To her disappointment, several sessions passed. Roman did not answer a single question she had asked, and it had irritated Valerie to the point. Where she was now trying to provoke him with petty taunts and underhand means.

 “Are you planning to just stare at that rug for the whole session? That would be quite the waste of your brooding time.”

“Considering this carpet is more interesting than this session, I do not count this as a waste of time. This session, on the other hand,” Roman said, a smirk visible on the side of his face even as he continued looking at the rug.

“Pretty sure you know how many threads make that by now,” she added, leaning back on her chair.

"There are 60,000 stitches with three different kinds of threads." 

“Wish you could show the same amount of enthusiasm in our sessions too.”

“You know I don’t care about this session”

“You come here of your own free will, stare at the furniture in the office, and leave without talking about anything, particularly about your case. There has to be something you want to share,” Valerie said, releasing a deep breath, hands flying in frustration. Roman tapped his fingers against the armrest, not dignifying Valerie with a response, still looking at the Damm carpet.

For a while there was quiet in the room, and she resigned herself to another failed session. But a minute later, Roman shuffled in his seat, arms crossed in front of him. Maybe he just got as bored as Valerie because Roman has now started speaking.

 “What's the point? You are not going to believe it anyway.” There was a slouch on his shoulders, exhaustion in his eyes that Valerie could see as if he was carrying an unbearable weight on himself.

“You don’t know that. Even if I don’t believe it, just take it as a way to let it out of your system.” Valerie was trying her best to grasp this thread of conversation that Roman had finally revealed after a month and a half of these sessions. She calmly added, “It's not like I can tell your story outside; that would be against the law.”

Roman laughed, a chuckle at first that developed into a full-blown belly laughter. It was full of mirth, like he couldn’t believe what she was saying when he finally stopped. His face turned serious in a blink, mocking her, he said in a quite dead voice.

 “No one will believe you anyway,” then in a whisper to himself, “like they didn’t believe me.”

“Besides, law is the thing that protects powerful people, so give it up; you are getting nothing from me, Valerie.” Roman's dead eyes were looking at her. Still, the opportunity has presented itself to Valerie.

“Well, since you are not talking about your past. I did some digging on you, just the general information,” Valerie said, calmly folding her hands above the table.

 "So what is it?" Roman asked, narrowing his eyes at Valerie, “Your mother killed your father. The report stated that you were present at the scene of the crime. I want to know if you were scared or angry at your mother for this.” Valerie blurted it all out in one breath, afraid of what his reaction might be.

"Angry?" Roman said, tilting his head in one direction. There was genuine confusion in his eyes that Valerie couldn’t decipher why. Why?

“Is it true that you were never sad at his death?” 

 “Sad? I was fucking grateful for it. He was a monster that needed to be killed,” Roman said. The cold and calm in his voice scared Valerie. How much hatred can someone have for their own father even after years of his death? 

“You don't think your mother was a monster for killing?” Valerie knew that this topic was too sensitive for him, but she kept going because she could see that it was affecting him.

 “Monster?” He whispered to himself.

“That's what everyone calls her,” Valerie shrugged.

His eyes now on the floor, hooded by his hair, effectively hid his eyes from her. “You want to know what a real monster is like, Valerie? Then let me tell you a story about a real sickly monster.” Then, like a switch flipped inside him, he started speaking.

"Over two years ago, in this very city where people believe that they are safe, where they thought, no harm would come to them, the city’s darkest areas were haunted by a figure in a black mask."