Chapter 5 - THE WOMAN NICHOLAS TRUSTED MOST
Nicholas did not raise his weapon.
That frightened Sophie more than if he had.
“Mother.”
Isabella Falcone's hand trembled around the gun.
“Put yours down.”
Nicholas slowly lowered it.
Marco moved.
Isabella swung the weapon toward him.
“Don't.”
He stopped.
Sophie watched Nicholas.
His expression had become unreadable.
But his eyes were not cold.
They were hurt.
“Why?” he asked.
Isabella swallowed.
“Because this should have stayed buried.”
“My brother spent fifteen years hiding because of what is in that book.”
“And he stayed alive.”
“You knew?”
Silence.
Nicholas took one step forward.
“You knew Gabriel was alive.”
Isabella's eyes filled.
“Yes.”
The answer hit him harder than Gabriel's reappearance.
Sophie saw it.
“You let me mourn him.”
“I kept you alive.”
“You lied to me for fifteen years.”
“Because your father would have killed both of you.”
Nicholas's voice dropped.
“He's been dead eight years.”
“The danger didn't die with him.”
“Who are you protecting?”
Isabella looked at the ledger.
“Not who.”
She looked at Sophie.
“What.”
Nicholas immediately moved between them.
Isabella's face twisted.
“I would never hurt her.”
“You're pointing a gun.”
“Because none of you will listen.”
Sophie stepped slightly to one side.
Nicholas blocked her again.
She whispered, “I can't see.”
“That's intentional.”
“Nicholas.”
“No.”
Isabella almost laughed.
“You sound like your father.”
Nicholas's face hardened.
“Don't.”
“Then stop acting like force solves everything.”
“You're still holding the gun, Mother.”
She looked at it.
Slowly, she lowered the weapon.
Marco immediately took it.
Nicholas crossed the distance to her and removed the ledger from her hands.
“Talk.”
Isabella closed her eyes.
“Your father kept records of everyone he paid. Judges. Police commissioners. Union officials. Executives.”
“We know.”
“No, you don't.”
She opened her eyes.
“The ledger also contains names of people who were never paid.”
Sophie frowned.
“Then why are they listed?”
“Because Salvatore kept leverage.”
Nicholas looked down at the book.
“Blackmail.”
“Yes.”
“What kind?”
“Affairs. Financial crimes. Children nobody knew about. Medical records. Everything.”
Sophie felt sick.
“And people are willing to kill for this?”
“People have killed for less.”
Nicholas flipped through the pages.
Most entries were coded.
Initials.
Dates.
Numbers.
Then he stopped.
His expression changed.
“What?”
Sophie moved closer.
One page contained Evelyn Carter's name.
Beside it:
E.C. — copied archive. Unreliable. Daughter insurance.
Sophie stared.
“Daughter insurance?”
Nicholas shut the book.
“Enough.”
“No.”
“Sophie.”
“What does it mean?”
Isabella answered.
“Your father knew Evelyn had a child.”
Sophie looked at Nicholas.
“He threatened me?”
“Possibly.”
“Possibly?”
“We don't know what Salvatore intended.”
Nicholas turned to his mother.
“You knew about this.”
“No.”
“You knew enough.”
“I knew Evelyn was frightened.”
“And you did nothing?”
Isabella's face tightened.
“I helped her disappear.”
Sophie stared.
“What?”
“After Gabriel's supposed death, I gave Evelyn money and new employment records. I helped her build a life outside our world.”
“My mother never changed her name.”
“She refused.”
That sounded exactly like her mother.
Sophie almost smiled.
Almost.
“Why didn't you tell Nicholas?”
“Because Salvatore watched him constantly.”
Nicholas turned away.
The ledger was heavy in his hands.
Not physically.
Historically.
Everything his family had hidden seemed compressed between its covers.
“Who attacked us tonight?” he asked.
“I don't know.”
“Who knew the ledger was here?”
“Salvatore. Gabriel. Evelyn. Me.”
“Father is dead. Evelyn is dead.”
Nicholas looked at her.
“That leaves you and Gabriel.”
“And whoever your father told.”
Marco cleared his throat.
“Boss.”
Nicholas turned.
“We found the source of the blackout.”
“Where?”
“Security control room.”
“And?”
Marco hesitated.
“One of our men is dead.”
Nicholas's expression hardened.
“Who?”
“Daniel Reeves.”
Nicholas went still.
Sophie had never heard the name.
But Isabella had.
“Oh, God.”
Nicholas looked at her.
“What?”
“Daniel wasn't one of your father's men.”
“No.”
“He was Gabriel's.”
Nicholas stared.
Marco continued.
“There's more.”
He held out a phone.
“Daniel sent a message two minutes before the power failed.”
“To whom?”
“We don't know. Number is encrypted.”
“What did it say?”
Marco looked at Sophie.
Nicholas noticed.
“Say it.”
Marco read aloud.
She found it. Move to phase two.
Sophie felt cold.
“She?”
Nicholas immediately looked at her.
Marco nodded.
“There's a photograph attached.”
He showed them.
It was Sophie.
Standing inside the archive.
Taken less than fifteen minutes earlier.
Someone had been watching from inside the mansion.
Nicholas closed the ledger.
“Lock the estate down.”
Marco nodded.
“Nobody leaves.”
“Correct.”
Sophie folded her arms.
“That's going to be awkward for whoever is trying to kill us.”
Nicholas looked at her.
“You joke when you're frightened.”
“You become bossy.”
“I am always bossy.”
“True.”
For half a second, the tension broke.
Then an alarm sounded.
Marco touched his earpiece.
His expression changed.
“North gate.”
“What?”
“Vehicle approaching.”
“Whose?”
Marco listened.
Then looked at Nicholas.
“Gabriel.”
