Chapter 7 - The Truth Roman Rossi Never Told Me
The voice came from the hallway.
“Your father was right.”
I froze.
Roman froze.
My mother covered her mouth.
Nobody moved.
The apartment was dark.
Only the faint glow from my laptop screen remained, showing the paused image of my father’s face.
A face I thought I would never see again.
A face that had just warned me not to trust the man standing beside me.
Roman slowly turned toward the hallway.
His entire body changed.
The relaxed control disappeared.
The careful calm disappeared.
For the first time since I met him…
He looked ready for something terrible.
“Stay behind me.”
I almost laughed.
Not because it was funny.
Because I was tired of hearing those words.
Everyone wanted to protect me.
Everyone wanted to stand in front of me.
Nobody wanted to tell me the truth.
“No.”
Roman looked back at me.
“Sadi.”
“No.”
I stepped forward.
“I’m done hiding behind people.”
The hallway remained silent.
Then a figure stepped into the faint light.
A woman.
Older.
Her hair was dark with streaks of gray.
Her face was tired.
But her eyes…
Her eyes were familiar.
My mother gasped.
“Elena.”
The woman looked at her.
And my entire world stopped.
Because I knew that name.
The woman from the photograph.
The woman my mother said was my real mother.
The woman my father spent years trying to find.
My biological mother stood in my apartment.
Alive.
After all these years.
I couldn’t speak.
I couldn’t even move.
The woman looked at me.
And tears filled her eyes.
“Sadi.”
Hearing my name from her mouth felt strange.
Wrong.
And somehow familiar.
I looked at Roman.
He wasn’t surprised.
That hurt more than anything.
“You knew.”
My voice was quiet.
Roman didn’t answer.
“You knew she was alive.”
His silence was enough.
My chest tightened.
“You knew.”
“I suspected.”
I laughed bitterly.
“You suspected?”
I pointed toward the woman.
“She’s standing right there.”
Roman looked away.
And that was the moment I realized something.
Roman Rossi had been protecting secrets.
Not just from me.
From everyone.
Elena slowly stepped closer.
“I never wanted you to find out this way.”
I looked at her.
“How else was I supposed to find out?”
She stopped.
“I wanted to come to you.”
“When?”
She lowered her eyes.
“Years ago.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
Silence.
The silence hurt.
Because it meant there was a reason.
And I was afraid of what it was.
“Because people were watching me.”
I frowned.
“Who?”
Elena looked at Roman.
Nobody spoke.
Again.
That silence.
That endless silence.
I was beginning to hate it more than lies.
“Everyone knows something except me.”
My voice cracked.
“My father.”
“My mother.”
“Roman.”
I looked at Elena.
“And now you.”
I shook my head.
“I spent my entire life thinking I knew who I was.”
Elena’s eyes filled with tears.
“I’m sorry.”
I wanted to be angry.
I wanted to hate her.
But seeing her standing there…
Seeing the pain on her face…
It confused me.
Because a small part of me wondered what it felt like to lose a child.
And another part wondered what it felt like to lose a mother.
Roman interrupted.
“We don’t have time.”
I looked at him.
“You don’t get to say that.”
His expression changed.
“Sadi.”
“No.”
I stepped closer.
“You don’t get to control the situation anymore.”
He went silent.
“You don’t get to decide what I know.”
I looked at the three people in the room.
“The three people who were supposed to protect me.”
My voice shook.
“Instead, all of you built a life around a lie.”
Nobody argued.
Because nobody could.
Elena sat at the kitchen table.
The same table where I had cried two nights earlier.
The same place where Roman first heard me whisper that I needed a boyfriend.
Everything had changed.
The apartment felt different.
Like it belonged to someone else.
Elena held the photograph from the box.
“Your father took this six months before he disappeared.”
“Disappeared.”
I repeated the word.
Not died.
Disappeared.
That was the word everyone kept using.
“Why did everyone say he died?”
Elena looked at my mother.
My mother closed her eyes.
“Because that was the only way to keep you safe.”
“From who?”
Nobody answered.
I stood.
“Enough.”
The room became quiet.
“I need names.”
Roman looked at me.
“Sadi.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“I need names.”
Elena slowly reached into her bag.
She pulled out a small notebook.
Old.
Worn.
The same kind of notebook my father used to carry.
“He left this for you.”
My hands stopped.
“For me?”
“Yes.”
I opened it.
The first page contained my father’s handwriting.
My heart broke instantly.
Sadi, if you are reading this, then Roman failed to keep you away from the truth.
I looked up.
Roman looked down.
I continued reading.
But if Roman is standing beside you, there is something you need to understand.
My fingers tightened around the page.
He is not the enemy.
I looked at Roman.
He looked surprised.
I kept reading.
But he is not innocent either.
The room went silent.
My eyes moved across the words.
Roman Rossi knows what happened the night I disappeared.
I looked at Roman.
He didn’t deny it.
“Tell me.”
His eyes met mine.
“I was there.”
The words hit like a punch.
My mother looked away.
Elena closed her eyes.
“You were there?”
Roman nodded.
“The night your father disappeared.”
My hands shook.
“And you let everyone think he was dead?”
Roman’s face tightened.
“I thought he was.”
I stared.
“What?”
“He told me to leave.”
“Why?”
Roman looked at the notebook.
“Because he knew they were coming.”
“Who?”
Roman didn’t answer.
But this time…
I saw something.
Not fear.
Guilt.
“My father trusted you.”
“Yes.”
“And you failed him.”
Roman looked at me.
“Yes.”
The honesty hurt.
Because I wanted him to lie.
I wanted a reason to hate him.
But he kept giving me the truth.
Even when it destroyed him.
Elena suddenly stood.
“We have to leave.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
“Now.”
“Why?”
Her eyes moved toward the window.
The color drained from her face.
I followed her gaze.
A black car was parked across the street.
Someone was sitting inside.
Watching us.
Roman immediately grabbed his phone.
“Everyone move.”
The urgency in his voice made my stomach drop.
“What happened?”
Roman looked at the car.
“They found us.”
The apartment lights flickered.
Then my phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
I looked down.
One message.
A picture.
My blood turned cold.
It was a photo of us inside the apartment.
Taken moments ago.
From outside the window.
Then another message appeared.
You finally found Elena.
Another.
Now you can find your father.
I stared.
My heart stopped.
Because the final message contained a location.
An address.
And underneath it were five words:
He has been alive all along.
I looked up at Roman.
He was already reading the message.
His face changed.
“Sadi…”
“What?”
He slowly lifted his eyes toward me.
“That address…”
He stopped.
“Roman.”
His voice was barely a whisper.
“That’s where I buried him.”
The apartment door handle suddenly moved.
Slowly.
From the outside.
Roman reached for his weapon.
Elena stepped back.
May you like
My mother screamed my name.
And then the door opened by itself...
