Chapter 8 - The Truth About Roman CassoRoman did not ask Khloe to forgive him.
That made his confession harder to dismiss.
They sat alone in the closed restaurant where she had first arrived barefoot three nights earlier.
No security.
No lawyers.
No Derek.
Only rain tapping softly against the windows.
Roman poured water into two glasses.
He did not touch the Scotch behind the bar.
“When I was twenty-six, one of my father’s closest men cooperated with a rival family.”
Khloe listened.
“He gave them information about shipments. Addresses. People.”
“Did anyone die?”
“Yes.”
Roman looked directly at her.
“My cousin.”
Khloe said nothing.
Roman continued.
“I found the man before my father did.”
“What happened?”
“I beat him badly.”
His voice remained flat.
No pride.
No dramatic flourish.
Just fact.
“I wanted him to feel what I felt.”
Khloe swallowed.
“Did you kill him?”
“No.”
A pause.
“My father did.”
Roman looked toward the window.
“I delivered him.”
Khloe understood.
“And you regret it.”
“Every day.”
“Because your father killed him?”
“Because I knew what would happen.”
The room became quiet.
Khloe had spent three days discovering lies.
Derek’s lies.
Aubrey’s lies.
Her father’s secrets.
Roman was giving her a truth that made him look worse.
She appreciated that.
It did not erase what he had done.
“You could have lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you?”
Roman almost smiled.
“You would eventually verify it.”
She did smile then.
Small.
Sad.
“Probably.”
Roman stood.
“I am not Derek.”
“I know.”
He looked surprised.
Khloe continued.
“Derek hurt people and called it love.”
Roman said nothing.
“You’re telling me exactly who you are and letting me decide.”
“That does not make me a good man.”
“No.”
She held his gaze.
“But it makes you an honest one tonight.”
Something moved in his expression.
Khloe stood.
“There’s something else you haven’t told me.”
Roman sighed.
“What now?”
“My father’s letter said you kept your word.”
Roman looked away.
“What word?”
He was silent long enough that Khloe knew the answer mattered.
“Roman.”
He finally reached inside an old cabinet near the private table.
From it, he removed a sealed envelope.
Her father’s handwriting was across the front.
ROMAN CASSO.
“He gave me this eight months ago.”
“You never opened it?”
“I did.”
Roman handed her the letter.
Michael had written:
Roman,
I know you are not your father.
I also know you are still trying to decide whether you believe that yourself.
If anything happens to me, I am not asking you to protect Khloe.
She will hate that.
Khloe laughed through sudden tears.
Roman almost smiled.
The letter continued.
I am asking you to give her the truth if she comes looking.
Do not decide for her.
Do not use my company to settle your family’s old debts.
And if she tells you to leave, leave.
That is the promise.
Khloe lowered the letter.
“You promised him you wouldn’t control me.”
“Yes.”
“That must be painful for you.”
“Excruciating.”
She laughed.
Roman stepped closer.
The laughter faded.
They stood perhaps a foot apart.
Khloe remembered Derek’s hand around her wrist.
Then Roman’s first words.
May I?
He had asked permission to touch thirty pages of paper.
Derek had demanded ownership of fifty-one percent of her life.
Khloe looked up.
Roman did not move closer.
Did not touch her.
Did not assume.
So she did.
She kissed him.
It lasted only seconds.
Enough to surprise them both.
Khloe stepped back.
Roman stared at her.
“That was unexpected.”
“Don’t make it weird.”
“I command an organization with several hundred employees. I can probably manage one kiss.”
“You’re already failing.”
He laughed.
A real laugh.
Khloe had never heard it before.
Then her phone rang.
Rachel.
Khloe answered.
The softness disappeared from her face.
“What happened?”
Rachel spoke for almost a minute.
Khloe’s hand tightened around the phone.
“I understand.”
She ended the call.
Roman waited.
“Derek made a deal?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“His attorneys found a way to challenge the Harrison Legacy Trust.”
Roman’s expression hardened.
“How?”
“My father signed the final amendment forty-eight hours before he died.”
“So?”
“Derek claims he lacked capacity.”
Roman stared.
“They’re using Michael’s heart condition?”
“And medication.”
Khloe sat down.
“If a court invalidates the amendment, controlling shares revert to the estate.”
“And?”
Khloe looked up.
“My father’s old will divides the estate equally between me and Aubrey.”
Roman understood.
“Fifty-fifty.”
“Yes.”
“And Aubrey pledged her inheritance.”
Khloe nodded.
“To Derek.”
The game was not over.
Derek had planned for one final possibility.
If he could not take Khloe’s shares through marriage, he would take Aubrey’s through debt.
And with a fifty-percent block, he could paralyze Harrison Logistics for years.
Roman asked, “What do you need?”
Khloe looked at her father’s letter.
Then she smiled.
Not because she was happy.
May you like
Because she finally understood Derek’s biggest mistake.
“He thinks Aubrey will choose him.”
