Chương 6
Roman placed the phone on the table.
“You are going to tell me.”
Helena looked at him.
For the first time that night, she looked old.
Not elegant.
Not powerful.
Just tired.
“I was trying to protect you.”
Roman stared at her.
“From who?”
Helena’s eyes moved toward Sophie.
Then back to him.
“From the people who knew exactly where to hurt you.”
Roman stepped closer.
“And they knew because?”
Helena said nothing.
The answer arrived without words.
Because someone close to him had told them.
Because someone inside his own world had opened the door.
Roman looked around the empty banquet hall.
The golden walls.
The expensive decorations.
The room built to display power.
For the first time, it felt like a trap.
Then Sophie reached for his hand.
He looked down.
She was still scared.
But she was still there.
Roman closed his fingers gently around hers.
Whatever waited outside that room, whatever truth had been hidden from him, he would face it.
This time, he would not let anyone make the decisions for him.
The drive home was quieter than Roman expected.
He had spent years surrounded by people who filled silence because they feared it.
Men in expensive suits talking about deals.
Employees giving reports.
Associates explaining problems before he had asked.
Everyone around him seemed determined to make sure he was never alone with his thoughts.
Now there was only the sound of the car moving through the city and Sophie’s breathing from the back seat.
She had fallen asleep holding the edge of his jacket.
Roman had offered to buy her new clothes before leaving the banquet hall.
She had refused.
Not because she liked the old ones.
Because she did not want to let go of something familiar.
He understood that more than he wanted to admit.
People often held onto painful things because at least pain was something they recognized.
Nora sat in the passenger seat staring out the window.
She had barely spoken since they left.
Roman did not pressure her.
He had spent years believing silence was a weakness.
Tonight, he was starting to understand that sometimes silence was the only way people survived.
The city lights moved across the windshield.
Every few seconds, Roman glanced at the rearview mirror.
Every time he saw Sophie sleeping, he felt the same strange disbelief.
She was real.
She was there.
After years of imagining her, she was finally close enough that he could hear her breathe.
“Are you angry with me?” Nora asked.
Roman looked ahead.
“Yes.”
The honesty made her look down.
“But not only with you.”
Nora waited.
Roman’s hands tightened slightly around the steering wheel.
“I am angry because I missed things I cannot get back.”
The words were difficult for him to say.
“I am angry because someone made choices for me.”
Nora nodded.
“I know.”
He glanced at her.
“You should have fought harder.”
“I know.”
“You should have found another way.”
“I know.”
Her agreement unsettled him more than an argument would have.
He had expected resistance.
He had prepared himself to defend his anger.
Instead, he was facing someone who already carried enough guilt.
“I hated you,” Nora whispered.
Roman did not react.
“I hated that you could still live your life while I was trying to explain to a little girl why her father never came.”
Roman swallowed.
“That was not my choice.”
“I know that now.”
She looked at him.
“But for a long time, I did not.”
The sentence stayed between them.
Not an accusation.
Not forgiveness.
Just the truth of what those years had done.
When they arrived at Roman’s home, the security team immediately noticed something was different.
They had expected Roman to return alone.
Instead, he stepped out carrying the weight of a situation none of them understood.
The guards opened the door without questions.
They knew better.
Inside the house, Sophie stopped walking.
The size of the place seemed to overwhelm her.
The polished floors.
The tall ceilings.
The quiet rooms.
She looked around like she was waiting for someone to tell her she was not allowed to touch anything.
Roman noticed.
“Everything here is yours too.”
Sophie looked at him.
“Mine?”
“Yes.”
She looked uncomfortable.
“But I might break something.”
Roman looked around the expensive room filled with things people spent years trying to own.
Then he looked back at his daughter.
“Things can be replaced.”
She seemed surprised by that answer.
Maybe because in her world, things were not easily replaced.
Nora stood near the doorway.
“This is too much.”
Roman looked at her.
“What?”
“All of this.”
She gestured around.
“The house.”
“The security.”
“The people.”
Roman understood what she meant.
For him, this environment was normal.
For Sophie, it was another unfamiliar place where adults had power over her.
“We will figure out what she needs.”
Nora looked at him.
“We?”
The question was quiet.
Roman answered without hesitation.
“Yes.”
That single word carried more weight than he expected.
Later that night, Sophie refused to sleep alone.
She did not cry.
She did not demand anything.
She simply stood in the doorway of the guest room holding the old stuffed rabbit and looking embarrassed.
Roman had been reviewing documents in his office when he saw her.
“What happened?”
She looked at the floor.
“I had a bad dream.”
Roman closed the folder.
“What about?”
She shrugged.
“Nothing.”
He almost smiled.
He recognized that answer.
Adults used it constantly when the truth felt too difficult.
Roman walked her back toward the room.
“Do you want me to stay?”
Sophie nodded.
He sat in the chair beside the bed.
For nearly an hour, he did nothing.
He did not make calls.
He did not read reports.
He did not solve problems.
He just sat there.
It was harder than any negotiation he had ever handled.
At some point, Sophie opened her eyes.
“Are you still here?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
May you like
Roman looked at her.
Because he had missed three years.
