Chapter 9 - The King Without His Crown
“Dante!”
Harper dropped beside him.
The bullet had struck his side.
He was conscious.
Angry.
Which Harper took as encouraging.
Thomas fired toward the stairs.
Cross retreated.
Marco dragged Dante behind the concrete wall.
Harper pressed both hands against the wound.
“Stay with me.”
Dante grimaced.
“You’re bossy.”
“You kidnapped me from a gala.”
“Protected.”
“Not the time.”
Gunfire cracked overhead.
Evelyn found the basement window.
Too small.
Marco pointed toward an old drainage tunnel.
They escaped through it.
Thomas carried the ledger.
Harper stayed beside Dante.
Outside, Cross had vanished.
They drove to a private clinic.
The bullet had missed vital organs.
Harper sat beside Dante afterward.
“You scared me.”
His eyes opened.
“That sounded almost affectionate.”
“Medication.”
“Definitely.”
She smiled.
Then cried.
She hated that part.
Dante reached for her hand.
“You don’t have to be strong every second.”
“That’s unfortunate because everyone around me is terrible at staying alive.”
He squeezed her fingers.
Harper stayed until he slept.
By morning, the ledger was secure.
Thomas contacted an independent federal prosecutor outside Cross’s chain.
Arrests began quietly.
But Vittorio disappeared.
So did Gabriel.
Lombardi Holdings’ board called an emergency meeting.
Dante was expected to resign.
Harper found him dressing despite his wound.
“You’re not going.”
“It’s my company.”
“You can barely stand.”
“I can stand long enough.”
She helped him button his shirt.
The intimacy surprised both of them.
Dante looked down at her.
“Why did you ignore me at the gala?”
“What?”
“Everyone else stared.”
“You looked like a man who already had enough attention.”
He smiled.
“That was it?”
“And I wanted cake.”
“Of course.”
Their faces were close.
Harper felt the shift.
Dante did too.
He leaned forward.
Then stopped.
“Harper.”
“Yes?”
“If I kiss you, is that the medication?”
“I’m not taking any.”
He kissed her.
Slowly.
No urgency.
No ownership.
Just two exhausted people discovering something unexpectedly gentle in the middle of disaster.
Harper pulled back first.
“We have criminals to ruin.”
Dante sighed.
“You really are an accountant.”
At the board meeting, Vittorio’s allies demanded Dante step aside.
Then Harper entered carrying Arthur’s ledger.
The room went silent.
She placed copies before each director.
“Before anyone votes, you might want page forty-seven.”
Several faces changed.
Payments.
Kickbacks.
Hidden ownership.
Dante watched the empire that had once depended on silence begin turning against the men who exploited it.
One director resigned immediately.
Another called counsel.
A third tried to leave.
Federal agents waited outside.
By afternoon, Lombardi Holdings froze dozens of accounts.
Dante voluntarily surrendered control of several subsidiaries pending investigation.
Harper was surprised.
“You’re giving it up?”
“I’m cleaning it.”
“That could cost you half your company.”
“Maybe more.”
“And you’re okay with that?”
“No.”
He smiled faintly.
“But your mother’s note was right. Somebody built a paper trail around me because they knew I wouldn’t look closely enough.”
Harper nodded.
“And now?”
“Now I look.”
Her phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
Gabriel.
“Harper.”
Dante signaled Marco to trace it.
Gabriel continued.
“You have something Vittorio wants.”
“The ledger?”
“No.”
“What?”
“You.”
Harper’s stomach tightened.
“Why?”
“Because the trust doesn’t just contain evidence.”
“What else?”
“Ownership.”
Harper looked at Dante.
“Ownership of what?”
Gabriel laughed.
“Everything Vittorio built with stolen money.”
Harper understood.
The trust legally owned assets worth hundreds of millions.
And she controlled it.
Gabriel lowered his voice.
“Vittorio wants to negotiate.”
“I don’t.”
“He has your mother.”
Harper turned.
Evelyn had been at the federal safe location an hour earlier.
Dante called.
No answer.
Gabriel sent a photograph.
Evelyn sat tied inside a dark room.
Harper’s pulse raced.
“Where?”
“Come alone.”
“No.”
“Then she dies.”
The call ended.
A second message arrived.
One address.
Harper recognized it.
The Plaza Hotel.
The same building where everything had begun.
Then another message appeared.
COME BACK TO THE DESSERT TABLE.
Harper looked at Dante.
And beneath the message, a live video began playing.
May you like
Her mother was sitting exactly where Harper had eaten red velvet cake.
A gun pressed against her head.
