Chương 7
That was what made Lily dangerous to Roman’s enemies.
She represented a version of him they could not control.
A version that was not built from fear.
That evening, Roman asked me to sit with him in the library.
It was a room I rarely entered.
Not because I was forbidden.
Because most people in the house understood certain spaces belonged to certain people.
The shelves were filled with books he probably never had time to read.
There were photographs of places he had visited.
Awards he had received.
Objects that showed success without showing happiness.
“You know what I hate most?” he asked.
I looked at him.
“I thought it would be losing money.”
He shook his head.
“I have lost money before.”
“Then what?”
He looked at an old photograph on the desk.
“My father spent his whole life proving people were right to fear him.”
He paused.
“I spent half my life proving I could be worse.”
The honesty surprised me.
“Why?”
He touched the edge of the photograph.
“Because being feared meant nobody could hurt me.”
The answer was quiet.
Not dramatic.
Just true.
“And did it work?”
Roman smiled sadly.
“No.”
A long silence followed.
Then his phone rang.
Elena.
He answered immediately.
Her voice was sharp.
“Roman, you need to come here.”
“What happened?”
“We found something.”
“Good or bad?”
A pause.
“Both.”
Twenty minutes later, we were back in the office.
Elena had recovered deleted security data from the estate system.
Not all of it.
Fragments.
Pieces.
Enough to create a new picture.
The cameras had not simply been turned off.
They had been redirected.
Someone had accessed the system remotely.
Roman looked at the screen.
“From where?”
Elena pointed.
“The security office.”
Marcus.
But then she pointed to another line.
“Also from inside your private office.”
Roman frowned.
“My office?”
“Yes.”
Nobody spoke.
The attack had not only come from outside.
Someone had been inside his most protected spaces.
The question was how.
Elena opened another file.
“This was the access log.”
The name appeared.
Ethan Hail.
Roman stared at it.
“No.”
Elena did not respond.
“You think he was there?”
“I think someone used his credentials.”
Roman stood.
“Where did they get them?”
Nobody answered.
Because everyone knew.
Family members were dangerous because they had access strangers could never obtain.
A stranger needed to break into your life.
Family members were already inside.
The next day, Ethan came to Blackridge Estate voluntarily.
That surprised everyone.
Roman met him in the same office where Marcus had brought the false statement.
Ethan looked around.
“Funny.”
“What?”
“This room.”
He smiled without humor.
“Dad used to sit here.”
Roman’s expression hardened.
“I did not bring you here to remember him.”
Ethan nodded.
“I know.”
Roman placed the access log on the desk.
“Explain.”
Ethan looked at it.
For the first time since they met, he looked genuinely afraid.
Not of Roman.
Of what the paper meant.
“I did not do this.”
Roman studied him.
“That is what everyone says.”
“I know.”
Ethan sat down.
“That is why I know you will not believe me.”
The answer bothered Roman.
Because it sounded honest.
“I used your credentials once,” Ethan admitted.
The room changed.
“For what?”
“To look at the company files.”
“Why?”
Ethan looked away.
“Because I was trying to understand how much you had already changed.”
Roman stared.
“You broke into my office to understand me?”
“Yes.”
“That makes no sense.”
“It does if you are my brother.”
Roman said nothing.
Ethan rubbed his face.
“I knew you were selling parts of the business.”
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“And you were angry.”
“I was scared.”
That answer stopped Roman.
Ethan looked at him.
“You think I wanted your life.”
“I think you wanted what I built.”
“No.”
His voice cracked slightly.
“I wanted my brother back.”
The words landed harder than Roman expected.
Because anger was easier.
Greed was easier.
But grief was complicated.
Ethan continued.
“When you started changing, I thought you were ashamed of us.”
Roman looked down.
“Maybe I was.”
Ethan nodded slowly.
“That is why I hated you.”
The admission sat there.
Not an apology.
Not forgiveness.
Just truth.
Before Roman could answer, Elena’s phone rang.
She listened for several seconds.
Then her face changed.
“What?”
Everyone looked at her.
She ended the call.
“The truck driver disappeared.”
Roman stood.
“How?”
Elena looked at him.
“He was released from police protection an hour ago.”
“That makes no sense.”
“No.”
She picked up her folder.
“It means someone inside the investigation wanted him gone.”
Roman looked at the window.
For the first time since the crash, he looked uncertain.
Not because he was afraid of dying.
Because he realized the enemy was no longer just inside his house.
It was inside every system that was supposed to find the truth.
Roman stood there for several seconds without speaking.
The room around him remained the same.
The same desk.
The same shelves.
The same walls that had held decades of decisions.
But something had shifted.
For years, Roman had believed power meant controlling the things around him.
The people.
The information.
The risks.
Now he was facing the one thing power could not prevent.
Uncertainty.
Elena gathered the documents.
“We need to move carefully.”
Roman looked at her.
“Carefully?”
“Yes.”
“The man who could clear my name is gone.”
“And rushing after him might make us lose the only evidence we have left.”
Roman hated that she was right.
He hated even more that he had learned to respect people who told him things he did not want to hear.
Years ago, he would have ignored advice that slowed him down.
He would have sent people.
He would have forced answers.
That was how his father operated.
That was how Roman had operated.
But every shortcut had created another problem.
Every person controlled through fear had eventually found a reason to betray him.
May you like
He looked at Ethan.
“Where were you when the driver disappeared?”
