Chapter 2 - THE SISTER I WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO KNOW ABOUT
Roman Moretti had a sister.
That was impossible.
For two years, I'd shared his home, his secrets, and his bed.
I'd met his mother before she died.
I'd attended family dinners.
I'd listened to stories about his childhood.
Never once had he mentioned a sister.
“You're lying.”
Roman looked exhausted.
“Her name is Elena.”
I stared at him.
“Then why didn't you tell me?”
“Because my father made sure everyone believed she was dead.”
The restaurant seemed to sway around me.
Roman stepped closer.
I immediately backed away.
He stopped.
“Nora, please. I need five minutes.”
I looked toward Arthur.
My manager was watching us with naked curiosity.
My rent was overdue.
My savings were nearly gone.
And I knew that refusing Roman Moretti in front of thirty customers could make my quiet life disappear by morning.
So I straightened my uniform.
“Five minutes. In the staff hallway. No guards.”
Roman glanced at Tommy.
Tommy nodded and stepped back.
We walked into the narrow corridor beside the kitchen.
The smell of garlic and dish soap filled the air.
Roman remained several feet away.
“Elena was sixteen when my father sent her to a private facility outside Albany.”
“Why?”
“She discovered financial records connected to his organization.”
I swallowed.
“What kind of records?”
“Payments. False identities. Missing people.”
My chest tightened.
Roman continued.
“She threatened to go to the authorities. My father had her declared unstable.”
I stared.
“And you let him?”
“I was twenty. I believed the doctors.”
His voice broke.
“By the time I learned the truth, she was gone.”
I looked away.
For years, I'd believed Roman was incapable of regret.
Now regret seemed to be the only thing holding him upright.
“Where does Victor come in?”
“Victor controlled the facility.”
My stomach tightened.
“The man in your study?”
Roman nodded.
“He told me Elena had escaped and was using another woman's identity.”
I stared at him.
“Mine?”
“Yes.”
The hallway suddenly felt too narrow.
Too warm.
Too dangerous.
Roman continued.
“Someone had used your medical records to create documents in Elena's name.”
I remembered the hospital.
The blood test.
The strange woman who asked whether I had family in Albany.
Then another memory struck me.
Three weeks before I ran, I'd found a photograph inside Roman's study.
A teenage girl standing beside an older man.
She looked disturbingly like me.
At the time, I thought she was a former girlfriend.
Now I understood why Roman had reacted so strangely when he found me holding it.
“Why would anyone use my identity?”
Roman looked toward the door.
“Because you and Elena share something Victor desperately wanted to hide.”
My hands began trembling.
“What?”
He hesitated.
May you like
Then whispered:
“The same woman gave birth to both of you.”
