Chapter 11 - The Accountant’s Final Ledger
Dominic stared at the photograph.
Vale enjoyed the silence.
“Your mother survived the poisoning.”
Vincent whispered, “No.”
Vale smiled.
“She survived the first attempt.”
Dominic’s control nearly broke.
“Where is she?”
“Dead now.”
Vale’s pleasure vanished when Clara laughed.
Everyone looked at her.
“You’re lying.”
Vale’s eyes narrowed.
Clara pointed to the photograph.
“The metadata strip on the print stock was discontinued eight years ago.”
Vale looked at it.
A tiny mistake.
But enough.
Clara had done what she always did.
Ignored the performance.
Checked the numbers.
Dominic almost smiled.
Vale set down his glass.
“You remind me of Evelyn.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“You shouldn’t.”
Salvatore tightened his grip on Evelyn’s chair.
Clara looked at her mother.
Evelyn gave the smallest nod.
Ready.
Dominic placed the ledger he had brought onto a table.
Vale gestured.
“Open it.”
Dominic did.
“Sign the final page.”
“What does it say?”
“That you accept responsibility for every account.”
“And then?”
“You die.”
At least Vale was finally honest.
Dominic picked up the pen.
Clara’s pulse hammered.
He signed.
Vale smiled.
Then frowned.
Dominic had not written his name.
He had written:
LOOK UP.
Vale did.
The ballroom screens activated.
Every ledger page appeared.
Every payment.
Every account.
Every Crown Club member.
Clara had uploaded everything to an encrypted server before entering.
Vale lunged for her.
Dominic struck him.
Chaos erupted.
Tommy’s men entered.
Crown Club members ran.
Salvatore dragged Evelyn toward a private elevator.
Vincent pursued them.
Clara grabbed the original ledger from the safe.
Vale pulled a gun.
Dominic stepped between them.
Gunshot.
Clara screamed.
Dominic remained standing.
Vale looked confused.
Blood spread across his own shoulder.
Evelyn held Salvatore’s dropped weapon.
“Enough,” she said.
Police and federal agents flooded the room.
Vale laughed.
“You think this ends with me?”
Clara held up the ledger.
“Yes.”
“No.”
Vale’s smile returned.
“Because that isn’t the final ledger.”
Clara opened it.
Blank pages.
A decoy.
Salvatore had the real one.
Vincent had followed him into the elevator.
Dominic ran.
The elevator descended.
Tommy accessed security cameras.
Vincent and Salvatore were fighting inside.
Then the feed cut.
The elevator stopped at parking level B4.
Dominic reached the stairwell.
Clara followed.
“Stay behind me.”
“Stop saying that.”
They reached B4.
Blood marked the concrete.
Vincent’s.
Salvatore’s.
They followed it toward an underground loading tunnel.
A car engine started.
Dominic raised his gun.
A black sedan accelerated toward them.
He pulled Clara behind a pillar.
The car vanished up the ramp.
On the floor lay Vincent’s cuff link.
And the real ledger.
Clara picked it up.
“Why would Salvatore leave this?”
Dominic understood.
“He didn’t.”
Vincent had.
A phone rang.
The sound came from inside the ledger’s hollow binding.
Clara removed it.
One message.
From Vincent.
DON’T FOLLOW ME.
May you like
Then a second arrived.
HE KNOWS WHERE ISABELLA IS.
