Chapter 4 - The Dead Man's Ledger
Dante's mother was supposed to be in Florence.
Instead, Sofia Moretti stood beside a dead man on a kidnapping video.
Cordelia watched the recording again.
Sofia did not speak.
That almost made it worse.
Edward smiled into the camera while Henry struggled against the ropes.
“Bring the original marriage agreement,” Edward said. “Bring the woman whose signature activates it. No police. No games.”
The video ended.
Cordelia looked at Dante.
“Tell me she's being forced.”
“I don't know.”
“That's not good enough.”
“It is the truth.”
For the first time since Cordelia had met him, Dante looked genuinely unsteady.
Sofia Moretti had raised him after his father was murdered.
She was elegant, controlled, respected.
Cordelia had spent countless dinners with her.
Sofia had helped choose the lace for Cordelia's veil.
The memory now felt obscene.
Roman took Elena's phone.
“The metadata is stripped.”
Dante rounded on him.
“You knew my mother was back.”
“No.”
“Don't lie to me.”
Roman didn't move.
“If I'd known Sofia Moretti was working with Edward Ashford, we would not be standing here discussing it.”
Cordelia stepped between them.
“Enough.”
Both men looked at her.
“My father is tied to a chair. Save your territorial nonsense for later.”
Roman nodded first.
Dante followed.
Elena sat on the staircase.
Cordelia noticed her hands shaking.
“You knew Sofia?”
Elena looked up.
“Everyone knew Sofia.”
“Not what I asked.”
Elena hesitated.
“She knew about me and Dante.”
Cordelia felt the words like another blade.
Dante closed his eyes.
“Of course she did,” Cordelia whispered.
“She encouraged it,” Elena said.
Dante turned sharply.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“You never told me that.”
“She said your marriage to Cordelia was business.”
Cordelia laughed softly.
No humor remained in it.
“She seems to have distributed that phrase widely.”
Dante looked sick.
Elena continued.
“Sofia told me to be patient. She said once the Ashford transfer was secure, you would have choices again.”
Cordelia looked at Dante.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
“Did you intend to have choices again?”
His silence lasted one heartbeat.
“No.”
Cordelia believed that he believed his answer.
It didn't matter.
“Where is the original agreement?” Roman asked.
Dante answered.
“Moretti vault.”
“Who has access?”
“My mother and me.”
Roman's expression said enough.
Dante took out his phone.
“I'm checking it.”
Cordelia stopped him.
“If Sofia wants the agreement, why hasn't she taken it herself?”
Dante froze.
Roman looked at Cordelia with new attention.
“She needs something else,” she continued. “Edward said to bring the woman whose signature activates it.”
“My signature.”
Roman nodded.
“The agreement isn't enough. They need you to authorize a transfer.”
“Then my father was wrong. Marriage didn't protect me.”
“No,” Roman said. “It did. That's why they need you alive and cooperative.”
Dante's face darkened.
“They won't get near her.”
Cordelia looked at him.
“You don't get to turn this into redemption.”
His jaw tightened.
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
He met her gaze.
“I can fail you as a husband and still refuse to let someone kill you.”
That was the first thing Dante had said all night that she couldn't immediately reject.
Cordelia looked away.
Roman's phone rang.
He listened.
Then his expression sharpened.
“My men found the SUV.”
“Henry?”
“No. Empty.”
“Where?”
“Near the old Ashford terminal.”
Cordelia knew the place.
Her grandfather had built it.
It had been closed for six years.
“That's where they're holding him.”
“Possibly.”
“I'm going.”
Dante started to object.
Roman raised one hand.
“She has to.”
Dante glared.
Roman continued.
“Edward wants her signature. If Cordelia doesn't appear, Henry becomes useless.”
Cordelia hated the logic.
It was still logic.
They formed a plan.
This time, nobody told Cordelia to stay in the car.
The old terminal smelled of rust and river water.
Cordelia changed out of her wedding gown before they left.
She put on black trousers, boots, and a long coat borrowed from Elena.
She folded the gown carefully.
She didn't know why.
Maybe because Dante's betrayal didn't get to make the dress ugly.
The dress had belonged to her joy before it belonged to his deception.
At the terminal, Roman's people spread through the surrounding buildings.
Dante stayed beside Cordelia.
Elena remained behind.
They entered through a side door.
A light glowed deep inside.
“Cordelia!”
Henry.
She moved toward the voice.
Dante caught her arm.
She glared.
He pointed upward.
A camera.
Roman disabled it.
They continued.
Henry sat exactly as he had in the video.
Alone.
Cordelia ran to him.
“Dad.”
She cut the rope around his wrists.
Henry grabbed her.
“I told you not to come.”
“You've been making decisions for me all week. I'm experimenting with ignoring them.”
Despite everything, Henry almost laughed.
Then Dante asked, “Where are they?”
Henry's face changed.
“They left.”
Roman scanned the room.
“Why?”
“They got what they wanted.”
Cordelia stopped.
“What?”
Henry looked at her.
“The agreement.”
Dante swore.
“Sofia had access.”
