Chapter 7 - The Truth Nobody Could Bury
The men arrested outside the apartment had been paid through a security subcontractor connected to Adrian.
That did not solve everything.
It gave investigators somewhere to begin.
Records were requested.
Phones were examined under proper authority.
People who had spent years trusting Adrian’s influence began consulting lawyers of their own.
Paul Voss was among them.
When Griffin heard that the investigator was willing to cooperate, she expected relief.
Instead, she felt sick.
He had been alive through her entire childhood.
Buying groceries.
Renewing his driver’s license.
Watching years pass while two people lived inside a lie he had helped create.
His account filled several gaps.
There had been no identified body in Roman’s car.
The vehicle had been recovered after a fire, and Adrian had used its destruction to support a false account of Roman’s death.
Documents sent to Salvatore had been manufactured.
The funeral arrangements were private.
The casket had remained closed.
At the time, Salvatore was recovering from a shooting and heavily dependent on his brother.
Voss admitted that he had helped maintain the deception afterward.
“He says he didn’t know there was a child,” Maya told Griffin.
“Would that have made lying about my mother acceptable?”
“No.”
Griffin appreciated the answer.
Adrian had benefited from the supposed tragedy.
Salvatore withdrew from daily operations for months.
His brother gained control over accounts, appointments, and decisions that had once required approval.
Grief had given Adrian the keys.
Roman’s return threatened more than an old family secret.
It threatened the arrangements built on top of it.
Salvatore met Griffin and Roman at Maya’s office that Friday.
He looked older than he had in the restaurant.
“I’m cooperating with a broader review,” he said.
Griffin watched him.
“Broader how?”
“Some of the records expose things unrelated to your mother.”
“Things you did?”
“Yes.”
Roman closed her eyes.
Salvatore continued.
“I’ve hired separate criminal counsel. I’m not asking either of you to become part of my defense.”
Griffin felt her stomach drop.
For weeks, she had wanted him to reject his old life.
Now that he was beginning, she wanted to ask whether there might be a less frightening way.
She hated that contradiction.
“What could happen?”
“I may face charges. I may lose businesses. I don’t have an honest answer beyond that yet.”
“Are you doing this because of me?”
He considered the question.
“You made it harder for me to keep pretending. The decision is still mine.”
Griffin looked down.
Good.
That was better.
She could not be the reason he behaved decently forever.
She was already carrying enough.
Later, they walked to a café across the street.
Roman went ahead with Evelyn, leaving Griffin beside Salvatore.
A little girl passed holding her father’s hand.
Griffin watched them until they turned the corner.
“Did you ever have other children?”
“No.”
“Get married again?”
“No.”
She glanced at him.
“That doesn’t make you a tragic hero.”
“I know.”
“It might just mean you were lonely.”
His mouth shifted.
“Yes,” he said. “It might.”
At the café, Griffin ordered her own coffee.
Salvatore asked whether he could buy it.
She hesitated, then nodded.
It was four dollars and seventy-five cents.
Such a small thing.
He accepted the permission as carefully as though it mattered.
That afternoon, Adrian was arrested in connection with the recent intimidation and attack.
Additional allegations would take longer to resolve.
His photograph appeared online beneath headlines full of words Griffin wished she had never learned.
She turned off her phone.
In the quiet, Roman said, “You can still love someone and tell the truth about them.”
Griffin looked toward the café window.
Salvatore was outside, giving them space.
May you like
“Yes,” she said.
“I’m starting to understand that.”
