Chapter 4 – THE KEY INSIDE THE POCKET WATCH

The library was dead silent for three agonizing seconds.

Dante stared at me, the gravity of my words settling over him like a suffocating blanket. The billions of dollars in the Genesis ledger, the legacy of the Romano family, the safety of his entire empire—it was all locked inside a child’s music box currently in the possession of the man who had abandoned me.

“He didn’t just leave you,” Dante said, his voice dropping to a dangerous, terrifying calm. “Vivienne told him exactly what to steal.”

My chest heaved as the betrayal deepened. Mark hadn’t just taken the car and the savings out of greed. He had taken my childhood memories, the last piece of my father, because Vivienne had promised him a payout.

Suddenly, the heavy oak doors of the library burst open.

Marco, Dante’s head of security, stepped in. He looked uncharacteristically rattled.

“Boss,” Marco said, breathing heavily. “O’Hare is locked down. Our men swept the terminals. Mark Hayes isn’t there. He never boarded a flight to Geneva.”

Dante frowned, stepping away from the sofa. “Vivienne bought him the ticket. The boarding pass was in her coat.”

“It was a decoy,” Marco said grimly. “We checked the security cameras at the estate gates. Hayes didn’t go to the airport.”

Marco held up a tablet, pressing play on a security feed. He handed it to Dante.

I watched Dante’s eyes narrow as he looked at the screen. The muscles in his jaw clenched so hard I thought his teeth might shatter.

“He’s still in the city,” Dante said.

“Worse,” Marco replied. “He’s coming here.”

Dante handed the tablet back. “Why the hell would he come here if he already has the music box and the operational ledger?”

“Because he needs the key,” Henry said softly from his wheelchair.

We all looked at the old man.

Henry was staring at the tiny brass key resting in my palm. “The music box won’t open without it. And if Mark forces it open, the Genesis ledger is rigged to destroy itself. Arturo designed it that way. The only way to retrieve the account numbers is to turn that exact key.”

Vivienne had miscalculated. She thought she had all the pieces, but my father had trusted Henry with the final one.

“Lock down the estate,” Dante ordered Marco. “Arm every man we have. Nobody breaches the perimeter.”

Marco nodded and ran out of the room.

Dante turned to me. The coldness in his eyes melted the second he looked at my trembling frame. He walked over and crouched in front of me, putting him at eye level with my pregnant belly.

“Caroline, look at me,” Dante said firmly.

I forced my eyes to meet his.

“I am not going to let him hurt you,” Dante promised, his voice an iron vow. “You are my family. You are Romano blood. This house is your fortress, and no one is taking you or that baby out of it.”

It was the most fiercely protective thing anyone had ever said to me. For the first time in months, I didn’t feel completely alone.

But our moment was interrupted by the harsh, buzzing sound of the library intercom.

Dante stood up and pressed the button on his desk. “Speak.”

“Mr. Romano,” a guard’s voice crackled through the speaker. “You need to come down to the basement holding cell. Vivienne is going crazy. She says if you don’t talk to her right now, everyone in this house is going to die.”

Dante’s eyes darkened. He looked at Henry. “Watch her.”

“I’m going with you,” I said, struggling to stand.

“No, you aren’t,” Dante said, pushing me gently back down.

“She ruined my life, Dante,” I said, my voice hardening. “She paid my husband to leave me. I deserve to hear what she has to say.”

Dante studied my face. He saw the fire replacing the fear. He gave a single, tight nod.

We walked down the long, narrow stone steps into the basement. The air was cold and smelled of damp earth. At the end of the corridor was a reinforced steel door with a small barred window.

Dante unlocked it and pushed it open.

Vivienne was sitting on a metal cot, her designer silk dress ruined, her hair a mess. She looked up when we entered, her eyes wild with panic.

“Did you find him?” Vivienne demanded, jumping to her feet. “Did you stop Mark?”

“Mark didn’t go to the airport,” Dante said coldly. “He’s coming here.”

All the color drained from Vivienne’s face. She stumbled backward, hitting the stone wall. “No. No, he was supposed to run. He was supposed to take the ledger to the Morettis in Geneva.”

“Why?” I asked, stepping out from behind Dante. “Why do you care so much about the Moretti family?”

Vivienne looked at me, a hysterical laugh escaping her lips. “Because I owe them, you stupid girl! Before I met Dante, I borrowed money from the Moretti syndicate to cover my father’s gambling debts. They were going to kill me. The only way out was to steal the Genesis ledger to pay them back.”

Dante stepped forward, his presence suffocating the small cell. “So you hired Mark to steal the music box.”

“Yes!” Vivienne cried. “He was just a pawn. A greedy, pathetic loser who wanted a quick payday. But he got greedy.”

“What do you mean?” Dante asked.

Vivienne looked at him, genuine terror in her eyes. “Mark didn’t call the Morettis to hand over the ledger. He called them to make a deal. He wants to buy his way into the syndicate.”

My heart stopped.

“He wants the key,” Vivienne whispered. “And he’s not coming alone. He’s bringing the Moretti hitmen with him.”

Suddenly, the heavy blast of gunfire erupted from the floor above us.