Chapter 14 - The Price of Trust
The warehouse attack lasted less than two minutes.
Roman's security team returned fire, forcing the attackers to retreat through a loading entrance. Dominic led Malcolm toward the vehicles while Roman kept me behind a concrete pillar.
I could hear shouting, footsteps, and the metallic crash of something falling.
My body wanted to collapse.
Instead, I focused on Roman's voice.
"Look at me."
I raised my eyes.
"You're here," he said. "You're safe for this moment. Breathe."
I inhaled shakily.
He didn't touch me until I reached for his hand.
That small choice meant more than I could explain.
When we reached the estate, Roman ordered a medical examination for everyone involved. Malcolm was placed under guard, and Dominic began reviewing footage from the warehouse.
I went to my room.
For the first time in years, I cried without trying to silence myself.
Not because I was weak.
Because I was exhausted.
I had spent so long surviving that I no longer knew what to do when someone offered me a chance to stop.
A quiet knock came at the door.
Roman stood outside.
"I won't come in unless you want me to."
I wiped my face.
"You can come in."
He entered but remained near the doorway.
"I owe you an apology."
"For what?"
"For letting my family become another source of fear in your life."
"You didn't create Victor."
"No. But I inherited a system that allowed men like him to operate."
I studied him.
"Are you going to destroy it?"
"Yes."
"And if it costs you everything?"
He looked at me.
"Then I'll find out who I am without it."
I wanted to believe him.
More frighteningly, I wanted him to be right.
Over the following days, Roman began dismantling several operations connected to his father's old network. He froze suspicious accounts, dismissed executives who refused to cooperate, and sent evidence to federal investigators through an attorney outside the family's control.
His business partners threatened to abandon him.
Some called him a traitor.
Others warned that he was weakening the Blackmere name.
Roman ignored them.
Meanwhile, I worked with Lydia to reconstruct the missing financial records. We discovered that my mother had kept a second set of documents, including a letter addressed to Richard.
The letter was dated six months before her death.
It contained a single sentence.
If anything happens to me, the girl must never be allowed to return to Blackmere House.
I read it several times.
"Why would she write that?" I asked.
Lydia looked troubled.
"Perhaps she knew what was waiting here."
"Or perhaps she knew who was waiting."
That evening, Roman found me staring at the letter.
"What's wrong?"
"My mother knew this house was dangerous. She knew Victor was dangerous. And somehow, she knew I might come here."
Roman read the letter.
His expression changed when he reached the signature.
Margaret had signed it with a name I had never seen before.
Margaret Black.
Not Vale.
Not the surname I had known all my life.
Roman looked at me.
"Nora, I think your mother was using a false identity before you were born."
Before I could answer, Dominic entered the room.
He carried a sealed envelope.
Inside was a recent photograph of my mother.
Alive.
Taken only three months earlier.
May you like
And standing beside her was Victor Sloane.
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