Chapter 6 - THE LEDGER OF THE DEADI found blood on the marble floor.
Not much.
A single drop.
Then another.
Then nothing.
Marco stood in the doorway.
His face was white.
“They took him.”
“How?”
“Three seconds.”
“Three seconds isn't enough.”
“It was.”
“Who?”
He pointed toward the security room.
Every monitor was black.
I walked inside.
The system had been disabled manually.
Not hacked.
Shut down.
Someone with access.
Vanessa came behind me.
“I told you.”
I turned.
“What?”
“This house has another owner.”
She opened a hidden drawer.
Inside was a second set of keys.
“Lucia had them.”
I took them.
Marco's phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed.
“What?”
He handed me the phone.
A recording.
Peter's voice.
“Uncle Dominic…”
Then a man spoke.
“Bring the ledger.”
I clenched my jaw.
“Who is this?”
“You've already met me.”
The call ended.
Marco looked at me.
“Who?”
I thought.
Hospital.
Warehouse.
Archive.
Nothing.
Then it struck me.
The security guard.
The same guard who dragged Grace from my room.
I remembered his face.
He had been at the warehouse too.
I turned to Marco.
“Find him.”
We split up.
Grace stayed with Vanessa.
I took the ledger.
It was heavier than it looked.
Pages filled with names.
Judges.
Police chiefs.
Bankers.
Shipping companies.
Politicians.
Every few pages was a Moretti name.
Then Bellini.
Then Moretti.
Then Bellini.
It wasn't a ledger.
It was a map.
A map of corruption built over decades.
Near the center of the book was one name written in red.
NICHOLAS MORETTI.
Under it:
ASSET REMOVED.
I flipped the page.
Another entry.
PETER RUSSO.
Beside it:
HEIR.
And below:
MUST NOT REACH DOMINIC.
My pulse thundered.
Why me?
Why was I the one they feared?
I turned to the final pages.
There was a photograph.
My mother.
Holding baby Peter.
I nearly dropped it.
My mother had never been pregnant after Nicholas.
At least that was what I'd been told.
On the photograph's back:
She knew the truth before he did.
I heard footsteps.
Grace appeared.
“Dominic.”
“What?”
“We found the guard.”
“Where?”
“He's dead.”
I closed the ledger.
“How?”
“Poison.”
“Same as the nurse.”
Grace nodded.
Vanessa entered behind her.
“There's another problem.”
“What now?”
She looked at the ledger.
“My mother knows you have it.”
“Why?”
“Because she sent me a message.”
She held out her phone.
A photo.
Peter tied to a chair.
Alive.
His face was bruised.
Behind him stood a woman.
Lucia Bellini.
And next to her...
Nicholas.
My body went cold.
I stared at the image.
“Impossible.”
Vanessa shook her head.
“It's current.”
“How do you know?”
“Look at the clock.”
It showed midnight.
The photograph had been taken minutes earlier.
Nicholas was holding a gun.
But there was something wrong.
His eyes weren't on Peter.
They were on whoever had taken the photograph.
As if he were being forced.
I zoomed in.
His left hand was hidden behind Peter's chair.
Two fingers raised.
A signal.
One I'd taught him as children.
Danger.
Trapped.
I looked at Marco.
“We go.”
Vanessa stepped forward.
“I know where they are.”
“You're coming.”
She looked surprised.
“Why?”
“Because your mother wants something from you.”
“What?”
“That's what we're going to find out.”
The location was an abandoned Bellini winery outside the city.
We arrived under heavy rain.
The building looked empty.
No lights.
No cars.
I entered through the side door.
The air smelled like wine, wet concrete, and gunpowder.
Then the lights came on.
Twenty men surrounded us.
Lucia stood at the far end.
Peter sat beside her.
Nicholas was behind him.
Vanessa whispered:
“Mother…”
Lucia smiled.
“My daughter.”
I raised the ledger.
“You wanted this.”
“Yes.”
“You'll get it.”
Lucia nodded.
“Put it on the table.”
I did.
Then she laughed.
“You still don't understand.”
“What?”
“The ledger was never the secret.”
She pointed at Peter.
“He is.”
Peter stared at me.
Then slowly opened his mouth.
“Uncle Dominic…”
Lucia smiled.
“Tell him who your real father is.”
Peter looked at Nicholas.
Then at me.
May you like
And whispered:
“Dominic Moretti.”
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