Chapter 13 - The Sister’s Ledger
The roaring storm outside muffled the tense silence inside the study as Elena sat wrapped in a heavy wool blanket, a cup of steaming black coffee clutched between her shaking hands. The medical lights overhead cast a clinical glow over her pale features.
I stood beside her with a digital thermometer and a roll of sterile gauze, checking her for signs of hypothermia while Dominic paced slowly near the bay window, his shadow stretching long across the floorboards.
“You said Marco was your brother,” Dominic began, his voice dangerously low. “Marco was an only child raised by my uncle in the Palermo branch. You don’t share a bloodline with him.”
“Not by blood,” Elena whispered, her eyes fixed on the dark liquid in her cup. “By adoption. When our family was wiped out during the dock wars five years ago, Marco took me in. But he didn't do it out of kindness. He used me as leverage to keep me quiet about what he was building behind your back.”
“Which was?” I prompted gently, cleaning a superficial scratch on her forearm with antiseptic wash.
Elena flinched slightly at the sting, then looked up, meeting Dominic’s piercing gaze. “A coup. Marco wasn't just working with the Moretti family. He was being financed by someone inside your inner circle—someone who wanted the Rossi syndicate divided and weakened so they could step into the vacuum.”
Dominic stopped pacing. His jaw tightened so hard a muscle twitched in his cheek. “Name them.”
“I don't know the name,” Elena admitted, her voice dropping to a terrified whisper. “Marco only referred to him by a designation in the encrypted comms: The Auditor. But I know where he keeps his secondary records. In the old wine cellar beneath the eastern wing. The vault that only senior family members and... and the head household manager have access to.”
My head snapped up. Leo.
For weeks, Leo had managed the estate with absolute precision. He was the one who welcomed me at the gates, who brought the poisoned water, who knew every secret passage in the mansion.
Before anyone could speak, a sharp, metallic click echoed from the heavy double doors of the study.
May you like
The locks turned.
We were sealed inside from the outside.
