Chapter 2 - A NAME TREVOR SHOULD NOT KNOW
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Roman’s eyes settled on Trevor.
“You know my name.”
Trevor forced a laugh.
“Everybody knows your name.”
Roman didn’t smile.
“Not everybody tells people I’m dead.”
The blonde woman stepped away from Trevor.
Her face had changed from arrogant to frightened.
“Trevor?”
“Madison, shut up.”
“No.”
She looked between Trevor and Roman.
“You told me Vale Financial collapsed after Roman Vale died overseas.”
Roman’s expression remained unreadable.
Interesting.
Roman Vale had been declared dead once.
Officially.
For forty-eight hours.
A private plane carrying him had disappeared over the Atlantic two years ago.
News stations reported the crash.
His competitors celebrated.
Stocks moved.
Boardrooms panicked.
Then Roman walked into his headquarters two days later.
Alive.
Nobody ever learned where the plane had actually landed.
That was when people started calling him the Ghost.
Trevor swallowed.
“I heard a rumor.”
Roman stepped closer.
“From whom?”
Trevor glanced around.
Mall security had arrived.
So had the boutique manager.
Trevor lifted his chin.
“You think I’m scared because you have money?”
Roman tilted his head.
“No.”
His gaze dropped to Trevor’s shoe.
“I think you’re scared because you kicked my wife and suddenly remembered I exist.”
Trevor’s jaw tightened.
“I barely touched her.”
The saleswoman spoke up.
“That isn’t true.”
Trevor snapped toward her.
“Nobody asked you.”
“I watched you kick her.”
Roman’s eyes darkened.
Trevor saw it.
“So what?” Trevor said, trying to recover. “She was blocking a walkway.”
Roman took one step forward.
Madison grabbed Trevor’s arm.
“Stop talking.”
Trevor jerked away.
“You don’t tell me what to do.”
There it was.
The old Trevor.
The real one.
The man who smiled in public and became cruel whenever someone challenged him.
Roman turned toward me.
“Do you want the police?”
Trevor laughed.
“For that?”
Roman ignored him.
I looked at Trevor.
Three years earlier, I might have said no.
I would have wanted to avoid trouble.
Avoid embarrassment.
Avoid being called dramatic.
That was how Trevor trained me.
I looked at the security camera above the boutique.
“Yes.”
Trevor’s confidence vanished.
“Sadi.”
I looked at him.
“You kicked me hard enough to put me on the floor.”
“This is ridiculous.”
“You did it in front of witnesses.”
“You’re really going to ruin my career over this?”
I almost couldn’t believe him.
“You kicked me.”
“And now I’m sorry!”
Roman’s head turned.
“You aren’t.”
Trevor stared at him.
Roman continued.
“You’re sorry she has witnesses.”
Trevor’s face tightened.
A security officer approached.
“Sir, we need you to come with us.”
Trevor stepped back.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
The officer reached toward him.
Trevor slapped his hand away.
Bad decision.
Two more officers moved in.
Trevor started shouting.
“Get your hands off me!”
People pulled out phones.
Madison covered her face.
The entire mall was watching.
Trevor finally looked at me.
Not Roman.
Me.
His eyes were full of hatred.
“You did this.”
I stared back.
“No, Trevor.”
I glanced at his shoe.
“You did.”
Security dragged him toward the office.
As he passed me, he leaned close enough that only I could hear.
“You think Roman Vale saved you?”
His voice was barely a whisper.
“You have no idea what you married.”
I froze.
Trevor smiled.
May you like
Then he said the one sentence I would spend the entire night trying to forget.
“Ask your husband what happened to your father.”
