Chapter 2 - Find the Woman Who Saved Her
"Give it back."
Emma's voice was no longer gentle.
Gabriel looked at her across Sophie's hospital room.
"Not here."
"My father's handwriting is on that photograph."
Sophie stirred.
Emma immediately lowered her voice.
"Give it back."
Gabriel glanced toward his daughter.
"Hallway."
Emma followed him out.
Luca closed the door behind them.
Gabriel handed her the photograph.
The message read:
If Moretti comes looking, tell him Thomas Brooks kept the second ledger.
Emma read it three times.
"My father was Thomas Brooks."
"I assumed so."
"He repaired elevators."
Gabriel said nothing.
"He did."
"Among other things."
Emma's eyes hardened.
"You knew him?"
"No."
"But you know what this means."
Gabriel looked toward Luca.
Luca stepped away.
Gabriel spoke quietly.
"My father used ledgers instead of computers for business he didn't want discovered."
"What kind of business?"
"The kind you're imagining."
Emma stared at him.
"Your father was Mafia."
Gabriel's expression barely changed.
"My father controlled several criminal operations. He is dead."
"And you?"
"I've spent years dismantling parts of what he built."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the answer I'm giving you."
Emma handed him the photograph.
"I'm leaving."
"Someone tried to kill Sophie."
She stopped.
"The photograph was in her driver's apartment. Your father's name is on it. Whoever caused the crash may now know who you are."
Emma turned.
"I pulled a child out of a car. That's all I did."
"I know."
"Then leave me out of whatever this is."
"I would if I could."
Emma walked away.
Gabriel let her.
But Luca followed at a distance.
Emma visited Margaret the next morning.
Her mother sat beside a window in the nursing home folding the same hand towel repeatedly.
"Mom."
Margaret looked up.
For several seconds, recognition didn't come.
Then she smiled.
"Emma."
Those moments had become precious because Emma never knew when they would stop.
She sat beside her.
"Do you remember Dad keeping any books?"
Margaret laughed softly.
"Your father hated reading."
"Not books like that. Ledgers."
The towel stopped moving.
Emma noticed immediately.
"Mom?"
Margaret's face changed.
"Where did you hear that word?"
Emma's pulse quickened.
"Did Dad have one?"
Margaret leaned toward her.
"Don't ask about that."
"Why?"
"He promised."
"Promised who?"
Margaret looked toward the hallway.
"Your father said if the Morettis ever came, we were supposed to run."
Emma went cold.
"Mom, Dad died twelve years ago."
Margaret blinked.
The clarity disappeared.
"Did you bring cinnamon bread?"
Emma sat motionless.
Her phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
She answered.
"Hello?"
Silence.
Then a man's voice.
"Your father should have burned it."
The call ended.
Emma stood so fast her chair fell backward.
She called Gabriel.
He answered on the first ring.
"Emma?"
"Someone just called me."
"Where are you?"
"My mother's nursing home."
"Do not leave."
"I wasn't planning—"
"Emma."
His tone changed.
"Lock the door."
She looked toward the hallway.
A man in maintenance clothes had just appeared at the far end.
He was pushing an empty wheelchair.
He looked directly at her.
Then he began walking faster.
Emma locked the room.
"Gabriel."
"I'm coming."
The man stopped outside.
The handle moved.
Margaret looked up from her towel.
For one terrifying second, her eyes became perfectly clear.
She whispered a name Emma had never heard before.
"Victor."
The handle stopped.
Then someone knocked three times.
Not like a visitor.
Like a signal.
Emma stared at the door.
A piece of paper slid beneath it.
On it were four handwritten words:
May you like
GIVE US THE LEDGER.
And underneath them was Emma's home address...
