Chapter 5 - The Ledger
Anthony closed the library door.
The pistol stayed pointed toward the floor.
"Sit down."
Vanessa stepped between us.
"Dad, what are you doing?"
"Fixing something."
"Put the gun away."
Anthony looked at his daughter.
"You should've stayed out of this."
I didn't move.
"You're holding a gun in my house, Anthony."
"And somehow I'm still alive."
"For now."
He smiled.
"There he is."
Vanessa shook her head.
"This is insane."
"No," Anthony said. "This is what happens when children decide they're smarter than their parents."
The wedding planner stood behind him trembling.
I recognized her as Claire Dawson.
She shouldn't have been anywhere near this conversation.
"Why is she here?" I asked.
Anthony glanced back.
"Because Claire isn't a wedding planner."
Claire looked terrified.
Anthony continued.
"She's an investigator."
Vanessa stared.
"For who?"
Claire answered quietly.
"Federal financial crimes."
I almost laughed.
Of course.
Five hundred guests.
Two powerful families.
A wedding attractive enough to hide surveillance inside the flower arrangements.
Anthony raised the gun slightly.
"Claire has been collecting information for seven months."
Claire swallowed.
"You're making this worse."
"I've spent forty years making things worse."
He looked at me.
"Ask your father."
"He's dead."
"Exactly."
Vanessa moved closer to Anthony.
"Give me the gun."
"No."
"Dad."
"No."
I watched their exchange.
Anthony was frightened.
That made him dangerous.
"What ledger?" I asked.
His eyes snapped toward me.
"She told you."
"Enough."
"Then forget it."
"I don't forget."
"You should learn."
"Where is it?"
Anthony laughed softly.
"Dominic kept records. Not accounting records. Insurance."
"Names."
"Payments. Agreements. Judges. Port officials. Union contacts."
"Crimes?"
"History."
Claire said, "Evidence."
Anthony swung the pistol toward her.
Vanessa gasped.
I moved.
Fast.
I caught Anthony's wrist and slammed it against the bookshelf.
The gun fell.
Vanessa grabbed it first.
Everyone froze.
She pointed it toward the floor.
"Dad, stop."
Anthony stared at her.
"You would choose him?"
"I'm choosing not to watch you destroy what's left."
He laughed bitterly.
"You think there's anything left?"
She lowered the gun slightly.
That was when Claire grabbed the door handle.
Anthony lunged.
I blocked him.
Claire escaped into the hallway.
Within seconds, alarms sounded.
Anthony stared at me.
"You have no idea what you've done."
"Actually, I do."
I took the pistol from Vanessa.
Estate security arrived.
I had Anthony escorted to a guest suite.
Not police.
Not yet.
Claire had vanished.
Vanessa and I remained in the library.
"You knew about the ledger," I said.
"Only recently."
"Eva told you."
Vanessa nodded.
"She believed Dominic stored it somewhere connected to Sofia."
"Why?"
"Because he trusted her."
"Where?"
"I don't know."
"That's convenient."
Vanessa looked exhausted.
"Eva called me before the crash because she'd found something."
"What?"
"A code."
"What code?"
Vanessa closed her eyes.
"318."
The safe-deposit box.
My blood chilled.
"She knew about the box?"
"Yes."
"What exactly did she tell you?"
"That she was finally going to prove who she was."
"And then she died."
Vanessa nodded.
"Why didn't you tell anyone?"
"Because my father showed up at my apartment thirty minutes later."
"What did he say?"
"That Eva had been in an accident."
"Thirty minutes?"
"Yes."
The police report said emergency services took twenty-two minutes to identify Eva.
Anthony knowing sooner mattered.
"Did you ask how he knew?"
"I was afraid to."
"You? Afraid?"
She looked at me.
"You don't know my father the way I do."
Maybe not.
"Did you tell Anthony about the safe-deposit box?"
"No."
"Does he know the number?"
"I don't think so."
I pulled out my phone.
Elias answered.
"Move everything from box 318."
"Already done."
"Where?"
"Secure site."
"Any sign of Sofia?"
"We checked the Queens address."
My grip tightened.
"And?"
"The apartment is empty."
"When was she there?"
"Recently. Food in the refrigerator. Clothes. Medication."
"Where did she go?"
"Unknown."
"Security cameras?"
"Working on it."
I ended the call.
Vanessa stared at me.
"Sofia is alive."
"Yes."
Her knees nearly gave out.
She sat.
"My father said she died."
"He lies."
"I know."
"You still planned to marry into my family."
Her eyes flashed.
"So did you."
That silenced me.
She wasn't wrong.
Our relationship had always existed alongside things neither of us wanted examined too closely.
But a child changed the equation.
So did murder.
"Did you know Elena was here?"
"No."
"You asked about Mara."
"Because my father asked where she was."
"Why?"
"He said she stole documents from his office."
"Did she?"
"I don't know."
I thought about Mara.
The hospital.
The envelope.
The key.
Maybe she had taken more than one thing.
I called her.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
I called Gianna.
She picked up immediately.
"Where's Mara?"
"She left twenty minutes ago."
"Why?"
"She said she needed clothes."
"Did she take Elena?"
"No."
My stomach tightened.
"Call her."
"I did. No answer."
I looked at Vanessa.
"Your father had Mara followed."
"I didn't know."
"Rafael drove."
She went pale.
"My cousin?"
"Yes."
Vanessa stood.
"Rafael doesn't do surveillance."
"What does he do?"
She looked at me.
"Cleanup."
I was already moving.
Elias traced Mara's phone.
Last signal near an industrial district in Queens.
Then nothing.
We took two vehicles.
Vanessa insisted on coming.
I almost refused.
Then I decided I wanted her where I could see her.
Thirty-five minutes later, we reached an abandoned commercial building owned by one of Marino's shell companies.
Lights burned inside.
Elias found Mara's car behind the building.
Driver door open.
Phone on the pavement.
No blood.
Good.
We entered through a side door.
Empty corridor.
Footsteps above.
We climbed.
Second floor.
A room at the end of the hall stood open.
Mara sat tied to a chair.
Rafael stood beside her.
He wasn't alone.
A woman stood near the window.
Older.
Thin.
Silver beginning to show in her dark hair.
I stopped.
For ten years, I'd seen her only in memories.
Sofia Bellini turned around.
Her eyes met mine.
"Luca."
Everything inside me disappeared.
Rafael smiled.
"Family reunion."
I ignored him.
Sofia stared at me as though she'd imagined this moment a thousand times and hated every version.
I took one step toward her.
Rafael raised a gun.
"Don't."
Vanessa whispered, "Rafael, put it down."
He laughed.
"You really don't know anything, cousin."
Sofia looked at Vanessa.
"Neither do you."
Rafael's smile faded.
Sofia reached slowly inside her coat.
He aimed at her.
"Hands where I can see them."
She stopped.
Then looked at me.
"The ledger isn't in a bank."
"Where is it?"
Sofia's eyes filled.
"Eva found it before she died."
Rafael moved closer.
"Enough."
Sofia continued anyway.
"She hid it where Anthony would never think to look."
"Where?"
Rafael grabbed her arm.
Sofia winced.
I stepped forward.
His gun shifted toward me.
Then Mara shouted.
"Behind you!"
A door opened at the far end of the room.
Anthony Marino walked in.
But he wasn't looking at me.
He was staring at Rafael.
May you like
And the first thing he said changed everything.
"You were supposed to kill Sofia ten years ago."
