Chapter 6 - THE LEDGER UNDER THE FLOORThe Mother Who Had Been Lying for LoveGabriel survived.
Barely.
For three days he remained unconscious in a private clinic controlled by Matteo.
Those three days changed everything.
The Vescari organization fractured.
Half the men loyal to Victor disappeared.
Three politicians stopped answering phones.
Two judges resigned.
And one private investigator was found dead in a parked car with a single dragon carved into his windshield.
Matteo blamed Carlo.
Alina blamed the entire family.
When Gabriel finally woke, the first person he asked for was Elena.
But Elena was still missing.
So Alina went looking.
She returned to the old apartment.
Police tape had been removed.
The walls had been repaired.
The kitchen looked almost normal.
Almost.
She stood in the pantry.
The hidden door was gone.
Alina touched the wood.
Something clicked.
A panel opened.
Inside was a narrow cavity.
Empty.
Except for an old envelope.
Her name was written on it.
Alina.
She opened it.
Her mother's handwriting.
"You will hate me when you learn the truth."
Alina's eyes burned.
"I would rather have you hate me than bury you."
Behind the letter was a photograph.
Elena.
Gabriel.
Victor.
And a fourth person.
Matteo.
Young.
Maybe eighteen.
The photo had been taken twenty years ago.
On the back:
The night Matteo was supposed to die.
Alina stared.
Why would her mother keep that?
A floorboard creaked behind her.
She turned.
Matteo stood in the doorway.
"You shouldn't be here alone."
"You followed me."
"Yes."
"Did my mother know you were coming?"
"No."
Alina showed him the photograph.
He stared.
"I thought this was destroyed."
"What happened that night?"
Matteo sat on the edge of the table.
"My father ordered Gabriel killed."
"Why?"
"Gabriel found the ledger."
"What was in it?"
"Payments to judges. Police. Contractors. Rivals. Everyone."
Alina looked at the fourth figure.
"Why am I here?"
Matteo went quiet.
"Because you were the reason Gabriel was going to expose him."
She stared.
"That doesn't make sense."
"Victor believed Gabriel planned to use you as leverage against him."
"What did Gabriel actually plan?"
"To disappear."
"And my mother?"
"She helped him."
"And you?"
"I was supposed to help too."
"Supposed to?"
Matteo looked at the photo.
"I changed my mind."
"Why?"
"Because I was afraid."
That admission sounded strange coming from him.
"You were eighteen."
"Exactly."
He stood.
"My father killed men in front of us when we were children. He taught us fear before he taught us language."
Alina looked away.
"Then why are you protecting me now?"
"Because Gabriel asked me to."
"When?"
"Twenty years ago."
He reached into his coat.
A folded letter.
He handed it to her.
The handwriting was Gabriel's.
"Matteo, if Elena succeeds in getting Alina out, never bring her back unless the dragon comes first."
Alina frowned.
"The dragon?"
Matteo pointed at her pendant.
"That's not just jewelry."
She removed it.
He opened the small metal backing with a knife.
Inside was a microfilm strip.
Alina stared.
"There."
Matteo's voice dropped.
"Your mother hid the ledger."
"Inside my pendant?"
"Not the ledger."
He looked at the microfilm.
"The location."
A noise came from upstairs.
Both turned.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Heavy.
Matteo pulled his gun.
Alina backed toward the wall.
The footsteps stopped.
Then a woman's voice drifted downstairs.
"Alina?"
Her heart slammed.
"Mom?"
Elena appeared at the top of the stairs.
Blood stained one sleeve.
She looked exhausted.
But alive.
Alina ran to her.
"Mom!"
They embraced.
Elena cried into her daughter's hair.
"I'm sorry."
Alina pulled back.
"You knew."
"Yes."
"You knew Gabriel was alive."
"Yes."
"You knew the pendant mattered."
"Yes."
"Then why didn't you tell me?"
Elena looked toward Matteo.
"Because I was afraid he'd come too."
Matteo frowned.
"Who?"
Elena whispered a name.
"Victor."
Alina went still.
"He's dead."
Elena shook her head.
"No."
May you like
Then she looked at Matteo.
"Your father has been alive for seventeen years."
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