Chapter 5 - THE SIN BURIED BEFORE THEIR MARRIAGE
Roman watched Naomi’s video six times.
Each time, the same sentence cut deeper.
It’s about your father.
Vittorio D’Angelo had been dead nine years.
Roman had loved him.
Feared him.
Obeyed him.
And eventually inherited everything he built.
The shipping company.
The legitimate holdings.
And the criminal organization hidden beneath both.
Naomi’s recording continued.
“Your father and mine were partners before they became enemies.”
Roman turned toward Margaret.
She nodded slowly.
“I suspected.”
“You never told me?”
“I didn’t have proof.”
Naomi provided it.
Scanned contracts showed Vittorio D’Angelo and Naomi’s father, Charles Bennett, secretly financing international shipments in the late 1990s.
Malcolm Vane had been their accountant.
The missing ledger documented every illegal payment.
Every bribe.
Every hidden account.
But Naomi had discovered something worse.
Charles Bennett had not framed Malcolm alone.
Vittorio had helped.
They sacrificed Vane to protect themselves.
Twenty-eight years later, Malcolm wanted revenge on both families.
Charles was dead.
Vittorio was dead.
So Malcolm had chosen their children.
Roman and Naomi.
Sabrina had been his weapon.
She had studied Roman for months.
Learned his habits.
His weaknesses.
His marriage.
Then placed herself in his path at a charity auction.
Roman remembered that night.
The accidental spilled champagne.
Her laugh.
The second meeting at a restaurant.
He had thought he was pursuing her.
He had been handled from the beginning.
But that did not absolve him.
He had still made every choice.
He had still betrayed Naomi.
The video continued.
“I know what Roman did with Sabrina. I also know Roman will want to blame her for everything because blaming her is easier than blaming himself.”
Roman looked away.
Even dead, Naomi knew him.
“Don’t.”
He forced himself to watch.
“You betrayed our marriage because you chose to. Sabrina exploited that choice, but she didn’t make it.”
Roman’s eyes burned.
Luca said nothing.
Naomi then revealed her final discovery.
The original ledger had been divided into two parts.
Malcolm possessed one.
Charles had hidden the other.
Together, they could expose dozens of surviving participants and potentially destroy D’Angelo Maritime.
Roman did not care.
“Where is Naomi’s half?”
Luca asked.
The video answered.
“I didn’t keep it.”
Roman frowned.
“I gave it to someone who has no reason to protect either family.”
Elena.
Roman immediately tried calling her again.
No response.
Luca traced her last signal to a parking garage in Queens.
They found her car.
Empty.
Her phone lay crushed beneath a tire.
Blood marked the driver’s door.
Roman’s stomach tightened.
Then his phone rang.
Unknown number.
“Roman.”
Malcolm Vane.
Roman recognized the voice from old recordings.
“You have Elena.”
“I do.”
“You touch her and—”
“You still speak like your father.”
Roman went silent.
Malcolm chuckled.
“Vittorio always believed threats could solve consequences.”
“What do you want?”
“The ledger.”
“I don’t have it.”
“But Naomi found it.”
“She gave it away.”
“To Elena.”
Roman realized his mistake immediately.
Malcolm laughed.
“Thank you.”
The call ended.
Roman cursed.
He had confirmed Elena’s importance.
Luca was already moving.
“We trace him?”
“Burner.”
Roman stared at Elena’s abandoned car.
Then he noticed something.
A parking ticket on the dashboard.
Naomi’s photograph was clipped beneath the visor.
Why would Elena carry Naomi’s photograph?
Roman opened the car.
On the back of the picture were three handwritten words.
Where we began.
He recognized Naomi’s handwriting.
Where we began.
Roman suddenly understood Elena’s cryptic warning.
Naomi hid the truth where Roman would never voluntarily go.
Not the bank.
Not a warehouse.
Not an office.
A church.
Roman and Naomi had married at St. Catherine’s Church in Brooklyn.
He had not entered it since their wedding.
They drove there.
Father Michael recognized Roman immediately.
His expression changed when Roman said Naomi’s name.
“She came here.”
“When?”
“Last week.”
Roman’s chest tightened.
“Why?”
“She cried for almost an hour.”
Roman lowered his eyes.
The priest continued.
“She left something.”
He disappeared into the rectory.
When he returned, he carried a small wooden box.
Roman opened it.
No ledger.
Only Naomi’s wedding ring.
She had removed it before entering surgery.
Roman lifted it with trembling fingers.
Beneath it was another key.
And an address.
A storage facility.
Locker 214.
They arrived forty minutes later.
Roman opened the locker.
Inside stood one cardboard box.
Nothing else.
Luca opened it.
Photographs.
Documents.
A laptop.
And a sealed DNA report.
Roman picked it up.
His name was printed on the front.
ROMAN D’ANGELO — PATERNITY ANALYSIS.
His heart stopped.
“What the hell?”
He tore it open.
The test was twenty-seven years old.
Roman scanned the results.
Then again.
His face went white.
Luca stepped closer.
“Roman?”
Roman looked at the name listed under biological father.
May you like
It wasn’t Vittorio D’Angelo.
It was Malcolm Vane.
