Chapter 10 - The Black LedgerI do not remember running.

I remember pain.

I remember the cane clattering behind me on the marble floor. I remember guards shouting my name. I remember Victor’s voice tearing through the estate like thunder.

And I remember one thought.

Not Leo.

Not him.

I reached the library as Dante was reviewing camera feeds on a wall of monitors. Victor stood behind him, white with fury. Adriana gripped the back of a chair. Alessia had been brought in by two guards despite her wound, because no one could keep a mother away from a missing child.

“He was in his room at 1:42,” Dante said. “Camera glitches at 1:46. Back online at 1:49. He’s gone.”

Victor’s hand slammed onto the desk. “Inside job.”

A guard flinched.

Alessia’s voice was hoarse. “Matteo.”

“No,” I said.

Everyone looked at me.

I could barely breathe, but the thought was clear.

“Leo heard us.”

Victor’s eyes narrowed. “Heard what?”

I looked at Alessia.

Her face changed.

“The ledger,” she whispered.

Victor turned slowly.

“What ledger?”

Alessia closed her eyes.

I answered because we did not have time for dead secrets.

“The black ledger your wife died trying to steal. The one Leo hid in her room.”

Victor looked as if the floor had vanished.

“My father’s ledger?”

Adriana whispered something in Italian and sat down hard.

Victor grabbed the edge of the desk.

“Leo knew?”

“He was three,” Alessia said. “He thought it was a book.”

“Where?” Victor demanded.

Alessia looked at me.

“My room.”

My heart lurched.

I turned and ran again.

This time Victor followed.

The east wing doors were open. My bed was unmade. The wardrobe stood slightly ajar.

The panic room.

I crossed the room, ignoring the fire in my back, and pulled at the wardrobe panel. Nothing happened.

Victor reached over me and pressed a hidden latch.

The wardrobe swung inward.

Inside was a small reinforced room with emergency supplies, monitors, and an old toy chest.

The toy chest had not been there before.

Or maybe I had never noticed it because I had been too busy feeling haunted.

Victor opened it.

Inside were baby blankets, a stuffed rabbit, a cracked music box, and beneath them—

Nothing.

“The ledger is gone,” Victor said.

My eyes caught on the music box.

It was open.

A folded sticky note sat inside.

A child’s handwriting.

SORRY. I HAD TO SAVE MOMMY.

Alessia made a sound behind us.

Leo had heard enough to believe the ledger could protect her.

Or bring her back.

Or stop the bad people.

Victor stared at the note like it might kill him.

Then his phone rang.

Unknown number.

He answered on speaker.

Leo’s voice came through, small and shaking.

“Daddy?”

Victor’s face broke.

“Leo. Where are you?”

“I’m sorry.”

“Listen to me. Are you hurt?”

“No.”

“Who is with you?”

A pause.

Then a woman’s voice replaced his.

“Hello, Victor.”

Alessia went pale.

“Serafina,” she whispered.

Victor’s expression turned deadly.

“If you touch him—”

“Relax. The boy is fine. Very brave. Walked right into the arms of my driver with your father’s sins under his jacket.”

My blood chilled.

Victor closed his eyes.

“What do you want?”

Serafina laughed.

“The same thing your family always stole. Ownership.”

“Of what?”

“The ledger for Leo’s life. But bring both wives.”

I looked at Victor.

Alessia gripped the doorframe.

Serafina continued, “The dead one, and the new one. Matteo wants a reunion.”

“Where?”

“The old opera house. Dawn. No army, Victor. No tricks. Or the child learns what bullets feel like from the other side.”

The line went dead.

For one second, no one moved.

Then Victor turned to Dante.

“Prepare everyone.”

Serafina had said no army.

Victor Romano heard war.

I stepped in front of him.

“No.”

His eyes snapped to mine.

“She wants you emotional,” I said. “She wants you charging in angry.”

“My son—”

“Needs you smart.”

Alessia looked at me.

So did Adriana.

Victor breathed once. Twice.

Then he said, “What do you suggest, wife?”

The word did not sound like a cage this time.

It sounded like trust.

I picked up Leo’s sticky note and held it carefully.

“He walked out to save his mother,” I said. “So we make them believe the ledger is worth more than him.”

Victor’s eyes sharpened.

“And if it is?”

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I looked at the empty toy chest.

“Then we better find out what’s inside it before dawn.”