Chapter 6 - THE KEY IN HER HANDTessa couldn't understand.
“Me?”
Brett nodded.
“You were seventeen when he died.”
“I was a kid.”
“You were his insurance.”
Salvatore's eyes narrowed.
“What did he do?”
Brett's smile disappeared.
“He tattooed the location onto her.”
Tessa touched her wrist instinctively.
Nothing.
Brett laughed.
“Not there.”
Salvatore suddenly stared at the small scar just below her collarbone.
Tessa followed his gaze.
“What?”
He stepped closer.
“When was that scar?”
“I don't know.”
Salvatore looked at Brett.
Brett nodded.
“Exactly.”
Tessa felt dizzy.
“No.”
Brett looked at Evan.
“Your father knew they would come after all of you.”
“He turned his own daughter into a vault.”
Tessa backed away.
“You're lying.”
“Am I?”
Brett pointed at the scar.
“You've had it since childhood.”
Tessa remembered.
A fever.
A hospital.
Her mother refusing to explain why she had been unconscious for so long.
Her father sitting beside her bed.
His trembling hand covering hers.
She remembered one strange sentence.
Never let anyone see this.
Tessa's breath caught.
She pulled down her collar.
Salvatore stepped closer.
The scar wasn't random.
It formed a pattern.
Tiny lines.
Almost invisible.
A map.
Brett's eyes gleamed.
“There.”
Salvatore studied it.
“It's coordinates.”
“Take her,” Brett ordered.
Two armed men approached.
Salvatore fired first.
Chaos erupted.
Evan ducked.
Tessa hit the floor.
One man fell.
Another fired.
Salvatore took the shot in his shoulder.
Tessa screamed.
He staggered.
“Salvatore!”
He looked at her.
“Run.”
She refused.
She dragged him behind the wall.
“You're bleeding.”
“I've had worse.”
“You're always saying that.”
He smiled faintly.
“Because it's usually true.”
She pressed cloth against the wound.
Their faces were inches apart.
He stared at her.
“What?”
“You're not afraid of me anymore.”
Tessa shook her head.
“I am.”
“Good.”
She smiled despite herself.
“Just not for the reason you want.”
“What reason?”
“I'm afraid you're going to die.”
Something changed in his expression.
His fingers touched hers.
Then he signed slowly.
I don't want to.
Tessa looked at his hands.
Then at his face.
“Why?”
He answered without signing.
“Because I finally found someone worth surviving for.”
Before she could respond, a distant siren echoed.
Brett had escaped.
Evan ran toward them.
He held a piece of paper.
Tessa grabbed it.
One sentence was written on it.
THE LEDGER IS BURIED WHERE THE FIRST MARQUETTI BLOOD WAS SPILLED.
Salvatore stared at it.
Then his face turned pale.
“I know where that is.”
“Where?”
“The old church on Halsted.”
Tessa frowned.
“What's there?”
May you like
He looked at her.
“My father's grave.”
