Chapter 4 - The Secret Roman Never Knew
Chloe Bishop sat in Roman’s chair.
That was the first thing I noticed.
Not the missing file.
Not the page with my name.
Not the fact that she had somehow entered a locked office while security was searching the building.
The chair.
Because nobody sat there.
Not employees.
Not partners.
Not even Roman’s closest allies.
That chair belonged to the person everyone feared.
And Chloe looked completely comfortable in it.
She held the missing page between two fingers.
Like she had been waiting for us to find her.
Roman stopped beside me.
His voice was quiet.
"Get out of my chair."
Chloe looked at him.
For a second, I saw something strange.
Not fear.
Not anger.
Confidence.
She slowly stood.
"I expected you to be angry."
Roman's expression didn't change.
"You should have expected worse."
"Roman."
Her voice softened.
Almost affectionate.
That bothered me more than anything.
Because she sounded like someone who believed she knew him.
Someone who believed she belonged there.
I stepped forward.
"Why is my name on that page?"
Chloe looked at me.
And smiled.
Not kindly.
Not cruelly.
Like she was finally seeing a piece move into place.
"That is the question you should have asked five years ago."
My stomach tightened.
Five years.
The exact amount of time I had worked for Roman.
The exact amount of time I had spent believing I entered his world by accident.
"Explain."
Chloe placed the paper on the desk.
"I think Roman should explain."
My eyes moved toward him.
Roman didn't answer.
That was enough.
Because Roman Castell always had an answer.
Always.
Except when the truth involved me.
"Roman?"
His jaw tightened.
"I don't know what that file is."
Chloe laughed quietly.
"Of course you don't."
Roman turned toward her.
"You have five seconds before I forget you are still my fiancée."
Her smile disappeared.
Good.
For the first time, she looked less confident.
But only for a moment.
Then she looked back at me.
"Tessa, do you know why Roman hired you?"
I didn't answer.
Because I had asked myself that question many times.
Five years ago, I was twenty-four.
A financial analyst at a small company that worked with Castell Logistics.
One day, Roman called me into a meeting.
He offered me a position.
The salary was impossible to refuse.
The opportunity was impossible to ignore.
I thought he hired me because I was good.
Because I solved problems.
Because I was useful.
Chloe watched my face.
"You don't know."
Roman stepped closer.
"Enough."
"No."
Her eyes stayed on me.
"You deserve to know."
Roman's voice became colder.
"Chloe."
She ignored him.
"Five years ago, before you became Roman Castell's assistant, you were investigating one of his companies."
My heartbeat changed.
"What?"
I looked at Roman.
He looked away.
That hurt.
More than I expected.
Because now I knew.
There was something.
Something he had never told me.
Chloe continued.
"You were working for an independent financial investigation firm."
I shook my head.
"I don't remember."
"You weren't supposed to."
The room went silent.
"What does that mean?"
Chloe picked up the page.
"Someone erased the records."
My eyes moved between them.
"Who?"
Nobody answered.
Then Roman finally spoke.
"I did."
The words hit harder than any accusation.
I stared at him.
"You?"
Roman looked at me.
For once, there was no control in his expression.
Only regret.
"I removed your file."
"Why?"
"Because you were in danger."
I laughed.
A short, broken sound.
"That is your explanation?"
"It's the truth."
"You erased my past."
"I protected you."
"No."
My voice became sharper.
"You controlled what I knew."
Roman didn't argue.
Because he knew.
I stepped back.
Five years.
Every conversation.
Every decision.
Every time he said he trusted me.
There was always something missing.
"You knew me before I knew you."
Roman's silence answered.
Chloe watched us.
Almost satisfied.
"Now you understand."
I looked at her.
"What exactly do you want?"
Her expression changed.
"I want the same thing everyone wants."
"Power?"
"No."
She looked at Roman.
"I want the truth."
That surprised me.
Even Roman seemed surprised.
Chloe walked around the desk.
"The Bishop family didn't create this situation."
Roman's eyes narrowed.
"You expect me to believe that?"
"No."
She looked at me.
