Chapter 10 - The Woman They Buried TwiceI Woke Up Inside The Place Where Sofia Had Been Imprisoned

I woke up in a room filled with jars.

Thousands of them.

Honey.

Wax.

Labels.

My head throbbed.

My wrists were tied.

Across from me sat Sofia.

Lily was beside her.

She was crying silently.

I moved toward her.

She flinched.

Then whispered.

"Mom?"

I swallowed.

"I'm here."

Sofia stared at me.

"You shouldn't have come."

"I wasn't going to let them take you."

"You don't understand who Salvatore is."

"I know enough."

"No."

Her voice cracked.

"He isn't the man you think."

"He killed my father."

Sofia looked down.

"So did Dante."

I froze.

"What?"

Sofia whispered.

"Your father was working with Dante."

"No."

"They were planning to expose Salvatore."

"And?"

"Dante betrayed him."

I couldn't breathe.

"Why?"

"Because Salvatore threatened you."

I looked at her.

"My father chose me."

"Yes."

"And Dante?"

"Dante chose you too."

"Then why did my father die?"

Sofia looked at me.

"Because the plan failed."

Footsteps approached.

The door opened.

Salvatore entered.

He placed a jar on the table.

"Do you know why honey survives for years?"

I stared.

"Because it resists decay."

He smiled.

"Secrets do too."

He sat.

"Your father knew too much."

"So he killed him."

"I gave him a choice."

"What choice?"

"Leave Pennsylvania with you."

"And he refused."

"He refused because he believed he could expose me."

Salvatore sighed.

"He was brave."

"You're proud of killing him."

"No."

He looked at Sofia.

"I'm disappointed."

Sofia stared at him.

"You've disappointed everyone."

Salvatore ignored her.

He turned to me.

"You have one final choice."

"What?"

"Give me the ledger."

"I don't have it."

"Then tell me the code."

"I don't know it."

He smiled.

"You already told me."

I frowned.

"When?"

He pointed toward the jar.

"The first jar Dante bought from you."

My stomach dropped.

He knew.

My father had embedded the first number in the honey seal.

Dante had bought every jar for six weeks.

Not because he loved honey.

Because he was collecting pieces of a code.

But if Salvatore had one jar...

He already had part of it.

"What happens if I don't tell you?"

He stood.

"Lily dies."

I looked at the child.

She was shaking.

Then she said something that stunned me.

"The ledger isn't the important thing."

Salvatore turned.

"What did you say?"

Lily looked at me.

"It's the name."

"What name?"

She smiled through her tears.

"The name under the floor."

Salvatore's face changed.

Sofia whispered.

"Lily."

Too late.

Salvatore grabbed the girl.

Dante's voice came through a speaker.

"Let her go."

Salvatore froze.

A security camera turned toward the door.

Dante appeared on the monitor.

Blood covered his shirt.

His eyes were terrifying.

"You wanted me alone."

Salvatore smiled.

"And you came."

"I always do."

Dante held up a small metal object.

The key.

"The ledger isn't at Saint Agnes."

Salvatore's smile faded.

"It's here."

Dante pointed toward the floor.

"And you're standing on it."

The lights went out.

Gunfire exploded.

Sofia screamed.

Lily vanished into the darkness.

I crawled toward where I'd last seen her.

Then someone grabbed my wrist.

Dante.

"Run."

"Where's Lily?"

"Marco has her."

"Where?"

Dante looked at me.

May you like

My Family Inherited Millions and Left Me a Ruined House. Four Months Lat...

The lawyer’s office fell silent as my grandmother’s will was read, and I watched my family inherit millions while I received nothi...

A Desperate Mother Begged a Billionaire for a Job to Feed Her Two Childr...

I was stranded on a lonely Arizona highway with two starving children, a pair of ruined suitcases, and no way to reach our destina...

I Saved the Mafia Boss’s Baby from a Dumpster, but He Threw Me in Jail f...

The first thing I noticed when I opened the dumpster behind the Valente mansion was a tiny blue hand sticking out from beneath a f...

His face was grim.

"He sold us out."