Chapter 13 - THE SECRET BETWEEN THEIR FAMILIES|
Roman had rarely discussed his father.
Thomas Vale had built the first version of Vale Meridian from a small property management company. He had been intelligent, ambitious, and difficult to please.
He had also believed that some business problems were best handled privately.
Roman had disagreed with that philosophy for most of his adult life.
Now he was looking at a note suggesting that his father had known Eleanor Crowe long before Roman entered the corporate world.
The note was dated fifteen years earlier.
Eleanor says the Crowe account must remain untouched until the redevelopment closes. Victor knows the arrangement. Do not involve Roman.
Roman read it several times.
Claire sat opposite him.
“Could it refer to a legitimate investment?”
“Yes.”
“Could it refer to Northstar?”
“Possibly. The dates overlap with the early redevelopment negotiations.”
He rubbed his forehead.
“I don't know.”
The admission seemed to cost him something.
Claire placed the note on the table.
“Then we investigate.”
Roman looked at her.
“What if my father was involved?”
“Then the evidence will tell us what he did.”
“And if it damages the company?”
“Then you deal with the damage honestly.”
He gave a humorless laugh.
“You make honesty sound simple.”
“It isn't simple. It's just necessary.”
Roman arranged for the archive to be reviewed by independent counsel. Claire's team separately preserved the documents connected to C.W. Atelier.
They discovered that the old Crowe account had been established to fund a redevelopment project that never proceeded. The funds had been transferred several times before being placed in a dormant investment vehicle.
The records did not establish that Thomas Vale had participated in any wrongdoing. But they showed that he had known about the account and had asked that it remain untouched.
A handwritten note from Eleanor referred to an agreement between the families.
The agreement itself was missing.
Roman sat alone in his office that evening, staring at the documents.
Claire found him there when she came to collect a copy of the report.
“You look terrible.”
“Thank you.”
“I'm known for my bedside manner.”
He smiled faintly.
She sat across from him.
“Do you think your father was a good man?”
Roman was silent for a long time.
“I think he wanted to be. I also think he believed that good intentions excused decisions he didn't want anyone examining.”
Claire understood that more than she wished to.
“Ethan believed the same thing.”
“Did you ever believe it?”
She looked at him.
“I believed love meant giving someone the benefit of the doubt. I didn't understand that it could become an excuse for ignoring what they were actually doing.”
Roman nodded.
“I've done that with people, too.”
“Victor?”
“Yes.”
“Your father?”
He looked down.
“Yes.”
The honesty between them felt different from the emotional intensity of a new romance. Neither was promising to save the other. They were simply admitting that they had both made mistakes.
Roman reached for her hand, then stopped.
“May I?”
Claire looked at him.
After a moment, she placed her hand in his.
He held it gently.
They remained that way for several seconds before Claire withdrew.
“I like you,” she said. “But I need to know that what happens between us won't become another situation where I lose myself trying to make someone else's life easier.”
Roman nodded.
“Then we don't do that.”
“You can't promise me we'll never hurt each other.”
“No. But I can promise not to punish you for telling me the truth.”
Claire felt something inside her soften.
It was not a declaration of love.
It was a beginning.
The next morning, independent counsel located a reference to the missing family agreement in an old property registry.
The document had been transferred to a private archive owned by the Crowe family.
May you like
Eleanor had recently requested access to it.
And according to the archive's records, she had removed the original agreement three days before the gala.