"But she might."
I hated that.
Because some part of me did.
Not because I trusted Chloe.
Because Roman had been hiding things.
And every hidden thing was becoming connected.
The conference room was silent after Chloe left.
Roman had ordered everyone out.
No guards.
No advisors.
Just us.
The same way he used to talk to me before everything changed.
Except now, I didn't know what was real.
"Tell me everything."
Roman stood near the window.
"I was twenty-nine when I first heard your name."
I crossed my arms.
"Keep going."
"My father had just died."
The room became quieter.
Roman rarely talked about his father.
Not because he loved him.
Because the memories were complicated.
"He left behind hundreds of problems."
"Your empire."
"My father's empire."
The correction mattered.
"At the time, I thought the biggest threat came from outside."
He looked at me.
"I was wrong."
"What did I have to do with it?"
Roman took a breath.
"An internal audit discovered someone was moving money through companies connected to Castell Logistics."
"Your people?"
"Yes."
"And I found it?"
"No."
He paused.
"You almost found it."
I frowned.
"What does that mean?"
"You were hired by a firm working independently."
"To investigate Castell Logistics?"
"Yes."
I felt cold.
"I was investigating you."
"Not me."
Roman stepped closer.
"The people around me."
"Then why did you hire me?"
"Because you were the only person who noticed something was wrong."
I said nothing.
"You weren't looking for money."
Roman continued.
"You were looking at patterns."
That sounded like me.
The work I loved.
Finding things other people missed.
"You discovered a connection between my company and a private security contractor."
My eyes moved to the folder.
"Vanguard Meridian."
Roman nodded.
"Yes."
"And then?"
"Then someone tried to kill you."
The words stopped me.
"What?"
"The night before you were supposed to deliver your report, your car was forced off the road."
I searched my memory.
There was something.
A crash.
A hospital.
A missing week.
But details were blurry.
"I was told it was an accident."
"It wasn't."
I looked at him.
"Who told me that?"
Roman didn't answer.
Again.
That silence.
That horrible silence.
"Roman."
His voice lowered.
"I was the person who found you."
The room froze.
"You found me?"
"Yes."
"And you never told me?"
"You had lost parts of your memory."
I stared at him.
"I didn't remember."
"I know."
"Then you decided for me."
His eyes closed briefly.
Because he knew he was wrong.
"I thought if you stayed away from the investigation, you would survive."
"So you hired me."
"I needed to keep you close."
The sentence landed between us.
Not romantic.
Not comforting.
Dangerous.
"You made me your assistant because you were watching me."
"At first."
I looked away.
"At first?"
Roman stepped closer.
"Then you became the only person I trusted."
I hated that my heart reacted.
Even now.
Even after everything.
"You should have told me."
"I know."
"Years ago."
"I know."
"Before tonight."
"I know."
The honesty made it worse.
Because Roman wasn't defending himself.
He was admitting it.
A sound interrupted us.
A phone.
Not Roman's.
Mine.
I looked down.
Unknown number.
One message.
I opened it.
And everything inside me stopped.
A photo appeared.
Me.
Five years ago.
Standing outside a hospital.
Then another photo.
Roman standing nearby.
Watching me.
The message below was short.
YOU STILL DON'T KNOW WHAT HE DID THAT NIGHT.
My hands tightened around the phone.
Roman saw my face.
"What is it?"
I didn't answer.
I showed him.
The color disappeared from his expression.
Because he recognized the photo.
"Who sent this?"
I looked at him.
"Tell me."
"Tessa."
"Tell me what happened that night."
Roman stared at the image.
For the first time since I met him...
Roman Castell looked afraid.
Not for himself.
For me.
The phone vibrated again.
Another message.
This time, only three words.
ASK HIM ABOUT LUCAS.
Roman froze.
I noticed immediately.
"Who is Lucas?"
He didn't answer.
I took one step closer.
"Roman."
His eyes stayed on the screen.
Then he whispered a name I had never heard before.
A name that changed everything.
May you like
"Lucas was my brother."
And before I could ask why I had never known he existed, the office door opened.
