Chapter 7 - The Night My Husband Almost Died for Me
Roman fell to one knee.
Blood spread across his shirt.
I screamed his name.
Lena grabbed my arm.
“Run!”
“No!”
Arthur fired into the darkness.
Security teams appeared from both sides.
The shooter disappeared.
Roman sat against the pier railing.
The bullet had grazed his shoulder rather than entering his chest.
A medic rushed forward.
“I’m fine,” Roman said.
“You’re bleeding.”
“I said I’m fine.”
I knelt beside him.
My hands shook.
“You could have died.”
“But I didn't.”
“That isn't comforting.”
He looked at me.
“You're safe.”
I wanted to hit him.
Instead, I hugged him.
He froze for one second.
Then wrapped his good arm around me.
Lena stood nearby, crying.
We escaped before the police arrived.
At the safe house, Lena told us everything she remembered.
She had been raised in foster care under the name Lily Hart.
She had never known she was adopted.
She had recurring dreams of a man with silver hair standing over a desk.
A woman screaming.
A baby crying.
A gunshot.
“My earliest memory,” she said, “is of your mother holding me.”
I sat beside her.
“You remembered her.”
“I didn't know who she was.”
“She was our mother.”
Lena looked at me.
“I've never had a family.”
“You do now.”
She began crying.
I held her hand.
Roman entered.
His shoulder was bandaged.
Lena looked at him.
“I’m sorry.”
Roman smiled faintly.
“You didn't shoot me.”
“But I led you there.”
“You were manipulated.”
She looked down.
Roman sat beside us.
“What do you remember about Malcolm?”
Lena closed her eyes.
“The night everything changed.”
She spoke slowly.
“There was a woman.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“What did she say?”
Lena frowned.
“She told Malcolm the ledger was gone.”
Roman leaned forward.
“What ledger?”
“The original.”
My father entered.
His face tightened.
“There was an original Red Ledger?”
Lena nodded.
“Your grandfather kept it in a safe.”
“Where?”
She touched her temple.
“I don't know.”
Then she froze.
“I know the number.”
Everyone looked at her.
“12-07-94.”
Arthur quickly wrote it down.
Roman looked at the numbers.
“A date?”
“No.”
Lena shook her head.
“A combination.”
She began crying.
“I don't know why I know it.”
My father whispered:
“Alexander used the date of the first day he met your mother.”
We returned to Vale headquarters.
Roman opened a hidden vault.
Inside was an old safe.
The combination worked.
The door opened.
Inside lay a leather-bound ledger.
Malcolm had never found it.
The first page contained a list of payments.
The second contained names.
The third contained evidence that could destroy an entire network.
Judges.
Bankers.
Senators.
Police commanders.
And Malcolm Vale.
But there was one final page.
Roman read it aloud.
“The Red Ledger was never intended to be weaponized.”
He looked at me.
“My grandfather wrote that.”
I turned the page.
A handwritten note appeared.
The person who betrays us will not be the loudest. It will be the person everyone assumes cannot betray.
Arthur's eyes narrowed.
“Who had access to the vault?”
Roman answered.
“Five people.”
“Who?”
“Alexander. My father. Malcolm. My mother. Me.”
I stared.
“You?”
“I was nineteen when this ledger disappeared.”
“But you didn't know.”
“No.”
Arthur examined the pages.
“There's a missing section.”
“What section?”
“Payments from the year your twin disappeared.”
My father looked at me.
“Someone removed those pages.”
“Who?”
We already knew.
Malcolm.
But there was still one problem.
We needed proof.
And then Chloe called.
Her voice was trembling.
“I need to meet Sadi.”
Roman immediately refused.
“No.”
She cried.
“Please.”
I took the phone.
“Where?”
“Central Park.”
Roman shook his head.
“I'll go with you.”
“No.”
He stared.
“I don't want her to be afraid.”
He looked at me for a long moment.
Then nodded.
Chloe met us under a bridge.
She looked exhausted.
No makeup.
No designer clothes.
No confidence.
“I didn't know,” she said.
“Know what?”
“I didn't know Malcolm was going to hurt anyone.”
“You knew he used Trevor.”
“Yes.”
“And you helped him.”
She cried.
“I was scared.”
I watched her silently.
She handed me an envelope.
“These are his bank statements.”
Roman opened them.
Large payments to Trevor.
Payments to private investigators.
Payments to a judge.
And one transfer to a hospital.
I stared at the hospital name.
St. Vincent's.
“What happened there?”
Chloe whispered:
“That is where your mother was taken after the shooting.”
I looked at Roman.
My mother had supposedly died from illness.
This changed everything.
“She wasn't sick.”
“No.”
“She was shot.”
“Yes.”
“Who shot her?”
Chloe cried.
“I don't know.”
Roman looked at the transfer date.
“The day before she died.”
I stared.
“Malcolm paid the hospital.”
Chloe nodded.
“And there is something else.”
“What?”
“Your mother wasn't the only patient.”
She pointed to the second page.
A baby.
A newborn.
Female.
Admitted under a false name.
My heart stopped.
“Lena.”
Chloe nodded.
“She survived.”
Then Chloe looked at Roman.
“But Malcolm knows.”
A black sedan appeared at the end of the street.
Roman pulled me behind him.
“Run.”
Gunshots cracked through the park.
Arthur's team returned fire.
Chloe screamed.
We escaped through the trees.
When we finally reached the safe house, Roman grabbed my face.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
He kissed my forehead.
Then stopped.
“I need to tell you something.”
“What?”
“I knew your mother was murdered.”
My heart sank.
“You knew?”
“I found the medical report years ago.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I couldn't prove it.”
I stepped back.
“You keep deciding what I can handle.”
“I know.”
“And you think that's protection.”
“Yes.”
“It isn't.”
Roman lowered his head.
“I’m learning.”
I stared at him.
For all his power, he looked human then.
Not the billionaire.
Not the ruthless businessman.
Just my husband.
The man afraid of losing me.
I stepped closer.
“I love you.”
His eyes closed.
“But I need honesty.”
“You have it.”
“From now on.”
“From now on.”
Then Arthur entered.
“Sir.”
Roman turned.
“We located Malcolm.”
“Where?”
May you like
Arthur looked at me.
“Your mother's grave.”
