Chapter 5 - The Truth Hidden Inside the Pendant
For a few seconds, nobody moved.
Not Roman.
Not Victor.
Not even the bodyguard standing near the door.
Only the paper in my hand moved slightly because my fingers were shaking.
“Norah, if Roman Coyle finds you before I do, do not trust him.”
I read the sentence again.
And again.
As if the words would change if I stared long enough.
They didn’t.
My mother’s handwriting was unmistakable.
The small curve she always made on the letter “N.”
The way she pressed harder on certain letters.
I had spent years looking at grocery lists, birthday cards, and handwritten notes from her.
This was hers.
This was real.
And it was telling me the one person who had protected me tonight…
was someone I shouldn’t trust.
I slowly lowered the paper.
Roman was watching me.
His expression was impossible to read.
Not anger.
Not guilt.
Something else.
Something closer to pain.
“You knew.”
My voice came out quieter than I expected.
Roman didn’t answer.
That was answer enough.
“You knew my mother wrote this.”
“No.”
The response was immediate.
Too immediate.
I looked at him.
“Then why do you look like you expected it?”
Roman’s jaw tightened.
Because he knew.
Maybe not the exact words.
But he knew there was a possibility.
Victor leaned against the desk, watching everything unfold.
A satisfied look crossed his face.
“This is why I wanted you to open it.”
Roman turned sharply.
“You planned this.”
Victor shrugged.
“I planned for the truth to finally come out.”
“You don’t care about the truth.”
Roman’s voice became colder.
“You care about control.”
Victor smiled.
“And you don’t?”
The room went silent.
I looked between them.
Two powerful men.
Two people who clearly hated each other.
And somehow, both were connected to my mother.
“Someone explain this.”
Neither man spoke.
My frustration exploded.
“No.”
My voice grew stronger.
“I am done standing here while everyone talks around me like I’m a child.”
I stepped forward.
“My mother disappeared. Everyone lied to me. My ex somehow knew about a ledger with my name in it. A man I have never met has a picture of my mother from six years ago. And now I’m supposed to decide who to trust?”
Nobody answered.
“So tell me.”
I looked at Roman.
“Are you dangerous?”
A long pause.
Roman could have lied.
A weaker man would have.
But he didn’t.
“Yes.”
The honesty surprised me.
My heart sank.
“You admit that?”
“I’m not going to insult you by pretending I’m something I’m not.”
He stepped closer.
“But dangerous does not mean guilty.”
I looked away.
Because the worst part was…
I believed him.
And I hated that.
Roman Coyle was exactly the kind of man I should stay away from.
A powerful stranger.
A man surrounded by secrets.
A man with enemies.
Yet when Trent’s hand reached for me…
Roman was the one who closed the elevator doors.
When I was bleeding…
Roman was the one who noticed.
When I was afraid…
Roman was the one who told me fear could keep me alive.
But my mother’s words were still there.
Do not trust him.
“Who was my mother afraid of?”
Roman looked at the floor.
Then at Victor.
Then back at me.
“She wasn’t afraid of me.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“No.”
His voice softened.
“She was afraid of what I represented.”
I frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Roman walked to the window.
The city lights reflected against the glass.
“Six years ago, your mother discovered a network involving powerful people.”
“What kind of network?”
“Money laundering. Illegal contracts. Blackmail.”
My stomach tightened.
“And you were part of it?”
The question hung in the air.
Victor watched carefully.
Roman looked at me.
“No.”
The answer was calm.
“I was investigating it.”
“Why?”
“Because someone killed my brother.”
The room changed.
For the first time, Roman’s control cracked.
Only slightly.
But enough.
“My brother spent years trying to expose the people behind that network.”
He looked at the ledger.
“Your mother found evidence connected to the same group.”
I swallowed.
“So why did she warn me about you?”
Roman didn’t answer.
Victor did.
“Because your mother discovered Roman wasn’t telling her everything.”
Roman’s eyes turned sharp.
“Enough.”
“No.”
Victor stepped forward.
“She deserves to know.”
The tension between them became almost physical.
“What aren’t you telling me?” I asked.
Roman stayed silent.
That silence hurt more than any answer.
Because silence meant there was something.
Something he was hiding.
Victor reached toward the photograph on the desk.
“Your mother trusted many people.”
He tapped the picture.
“But she trusted very few.”
