Chapter 3 – THE BLACK LEDGER

The small flame of the lighter cast long, desperate shadows against the tunnel walls.

“A ledger?” Damian asked, his voice echoing softly in the cramped space. “Grandfather controls all the family’s books. What could Frances have possibly sent you?”

Evelyn’s hands trembled as she picked up the broken gold locket.

“It isn’t a financial ledger, sweetheart,” Evelyn whispered. “It’s a diary of every lie Dominick ever told. Every person he ruined to build his empire. And the names of the people he actually ordered killed.”

Thomas’s jaw tightened. “The Five Families have maintained a truce for twenty years because they believe Dominick is honorable. If they saw that book…”

“They would execute him,” Damian finished, the reality settling over him.

Evelyn nodded, tears spilling down her cheeks. “Frances knew she was dying. She found it in his safe. She mailed it to me in Albany because she knew Dominick would never look for me. She told me to keep it hidden until you were ready to take over the family.”

Damian stared at his mother.

For thirty years, she had lived in a small, quiet house, sewing hems for pennies, while guarding a secret that could topple the most powerful crime syndicate in New York.

She hadn’t just abandoned him. She had been protecting the weapon he needed to free himself.

Suddenly, heavy footsteps hammered against the floorboards above us.

“They’re searching the second floor,” Thomas said, extinguishing the lighter to keep us hidden. “Where did you put the book, Evie?”

Evelyn swallowed. “I brought it with me today. I hid it inside the lining of Frances’s wedding veil. The one I gave to Anna to hold.”

My stomach plummeted.

In the pitch black, I felt three pairs of eyes turn toward me.

“Anna,” Damian said slowly. “Where is the veil?”

My breath hitched.

“When Celeste told me to throw it away earlier… I didn’t want to ruin it,” I whispered, my voice shaking. “I folded it and placed it inside the cedar chest in the master bedroom. Upstairs.”

Thomas cursed under his breath. “The master bedroom. That’s exactly where Dominick’s men are heading.”

“We have to get it before they tear the room apart,” Damian said.

I reached out in the dark, finding the wooden rungs of the servant’s ladder.

“The dumbwaiter shaft leads directly to the master closet,” I said. “I can get there fastest. I know the layout.”

“No,” Damian said firmly. “I won’t let you risk your life for my family’s sins.”

“Mr. Vitelli,” I said, my voice surprisingly steady. “If Celeste and Dominick win tonight, I lose my job. If I lose my job, my father dies in that hospital bed. This is my fight, too.”

Damian was silent for a moment. Then, in the darkness, I felt his large hand gently squeeze my shoulder.

“Show us the way, Anna.”

We climbed the narrow, dusty shaft in complete silence. My muscles burned, but the thought of my father’s face kept me moving upward.

I pushed open the hidden panel inside the master closet.

The bedroom was dimly lit by a single bedside lamp. It was empty.

I crept out, pointing toward the heavy cedar chest at the foot of the bed. Damian and Thomas moved like shadows, securing the hallway doors.

I opened the chest and dug past the extra blankets.

My fingers brushed the delicate ivory lace of Frances’s veil.

“I have it,” I whispered, pulling it out. I felt the heavy, rectangular weight of the leather book sewn seamlessly into the lining.

Before I could turn around, the bedroom doors burst open.

The lights flipped on, blindingly bright.

Standing in the doorway was Celeste.

She wasn’t holding a contract anymore. She was holding a silver revolver, pointed directly at my chest.

“Hand me the veil, you little rat,” Celeste sneered.

But I didn’t drop it.

Because stepping out from the shadows behind her, placing the cold barrel of a gun directly against the back of Celeste’s head, was Thomas Russo.

“Drop it,” Thomas whispered, “or the wedding is permanently canceled.”

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