Chapter 3 - The Doctor Who Was Supposed To Be Dead
The office door opened slowly.
I stood there with my hand still on the handle.
For a few seconds, I forgot how to breathe.
Because sitting behind my desk was a man who had been declared dead three years ago.
Dr. Adrian Keller.
My wife's doctor.
The man who signed Sophia DeLuca's death certificate.
The man who looked me in the eyes at the hospital and told me there was nothing anyone could have done.
The man whose funeral I attended two weeks after my wife's.
But he was alive.
And he was looking at me.
"Roman."
His voice was exactly the same.
Calm.
Controlled.
Almost too calm for a man who had just appeared from the dead.
I stepped into the office and closed the door behind me.
Slowly.
Carefully.
My hand remained near my jacket.
"You're supposed to be dead."
Adrian looked down.
"I know."
"Then explain why you're sitting in my office."
He didn't answer immediately.
That bothered me.
People who were innocent usually rushed to explain.
People who were hiding something usually waited.
I had spent my entire life learning the difference.
"You can't imagine how difficult it was to come back."
I stared at him.
"Don't talk to me like this is some miracle."
His eyes met mine.
"It wasn't."
The room became silent.
Outside, rain hit the mansion windows.
The same storm that had brought me home.
The same storm that had exposed the cracks in my family.
"Why are you here?" I asked.
Adrian reached into his coat.
My body reacted instantly.
I moved forward.
But he slowly placed a small envelope on the desk.
No weapon.
No threat.
Just an envelope.
"Your wife left this."
I didn't touch it.
My eyes stayed on him.
"Sophia?"
He nodded.
"Before she died."
The anger inside me almost broke through.
"Three years."
My voice became colder.
"Three years, and you kept something from me?"
"I was trying to protect you."
I laughed quietly.
"Everyone keeps saying that."
I pointed toward the hallway.
"My nanny said she was protecting my children."
I looked back at him.
"You say you were protecting me."
I leaned closer.
"But nobody tells me the truth."
Adrian looked tired.
Not scared.
Tired.
"Because the truth would have destroyed everything."
I picked up the envelope.
It was old.
The edges were worn.
My wife's handwriting was on the front.
Roman.
Just my name.
Nothing else.
My fingers tightened.
Sophia's handwriting.
I hadn't seen it in years.
For a moment, I wasn't a billionaire.
I wasn't a mafia boss.
I was just a husband standing in a hospital room, begging someone to save the woman he loved.
I opened the envelope.
Inside was a single photograph.
A picture of my mansion.
Taken from outside.
My eyes narrowed.
"When was this taken?"
Adrian looked away.
"Two days before Sophia died."
I looked at the photo again.
There was something written on the back.
A date.
And five words.
Someone inside is watching us.
My stomach tightened.
"Who was watching her?"
Adrian didn't answer.
I slammed the photo onto the desk.
"Who?"
His jaw tightened.
Then he said something I never expected.
"Your brother."
The room went completely still.
I stared at him.
"My brother died."
"I know."
"Then choose your next words carefully."
Adrian looked directly at me.
"Your brother didn't die three years ago."
The silence that followed felt heavier than any gunshot.
I stepped back.
No.
That was impossible.
My brother Marco had died in a car explosion.
I identified the remains.
I attended the funeral.
I buried him.
"I saw his body."
Adrian nodded.
"And Sophia knew."
My hands slowly closed into fists.
"She knew?"
"Yes."
"She knew my brother was alive?"
"Yes."
"And she never told me?"
Adrian looked at the floor.
"She tried."
Those two words hit harder.
"She tried?"
He nodded.
"Roman, your wife spent the final months of her life trying to uncover what happened to your family."
I looked at the photograph.
The house.
The warning.
The hidden message.
"What did Marco want?"
Adrian hesitated.
Then he answered.
"Control."
I said nothing.
"Your company."
"Your money."
"Your organization."
"Everything you built."
I looked toward the office window.
The city lights reflected across the glass.
For years, I thought my enemies were outside.
Rivals.
Competitors.
People who wanted my empire.
But maybe the biggest threat had always been standing beside me.
"Why didn't Sophia tell me?"
Adrian's expression changed.
"Because she discovered someone else was involved."
"Who?"
He didn't answer.
Instead, he looked toward the door.
That was enough.
Someone was listening.
I moved quickly.
I opened the office door.
The hallway was empty.
But the feeling remained.
Someone had been there.
Watching.
Waiting.
I turned back.
"Who else knows?"
Adrian stood.
"Not many people."
"Names."
"Roman..."
"Names."
He took a breath.
Then he said:
"Your head of security."
My eyes narrowed.
"Victor?"
Adrian nodded.
Victor Hale.
The man who had protected my family for ten years.
The man who knew every entrance to my mansion.
Every security code.
Every weakness.
The man who told me tonight that someone was inside waiting for me.
I felt something cold settle in my chest.
"Where is he?"
Adrian looked at me.
"He knows I'm here."
Before I could respond, my phone vibrated.
One message.
From Victor.
I opened it.
Only one line.
"You finally found the doctor."
My eyes stayed on the screen.
A second message appeared.
"Now ask him what Sophia discovered in the basement."
I looked up at Adrian.
"The basement?"
His face changed.
For the first time that night, he looked genuinely afraid.
"Roman..."
"What?"
He stepped closer.
"Your mansion has a room you were never supposed to find."
I stared at him.
"What room?"
Adrian didn't answer.
Instead, he walked toward the old bookshelf behind my desk.
He moved three books from the same shelf.
A hidden mechanism clicked.
The bookshelf slowly moved away from the wall.
Behind it was a narrow passage.
A passage I had never seen.
A passage inside my own home.
Adrian looked at me.
"Sophia found this three days before she died."
I reached toward the hidden door.
It was locked.
But then I noticed something.
May you like
The lock was already turning from the other side.
Someone was inside.