“She didn't need the paper.”
“Then what?”
Henry looked toward an old metal desk.
A laptop sat open.
Cordelia approached.
The screen displayed a transfer.
PENDING BENEFICIARY AUTHORIZATION.
Her name appeared beneath it.
Cordelia Ashford Moretti.
“They need my signature.”
“Yes.”
“Then they don't have what they want.”
Henry shook his head.
“They have a copy.”
“Of my signature?”
“Of your biometric authorization.”
Cordelia's stomach dropped.
“When?”
Henry looked toward Dante.
“The wedding.”
Dante stared.
“The marriage license.”
Henry nodded.
Cordelia remembered pressing her thumb to the digital notary pad.
A ceremonial modernization, they had said.
She had laughed.
Dante had kissed her forehead.
“They harvested my biometric data at my wedding?”
Henry looked ashamed.
“I didn't know.”
Roman examined the laptop.
“The transfer hasn't completed.”
“Why?”
“It requires a second authorization.”
“Whose?”
Roman clicked.
The screen changed.
GUARANTOR AUTHORIZATION REQUIRED.
Then a name appeared.
ROMAN BELLANDI.
Everyone looked at him.
Cordelia's eyes narrowed.
“So that's why you're here.”
Roman didn't flinch.
“Yes.”
Dante stepped toward him.
“You knew.”
“I knew my signature was required to move protected Ashford assets. I did not know somebody would attempt it tonight.”
Cordelia stared.
“You've had control over my fortune for seven years?”
“No. Veto authority.”
“Without my knowledge.”
“Yes.”
She wanted to slap him.
Instead she said, “Why?”
Roman's expression shifted.
“Because your father asked me to make sure no man could take what belonged to you.”
Cordelia looked at Henry.
Henry nodded.
“I trusted Roman because he had nothing to gain from the trust.”
Dante laughed bitterly.
“Everyone has something to gain.”
Roman's eyes stayed on Cordelia.
“Not always.”
The laptop beeped.
A message appeared.
GUARANTOR AUTHORIZATION REQUESTED.
Roman declined.
Immediately another message arrived.
This one contained a photograph.
A woman sat in a chair.
Cordelia recognized Sofia.
She was tied up.
Dante went white.
“She wasn't helping Edward,” Cordelia whispered.
Roman looked closer.
A note appeared beneath the photograph.
SIGN, BELLANDI.
OR SOFIA DIES.
Dante grabbed Roman.
“You sign.”
Roman didn't resist.
“No.”
“That's my mother.”
“And signing gives Edward control of Ashford's protected assets, ports, and companies.”
“I don't care.”
“Cordelia does.”
Dante turned toward her.
His eyes were desperate.
Cordelia understood the cruelty of the trap.
Save Sofia and hand Edward everything.
Refuse and watch Dante's mother die.
“Can we trace it?”
Roman's technician began working.
Henry walked to Cordelia.
“I am sorry.”
“Later.”
“I may not get later.”
She looked at him.
“You will.”
“Cordy—”
“No. You don't get to make an apology sound like a goodbye. You're going to live long enough to explain every lie.”
Henry nodded.
The technician suddenly spoke.
“I have a location.”
Dante released Roman.
“Where?”
The man turned the laptop.
A map appeared.
Cordelia recognized the property.
Moretti estate.
Dante stared.
“My house.”
Roman checked his weapon.
“Edward has been inside your perimeter the entire time.”
They moved.
Twenty-five minutes later, they reached the estate.
The gates were open.
No guards.
Dante entered first.
Cordelia followed despite his objections.
The house was dark.
A single light burned in Sofia's study.
They found her chair.
Empty.
Ropes on the floor.
Blood on one armrest.
Dante touched it.
Still wet.
A noise came from behind the bookshelf.
Roman aimed his gun.
Dante opened a concealed door.
Stairs descended.
Cordelia looked at him.
“You have a hidden room?”
“My father built it.”
They went down.
At the bottom was a vault.
The door stood open.
Inside, documents covered the floor.
Sofia sat against the wall.
Alive.
Dante rushed to her.
“Mother.”
Sofia opened her eyes.
“Dante?”
Cordelia crouched beside her.
“Where is Edward?”
Sofia grabbed Cordelia's wrist.
“He knows.”
“Knows what?”
“The trust wasn't created because Henry feared Edward stealing the company.”
Henry, behind them, went pale.
Cordelia turned.
“Then why?”
Sofia looked at Roman.
“He knows.”
Roman's face became unreadable.
Cordelia stood.
“Tell me.”
Roman didn't answer.
Dante rose slowly.
“What do you know?”
Sofia whispered, “Ask him why he agreed to protect Cordelia seven years ago.”
Cordelia stared at Roman.
Roman's silence changed everything.
Then a voice came from inside the vault.
A man laughed.
They turned.
A second hidden door stood open behind the shelves.
Edward Ashford stepped through it.
And in his hand was a document bearing Cordelia's name.
May you like
He smiled at Roman.
“Tell her,” Edward said. “Tell my niece what you promised her mother before she died.”
