Chapter 6 - THE KILLERThe room seemed to shrink.

Vittorio aimed directly at Elena.

Emma pulled Lucy behind her.

“You have five seconds.”

Elena didn't move.

“You won't shoot.”

“Try me.”

“You think I'm your enemy.”

“You just admitted you're here to kill me.”

“I was.”

“When?”

“Before I met you.”

Vittorio narrowed his eyes.

Elena reached into her coat.

He cocked the gun.

She slowly removed an old photograph.

It showed Isabella Bellini standing beside Elena.

On the back were four handwritten words:

PROTECT MY SON, ALWAYS.

Vittorio's breathing stopped.

“My mother wrote that?”

“Yes.”

“When?”

“The night she died.”

“You said she was murdered.”

“She was.”

“By whom?”

Elena looked at him.

“Your father.”

Vittorio lowered the weapon slightly.

“My father died twelve years ago.”

“No.”

“He died.”

“No.”

“He was on that plane.”

“Elena.”

“He was never on the plane.”

Silence.

“He staged his death,” Elena said.

Vittorio felt dizzy.

“Why?”

“Because Isabella discovered what he had built.”

“The foundation.”

“The network.”

Elena spoke quietly.

“Your father had been trafficking children through organizations disguised as charities.”

Emma's face went white.

Vittorio remembered every charity gala.

Every photograph.

Every speech.

He felt sick.

“And my mother tried to stop him?”

“Yes.”

“She failed.”

“She exposed him.”

“And he killed her.”

“Yes.”

“Then why am I alive?”

Elena stared at him.

“Because Isabella made a deal.”

“With whom?”

“The only people capable of hiding you.”

Vittorio laughed bitterly.

“I was thirty-three.”

“You were twenty-seven.”

He stared.

That was impossible.

His entire timeline began slipping apart.

Elena continued.

“They erased parts of your history.”

“Why?”

“To protect the location of the Black Ledger.”

Vittorio looked at the photograph.

“I don't have it.”

“You do.”

“No.”

“You've carried it for twelve years.”

She pointed at Lucy.

Vittorio stared.

“What?”

Elena said:

“It's hidden in the only place no one would think to search.”

Lucy suddenly began crying.

“Daddy…”

Vittorio turned.

“What is it?”

Lucy reached beneath her collar.

A small silver pendant hung around her neck.

She had worn it since childhood.

Vittorio had never questioned it.

He touched it.

“It belonged to your mother?”

Lucy nodded.

“Grandma gave it to me.”

Elena smiled sadly.

“Open it.”

Vittorio twisted the pendant.

It opened.

Inside was a tiny memory card.

His heart stopped.

“The ledger.”

“Yes.”

He stared at the tiny piece of plastic.

“All this time…”

“Your mother hid it with Lucy.”

“Why would she trust a child?”

“She didn't.”

Elena looked toward Emma.

“She trusted the woman who was supposed to protect her.”

Emma stepped backward.

“No.”

Elena continued.

“You were assigned to keep Lucy alive.”

Emma shook her head.

“I was just a housekeeper.”

“That's what everyone believed.”

Vittorio looked at Emma.

“You knew?”

Emma's eyes filled with tears.

“Not everything.”

“How much?”

“Enough.”

A sudden explosion rocked the mansion.

Glass exploded.

Lucy screamed.

The wall behind them cracked.

Elena grabbed Lucy.

Vittorio pulled Emma down.

Smoke filled the hallway.

Then a voice came through the shattered doorway.

Marcus.

“Give me the pendant!”

Vittorio raised his weapon.

Marcus stood outside with Bianca beside him.

Bianca was holding something.

A detonator.

And behind her stood six armed men.

Marcus smiled.

“You should have stayed blind, Vittorio.”

Bianca lifted the detonator.

“One button.”

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She looked at Lucy.

“And your house becomes a grave.”