Chapter 6 - The Name Inside the Black Ledger
Luca survived.
The bullet passed through his shoulder.
Hazel refused to leave the hospital.
“You can go home,” Luca said.
“Apparently people keep putting bombs in things meant to take me home.”
“Fair point.”
He smiled weakly.
Hazel helped him drink water.
Their eyes met.
Something warm and frightening passed between them.
She broke eye contact.
“Don’t make this weird.”
“You’re holding my straw.”
“I saved your life.”
“I remember.”
“You owe me.”
“How much?”
“Eight million dollars.”
He laughed.
It hurt.
Hazel smiled.
For one small moment, the war disappeared.
Then Sofia entered carrying a package.
It had been delivered anonymously.
Inside was Daniel’s wallet.
And a page torn from a ledger.
Names.
Dates.
Payments.
One name had been circled.
THOMAS BROOKS.
Beside it:
CUSTODIAN — HALCYON ACCOUNT.
Hazel frowned.
“What is Halcyon?”
Luca’s face hardened.
“A myth.”
Apparently Antonio had once created an emergency fund containing money collected from decades of criminal partnerships.
No single family controlled it.
The custodian did.
Thomas Brooks.
The account was rumored to contain more than two hundred million dollars.
Hazel laughed.
“My father bought generic cereal.”
“That may have been intentional.”
A handwritten note appeared at the bottom.
SUCCESSOR: HAZEL BROOKS.
Hazel stared.
There it was.
The real reason everyone wanted her.
Not eight million.
Two hundred million.
“I don’t know how to access it.”
“They don’t know that.”
The hospital lights suddenly died.
Luca sat upright.
Hazel heard running outside.
Then screaming.
Luca pulled a gun from beneath his pillow.
“You keep a gun in a hospital bed?”
“I’m charming that way.”
The door opened.
Hazel’s mother entered.
Blood covered her blouse.
“Mom!”
“I’m fine.”
She locked the door.
“Evelyn took Daniel.”
“We know.”
“No, you don’t understand.”
She handed Hazel a photograph.
Daniel was tied to a chair.
Behind him stood Evelyn.
And beside Evelyn was Victor Salerno.
Hazel’s mother whispered:
“They want the Halcyon account.”
Hazel looked at Luca.
“I can’t give them something I can’t access.”
Her mother’s face crumpled.
“Yes, you can.”
“How?”
“Your father made you the password.”
Hazel froze.
“What does that mean?”
Her mother reached for the necklace Hazel had worn since childhood.
The cheap silver locket her father gave her on her twelfth birthday.
She opened it.
Inside was something Hazel had never seen.
A tiny strip of paper.
Sixteen numbers.
And underneath them:
ASK LUCA WHAT HIS MOTHER CALLED HIM.
Hazel slowly looked toward Luca.
He had gone pale.
“What did she call you?”
Before he could answer, the hospital room door handle began turning.
From the other side, a familiar voice said:
May you like
“Hazel, sweetheart. Open the door.”
Antonio Moretti was supposed to have been dead for three years.
