Chapter 10 - THE TRAIN TICKET
Six months later.
The Romano mansion was quiet, bathed in the golden light of late autumn.
I walked through the grand entrance hall, not carrying a feather duster, but a stack of financial reports.
I was wearing a tailored navy suit.
My father was resting comfortably in a new house in the suburbs, his medical bills entirely paid off.
Vivienne had recovered from her gunshot wound and moved back to Pennsylvania to help Ruth run the diner, leaving the high-society life behind forever.
Julian and Elias were facing life in federal prison.
Everything was perfect.
Almost.
I walked into Sebastian’s massive study.
He was standing by the window, looking out at the falling leaves.
“The quarterly reports are ready, Sebastian,” I said, setting the folder on his desk.
We had dropped the formalities months ago.
Sebastian turned around and smiled.
“Thank you, Megan.”
He walked over to the desk, but he didn't look at the reports.
He looked at me.
The tension between us had been building for six months. Long nights going over contracts, quiet dinners in the empty mansion, stolen glances across boardroom tables.
“Is something wrong?” I asked, my heart doing that familiar flutter it always did when he looked at me like that.
“I found something,” Sebastian said quietly.
He reached into his desk drawer and pulled out an old, leather-bound ledger.
“I was clearing out the final boxes from my father’s secret vault,” Sebastian explained. “I found Antonio’s personal diary.”
My curiosity peaked.
“What’s in it?”
Sebastian opened the book to the very last page.
“He wrote this the day before he died.”
He turned the book toward me so I could read it.
The handwriting was shaky, but the words were clear.
The empire is secure. But a king is nothing without his queen. I hid the true Romano legacy in the place where it all began. The key is the journey.
Tucked inside the back cover of the diary was a small, faded piece of paper.
I pulled it out.
It was an old train ticket.
Dated October 29th, 1998.
From New York to a small, forgotten station in upstate New York called Oakhaven.
“Tomorrow is October 29th,” I whispered.
Sebastian nodded.
“My father bought this ticket twenty-eight years ago. He never used it.”
Sebastian looked at me, his dark eyes intense.
“I’m going to Oakhaven tomorrow, Megan. I want you to come with me.”
I swallowed hard.
“As your Chief of Staff?”
Sebastian stepped closer.
He reached out and gently tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear.
His touch sent a jolt of electricity down my spine.
“No,” Sebastian whispered. “As the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with.”
My breath caught in my throat.
“Sebastian…”
“I know it’s sudden,” he said quickly, his usual confidence faltering for a second. “But I’ve spent my whole life surrounded by people who wanted my money. You’re the only person who ever looked at me and just saw a man.”
I smiled, tears springing to my eyes.
“I’d love to go to Oakhaven with you.”
The next morning, we took the train upstate.
The town of Oakhaven was tiny, surrounded by dense, beautiful forests.
We walked from the station to the address written on the back of the train ticket.
It was an old, abandoned bank.
The heavy stone building looked like it hadn't been opened in decades.
Sebastian used the rusted iron key from his father’s diary to unlock the front door.
We stepped inside.
The air was thick with dust.
In the center of the main room sat a single, massive safety deposit box.
“This is it,” Sebastian said.
He used the key again.
The heavy metal door swung open.
Inside the box rested a beautiful, antique silver rosary.
The exact match to the one Frank Ellis had found in the mud.
But there was something else inside the box.
A piece of clothing, carefully folded.
I reached in and pulled it out.
May you like
My stomach plummeted.
It was a faded green coat.
