THE MAN MY FATHER TRUSTED
The next morning, Roman arrived before sunrise.
My daughter was still sleeping.
I had barely rested.
Too many questions were racing through my mind.
Roman stood near the window, watching the city.
“You’re quiet.”
“So are you.”
“I’ve been thinking.”
“About my father?”
“Yes.”
He turned toward me.
“Your father wasn’t the man you thought he was.”
I frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“He wasn’t involved in the criminal world.”
“Then why would he know someone like you?”
“Because he was trying to stop it.”
Roman explained that years earlier, my father had discovered that several legitimate businesses were being used to move stolen money through the port.
He had gathered evidence.
Then he had come to Roman.
“You worked together?”
“For a short time.”
“But you’re a criminal.”
Roman’s expression didn’t change.
“Your father didn’t care what people called me.”
“Why?”
“Because when everyone else was afraid to act, I was willing to help him.”
I stared at him.
“And then he died.”
Roman nodded.
“He was supposed to meet me the night he died.”
My breath caught.
“What?”
“He never arrived.”
“Why didn’t you investigate?”
“I did.”
“What did you find?”
“Nothing.”
I shook my head.
“Nothing?”
“Someone had erased almost everything.”
My heart pounded.
“Who?”
“Victor Kane.”
The name again.
The man behind everything.
The man Julian had been working with.
The man who might have killed my father.
Roman stepped closer.
“I promised your father something.”
“What?”
“That if anything ever happened to him, I would protect his family.”
I stared at him.
“You’ve been protecting me?”
“Not until recently.”
“Why?”
“Because I didn’t know who you were.”
I couldn’t speak.
Roman looked at my daughter.
“Until the night I saw you collapse in the rain.”
I remembered that moment.
The stranger stepping from the darkness.
The man who had carried me when my own husband refused.
“You recognized me?”
“No.”
“Then why did you help me?”
Roman smiled faintly.
“Because you needed help.”
I laughed softly.
“That sounds like the same answer you gave me before.”
“It was.”
He reached for my hand.
“But now I know why I couldn’t walk away.”
I looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because your father once saved my life.”
He paused.
“And because I made him a promise.”
Before I could respond, one of Roman’s men rushed into the room.
“Sir.”
Roman turned.
“What?”
“We found the storage unit.”
Roman’s expression changed.
“Where?”
“Portland Harbor.”
He nodded.
“Is it secure?”
The man hesitated.
“No.”
Roman immediately looked at me.
“Someone got there first.”
