Chapter 5 - The Church Beneath The SnowThe Ledger Was Waiting Where No One Thought To Look
Saint Agnes Church had been abandoned for twenty-one years.
The roof sagged.
The windows were boarded.
Snow covered the cemetery.
Dante parked behind the building.
Marco stayed in the truck.
Dante and I entered through a side door.
"You still don't trust him."
"No."
"But you brought him."
"I need someone I don't trust."
I stared at him.
"That makes no sense."
"It makes perfect sense in my world."
Inside the church, everything smelled like wet stone and dust.
The altar stood at the front beneath a cracked wooden cross.
We searched beneath it.
Nothing.
Dante pulled out the key Grant had given me.
There was a small brass keyhole hidden inside the altar's base.
I inserted the key.
A compartment opened.
Inside was a metal box.
Dante looked at me.
"You open it."
"Why?"
"Because your father hid it for you."
I lifted the lid.
There was a ledger.
A photograph.
And a letter.
My hands shook.
I opened the letter first.
Nora,
If you're reading this, I failed to keep you away from the people who come looking for what I found.
I need you to know one thing.
I never worked for Dante Russo.
I worked against him.
But there were people inside his organization who were worse than Dante.
People who wanted Sofia dead.
People who wanted you dead before you ever knew why.
Trust no Russo.
Except the one who buys your honey.
I looked up.
Dante was staring at me.
"Your father hated me."
"Apparently."
"Then why did he tell you to trust me?"
"I don't know."
Dante opened the ledger.
Names filled the pages.
Dates.
Payments.
Addresses.
Coded initials.
He turned several pages.
Then stopped.
His expression changed.
"What?"
He showed me a line.
S.R.
A payment.
Then another.
A.B.
Then another.
D.R.
My stomach dropped.
"D.R."
Dante's initials.
He shook his head.
"Not me."
"How do you know?"
"Because I was in prison that year."
"Then who?"
He flipped the page.
A full name appeared.
Dante Russo.
But the handwriting was wrong.
Dante stared.
"This isn't my signature."
I looked closer.
The ink had faded.
The page had been altered.
Someone wanted people to believe Dante was ordering payments he never made.
"Who benefits?"
"Everyone who wants me blamed."
A sound echoed from outside.
Footsteps.
Dante closed the ledger.
"Someone's here."
We killed the lights.
Four shadows moved across the frosted windows.
Dante whispered, "Stay behind me."
The church doors burst open.
Gunfire erupted.
Wood exploded from the pews.
Dante fired three times.
Someone screamed.
Another man rushed through the side entrance.
I grabbed the metal candlestick from the altar and swung.
It hit his wrist.
His gun dropped.
He cursed.
Dante shot the weapon away.
Then he grabbed the man by the collar.
"Who sent you?"
The man smiled.
"You're already too late."
"What does that mean?"
He looked at me.
"The girl doesn't know."
My blood ran cold.
"What girl?"
He laughed.
"Your father never told you."
Dante's grip tightened.
"Told her what?"
The man whispered.
"You're not the daughter he thought he was protecting."
Then he bit down.
A tiny capsule cracked between his teeth.
He collapsed.
Dante checked his pulse.
Dead.
I couldn't breathe.
"What did he mean?"
Dante looked at the ledger.
Then at me.
"We need to leave."
"No."
"Nora."
"What did he mean?"
"I don't know."
"You're lying."
"I said I don't know."
The church windows exploded inward.
A sniper's bullet struck the wall inches from my head.
Dante tackled me to the floor.
A second bullet hit the altar.
The ledger fell open.
A loose photograph slid from between the pages.
I picked it up.
My father was holding a baby.
A woman stood beside him.
And written across the bottom in my father's handwriting were six words.
MY DAUGHTER MUST NEVER KNOW.
I stared at the photograph.
Dante saw it.
Neither of us spoke.
Then the church bell rang.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Dante's face went pale.
"What's wrong?"
He looked toward the bell tower.
"That's a signal."
"For what?"
May you like
He grabbed my hand.
"For war."
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