Chapter 8 - The Ledger That Could Destroy Them All
“Bring me the ledger,” Salvatore said through the live feed.
Massimo stared.
“Let Matteo go.”
Salvatore smiled.
“You still negotiate like your father.”
“You murdered my father.”
“No.”
The smile disappeared.
“I corrected his weakness.”
Massimo’s jaw tightened.
Salvatore continued.
“Marcello wanted legitimacy. He wanted to dismantle everything our family built because he developed a conscience.”
“You killed your brother.”
“I preserved the family.”
Leo stood behind Alessandra.
She covered his ears.
Salvatore noticed.
His gaze changed.
“So that is Matteo’s son.”
Massimo stepped in front of the camera.
“You don’t look at him.”
Salvatore laughed softly.
“There it is.”
“What?”
“The weakness.”
Massimo said nothing.
“You were useful when you had nobody,” Salvatore continued. “Then this woman walked into your lounge.”
Alessandra felt Massimo’s hand find hers behind his back.
Salvatore could not see it.
She squeezed.
“You have one hour,” Salvatore said. “Ledger for Matteo.”
The feed ended.
Vanessa wanted federal backup.
Massimo refused to wait.
Alessandra surprised both.
“We use both.”
Massimo looked at her.
“You have a plan?”
“I’m an auditor.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“It is tonight.”
The ledger documented hundreds of illegal transactions.
But Alessandra noticed something important.
Salvatore did not merely want the physical book destroyed.
He needed to know whether copies existed.
That gave them leverage.
She scanned every page.
Encrypted copies went to Vanessa’s federal contact.
Another copy went to three journalists with delayed delivery.
A third was scheduled for automatic release.
Massimo watched.
“You’ve done this before?”
“I normally ruin people with spreadsheets.”
“I’m beginning to find that attractive.”
She stopped typing.
Massimo seemed almost surprised by his own words.
Alessandra looked at him.
“This is a terrible time.”
“I’m aware.”
“Good.”
A tiny smile passed between them.
Then vanished.
At Pier Seventeen, Massimo carried the ledger openly.
Vanessa’s team remained outside the perimeter.
Alessandra stayed with Leo in a surveillance van.
At least that was the plan.
Until she saw Rachel.
On camera.
Walking into the warehouse.
“What is she doing?”
Vanessa swore.
Rachel had disappeared from protective custody again.
Alessandra zoomed in.
Rachel wasn’t a prisoner.
She hugged Salvatore.
The betrayal hurt more than Alessandra expected.
Rachel had been the person who encouraged her to investigate.
The person who showed her the first suspicious vendor.
The person who had guided her toward the fifty million.
“She set me up.”
Vanessa understood.
“Salvatore wanted you to find the theft.”
“Why?”
“To create a scapegoat.”
Alessandra’s credentials had been used intentionally.
The investigation had never been an accident.
She had been selected.
Because she was smart enough to make the audit believable.
Disposable enough to kill afterward.
Rachel had engineered everything.
Inside the warehouse, Massimo faced Salvatore.
Matteo sat chained between them.
“You have the ledger?” Salvatore asked.
Massimo held it up.
“Release him.”
Salvatore nodded.
Rachel unlocked Matteo.
He staggered toward Massimo.
For one second, the cousins simply stared.
Four years.
Then Matteo embraced him.
Massimo closed his eyes.
Salvatore watched without emotion.
“The ledger.”
Massimo threw it.
Salvatore caught it.
He opened the first page.
Then smiled.
“You copied it.”
Massimo said nothing.
“You always were Marcello’s son.”
Salvatore pulled a gun.
Federal agents stormed the building.
Chaos erupted.
Rachel ran.
Salvatore fired.
Matteo shoved Massimo aside.
The bullet struck Matteo.
In the surveillance van, Alessandra screamed.
Then someone opened the van door behind her.
Rachel stood there.
May you like
Gun raised.
Leo was directly between them.
