Chapter 13 - The Last Name on the Ledger
Roman read the message twice.
“That isn't possible.”
Sadi already knew who he was thinking about.
“Luca.”
“He's dead.”
“So was Victor.”
Roman hated that answer because it was true.
They checked everything.
Dental records.
Autopsy.
Death certificate.
The body recovered after Warehouse 17 had been badly burned.
Identification had relied partly on Victor.
Roman sat down.
For the first time since Sadi met him, he looked afraid.
Not of violence.
Of hope.
Hope could hurt more than certainty.
Sadi crouched beside him.
“Don't decide what this means yet.”
Roman nodded.
Another message.
COME TO WHERE YOU LEFT ME.
Warehouse 17.
Again.
Roman wanted to go alone.
Sadi refused.
“You don't control me.”
He looked at her.
“You remembered.”
“I take excellent notes.”
They went together.
No tricks this time.
No dark warehouse.
No explosives.
A man stood beneath temporary work lights.
Scarred.
Older.
But unmistakable.
Roman stopped.
“Luca?”
The man cried before Roman did.
Roman crossed the distance.
The brothers embraced.
Sadi looked away.
Some moments deserved privacy even in open rooms.
Luca had survived.
Victor found him before rescuers.
Kept him hidden.
Used drugs, threats, isolation.
Eventually Luca escaped but discovered Victor controlled people inside law enforcement.
He stayed dead while building evidence.
“Why not contact Roman?”
Victor answered that by conditioning every route around Roman.
Luca feared approaching his brother would get him killed.
He had been L.
But he hadn't helped Victor willingly.
He infiltrated Victor's communications.
The messages Marcus found were part of the operation.
“Why tell Victor to leave Roman to you?”
Luca smiled faintly.
“Because if he thought I wanted Roman alive for myself, he wouldn't kill him.”
Roman stared at his brother.
“You could have told me.”
“I tried.”
“All those messages?”
“Some were mine.”
Luca looked at Sadi.
“The first wasn't.”
Sadi froze.
“Name them?”
Luca shook his head.
“No. That was Roman.”
Roman glanced at her.
Sadi smiled.
Of course.
The sentence that started everything belonged to the man standing beside her.
Luca handed Sadi another ledger.
The last name inside Victor's network was not a criminal.
It was a witness.
Elena Costa.
Roman's mother had been secretly helping Luca.
The family had not betrayed him.
It had fractured itself trying to protect one another.
Roman laughed once, painfully.
“So everyone lied to everyone.”
Luca nodded.
“Basically.”
Sadi said, “Your family needs communication training.”
Both brothers laughed.
It was the first normal sound Warehouse 17 had probably heard in years.
But Luca had one warning.
Victor had created a dead-man protocol.
Evidence damaging Roman would automatically be released if Victor remained in custody.
Fabricated records.
Audio.
Transactions.
Enough to destroy Monza and Costa Holdings before investigators disproved them.
Sadi asked, “When?”
“Midnight tomorrow.”
She smiled.
Luca looked confused.
Roman recognized the expression.
“Oh no.”
“What?”
Roman nodded toward Sadi.
“She has that look.”
“What look?”
“The one she gets before ruining someone's finances.”
Sadi opened her laptop.
“Victor wanted the Ghost.”
Her fingers touched the keyboard.
“He can have her.”
For eighteen hours, Sadi worked with federal cybercrime investigators.
She mapped Victor's dead-man system.
Found mirrors.
Destroyed triggers legally through seizure warrants.
Recovered evidence.
At 11:58 p.m., only one server remained.
It required physical access.
Location:
Monza Motors.
Sadi stared.
“Again?”
Roman shrugged.
“We offer excellent parking.”
They rushed there.
The server was hidden behind the cash cage.
Sadi removed the panel.
A small device blinked red.
01:13.
One minute thirteen seconds.
She connected her laptop.
Roman stood behind her.
“Can you stop it?”
“Probably.”
“Probably?”
“Do you want comforting or accurate?”
“Comforting.”
“Absolutely.”
“Thank you.”
She typed.
00:41.
The system demanded an administrator identity.
Sadi tried Victor.
Rejected.
Luca.
Rejected.
Roman.
Rejected.
00:20.
Sadi stared.
Then understood.
She typed:
GHOST.
Accepted.
00:08.
She killed the trigger.
The countdown froze.
Roman exhaled.
Then another file automatically opened.
VIDEO MESSAGE.
Sadi frowned.
“I didn't do that.”
A woman appeared on screen.
Marisol.
Sadi's mother.
Recorded years ago.
“If you're seeing this, Sadi, then Arturo lied about one last thing.”
Sadi stopped breathing.
Marisol continued.
“He told you he was your father.”
Roman looked at Sadi.
The video flickered.
“He wasn't.”
Sadi whispered, “What?”
Marisol leaned toward the camera.
May you like
“Your real father was a Costa.”
The screen went black.