His finger moved.
“Roman was one of them.”
I looked at Roman.
My confusion grew.
“Then why warn me?”
Victor smiled slightly.
“Because your mother learned something.”
“What?”
“That Roman Coyle was willing to sacrifice anyone to get revenge.”
Roman’s expression hardened.
“That’s a lie.”
“Is it?”
Victor looked at him.
“Six years ago, you made a deal.”
Roman didn’t respond.
My heart started beating faster.
“What deal?”
Victor turned to me.
“A deal that got your mother into hiding.”
The words hit me.
“What?”
I looked at Roman.
“Is that true?”
The silence was unbearable.
Finally, Roman spoke.
“Your mother asked me for help.”
“And?”
“And I agreed.”
“What happened?”
Roman’s eyes darkened.
“She disappeared before I could protect her.”
I stared.
“That’s all?”
“No.”
His voice lowered.
“She disappeared because someone close to her betrayed her.”
The room became still.
“Who?”
Roman looked at Victor.
Victor looked back.
Neither answered.
And that scared me more.
Because sometimes the things people refuse to say are more dangerous than the things they admit.
Suddenly, the office phone rang.
Everyone froze.
Roman walked toward it.
The caller ID showed:
UNKNOWN.
He answered.
“Speak.”
At first, there was only silence.
Then a distorted voice.
A voice altered by technology.
“Roman Coyle.”
Roman’s face changed.
“You should have left the girl alone.”
My blood went cold.
The voice continued.
“She was never supposed to find the ledger.”
Roman gripped the phone tighter.
“Who are you?”
A soft laugh.
“You know exactly who I am.”
The line went quiet.
Then:
“Ask Norah what her mother gave her before she died.”
I froze.
“What?”
Roman looked at me.
The voice continued.
“She has had the key all along.”
My hands went numb.
“I don’t have anything.”
The voice laughed.
“You don’t remember.”
A pause.
“But you will.”
The call ended.
Nobody spoke.
Then Roman slowly turned toward me.
“What did your mother give you before she died?”
I shook my head.
“Nothing.”
“Norah.”
“I told you. Nothing.”
But as I said the words…
a memory appeared.
A memory I had buried.
A memory from when I was thirteen.
The night my mother supposedly died.
She had held my face.
She had cried.
And before leaving the house…
she placed something inside my hand.
Something small.
Something cold.
Something I had forgotten.
My breathing stopped.
Roman noticed.
“What is it?”
I looked at my trembling fingers.
Because suddenly I remembered.
The necklace.
The necklace my mother gave me.
The necklace I had worn every day for years.
The necklace I thought was just a sentimental gift.
I touched my throat.
But then I froze.
Because I wasn’t wearing it.
My eyes widened.
“I lost it.”
Roman stepped closer.
“What?”
“The necklace.”
Victor’s expression changed.
“What necklace?”
“My mother gave it to me before she disappeared.”
Roman went completely still.
“What did it look like?”
I swallowed.
“A small silver pendant.”
Nobody spoke.
Then Roman whispered:
“Impossible.”
“Why?”
His face became serious.
“Because that pendant…”
A pause.
“Was the key.”
The room seemed to tilt.
I looked at my empty neck.
At the place where the necklace had always been.
Then I remembered.
The gala.
The champagne tray.
The broken glass.
Running through the hallway.
My hand gripping my shoe.
And then—
Trent.
His hand grabbing my wrist.
His body too close.
His eyes watching me.
My blood turned cold.
Because I realized something.
The necklace didn’t disappear accidentally.
Someone took it.
And the last person who touched me before I entered Roman’s elevator…
was Trent Miller.
Roman immediately grabbed his phone.
“Find him.”
The bodyguard moved.
Victor looked at me.
And for the first time…
he looked afraid.
“Norah.”
I turned.
“What?”
His voice was barely above a whisper.
“If Trent has the pendant…”
He looked at Roman.
“Then he already knows what’s inside.”
I felt my stomach drop.
“What’s inside?”
Roman looked at me.
And the answer changed everything.
“Proof.”
“Proof of what?”
Roman’s eyes darkened.
“Proof that your mother was alive six years ago.”
I stopped breathing.
Because if that was true…
then my entire life had been built on a lie.
May you like
And somewhere in the city…
the man who destroyed my life was holding the one thing that could reveal the truth.
