chasing criminals.
Keeping the child I loved safe.
At 10:08, Marcus presented the transfer documents.
At 10:16, two committee members signed.
At 10:18, he initiated the first wire.
Monitored.
At 10:19, Roman entered.
Marcus went white.
“You’re supposed to be home.”
Roman almost smiled.
“I got bored.”
The room filled with independent counsel and investigators.
Marcus stood.
“This is absurd.”
Roman placed Aster House records on the table.
Then my forged bank account.
Warehouse payments.
Medical findings.
Burner-phone records.
Marcus looked at everything.
Then at Roman.
“You're trusting a cook over me?”
The sentence became very quiet in the room.
Roman answered:
“No.”
Marcus almost relaxed.
“I’m trusting evidence over you.”
He looked toward the door.
Too late.
Security already blocked it.
Marcus did not charge.
He was smarter than that.
He asked for counsel.
Good.
The meeting ended without violence.
But Evelyn was still free.
And she still believed one piece of evidence could destroy her.
The forged file containing my supposed confession.
She had kept the original.
If investigators found it, handwriting and digital metadata could connect her directly.
She needed to destroy it.
Dante knew where she had hidden it.
Evelyn did not know he knew.
This time, nobody asked me to participate.
May you like
Roman learned.
---