Nicholas's jaw tightened.
Minutes later, Gabriel entered the foyer surrounded by armed guards.
He looked furious.
“You opened the safe.”
Nicholas descended the stairs.
“You knew it was trapped.”
“Yes.”
“You could have mentioned that.”
“I assumed Mother would stop you.”
Nicholas looked toward Isabella.
Sophie watched the silent exchange.
There were decades of secrets in that room.
Gabriel noticed the ledger.
“You found it.”
“And apparently everyone except me knew where it was.”
“I didn't.”
Nicholas laughed coldly.
“Convenient.”
Gabriel stepped closer.
“Did you read page eighty-seven?”
Nicholas looked down.
“No.”
“Read it.”
Nicholas opened the ledger.
Page eighty-seven.
His expression changed.
Sophie moved beside him.
At the top was a name.
Marco Bellini.
Sophie looked across the room.
Marco had gone pale.
The entry contained a payment.
$250,000.
Dated three days before Gabriel's supposed death.
Nicholas slowly lifted his eyes.
“Marco.”
Marco raised his hands.
“I can explain.”
“Please do.”
“That money wasn't from Salvatore.”
“It appears in his ledger.”
“I know.”
Gabriel reached beneath his coat.
Marco's men raised weapons.
Nicholas lifted a hand.
Nobody fired.
Gabriel removed a folded document.
“Marco was my extraction.”
Nicholas frowned.
“What?”
“He arranged the crash.”
Marco nodded.
“The money paid for the vehicles, false medical records, and people who helped Gabriel disappear.”
Nicholas looked between them.
“So he didn't betray you.”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Gabriel looked at Isabella.
She closed her eyes.
“Tell him,” he said.
Nicholas's voice hardened.
“Tell me what?”
Isabella whispered, “Your father wasn't the person who ordered Gabriel killed.”
Silence.
Nicholas stared.
“Who was?”
She looked at Sophie.
Then at Nicholas.
“Your uncle.”
Nicholas's face changed.
“Vittorio?”
“Yes.”
Sophie knew the name.
Vittorio Falcone was Salvatore's younger brother.
A respected philanthropist.
Chairman of the Falcone Foundation.
A man who appeared at hospitals and charity galas.
Nicholas shook his head.
“He's been in Europe for months.”
Gabriel laughed bitterly.
“No. His passport has.”
Nicholas stared at him.
Gabriel continued.
“Vittorio discovered Evelyn and I were collecting evidence. He wanted the ledger because it gave him leverage over half the city.”
“Why kill you?”
“Because I wouldn't give it to him.”
“And Evelyn?”
“He never found her.”
Sophie touched her necklace.
“Until now.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“Yes.”
Nicholas immediately pulled out his phone.
He called someone.
No answer.
Again.
No answer.
His expression sharpened.
“What?”
Sophie asked.
“My cousin.”
“Who?”
“Vittorio's son.”
Nicholas dialed again.
Still nothing.
Then Sophie's phone rang.
Unknown number.
Everyone looked at her.
Nicholas said, “Don't answer.”
She answered.
He glared.
She put it on speaker.
A man's voice came through.
“Happy birthday, Sophie.”
Her blood turned cold.
“Who is this?”
“You already know.”
Nicholas stepped closer.
“Vittorio.”
The man laughed softly.
“Nicholas. Always slower than Gabriel.”
Nicholas's expression became lethal.
“What do you want?”
“The ledger.”
“No.”
“Then perhaps Sophie should ask what happened to her mother.”
Sophie stopped breathing.
“My mother died of cancer.”
“Did she?”
Sophie gripped the phone.
“What are you saying?”
Nicholas reached for it.
She moved away.
Vittorio continued.
“Evelyn Carter didn't die because she was sick.”
Sophie felt the room tilt.
“She was poisoned.”
Nicholas's face changed.
Sophie could barely speak.
“You're lying.”
“Ask Isabella.”
Everyone turned toward Nicholas's mother.
Isabella's face had gone white.
Sophie knew before she answered.
“Oh, God.”
Sophie whispered, “You knew?”
Isabella shook her head.
“Not then.”
“When?”
“Years later.”
Sophie's eyes burned.
“And you said nothing?”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“Stop saying that!”
Her voice cracked across the room.
Nicholas moved toward her.
She stepped away from everyone.
Vittorio spoke again.
“Bring me the ledger tomorrow night, Nicholas.”
“Where?”
“I'll tell you.”
“And if I don't?”
A pause.
Then Vittorio said something that made Nicholas's face empty of emotion.
“Then Sophie gets to learn how her mother felt during her final week.”
The call ended.
Sophie stared at the phone.
Nicholas turned to his men.
“Find him.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“He wants you angry.”
“He succeeded.”
“He wants you reckless.”
Nicholas looked at Sophie.
She had tears in her eyes.
Something inside him shifted.
His anger remained.
But it became colder.
Controlled.
“No,” he said.
“He wants the man my father raised.”
Nicholas closed the ledger.
“He's going to meet the man Sophie found instead.”
Later, Sophie stood alone on the terrace.
Rain had stopped.
Nicholas found her there.
“You should be inside.”
“I'm tired of being told where I should be.”
He stood beside her.
For once, he didn't argue.
“My mother was murdered.”
“We don't know that yet.”
“You believe him.”
Nicholas said nothing.
“That means yes.”
He looked toward the dark trees.
“I believe Vittorio lies when it benefits him.”
“And telling me that benefits him.”
“Yes.”
“But Isabella's reaction?”
Nicholas exhaled.
“That worries me.”
Sophie wiped her cheek angrily.
“I spent years wishing I'd done more for my mother.”
“You were seventeen.”
“I thought she was sick. I thought there was nothing anyone could do.”
Nicholas turned toward her.
“There may have been nothing you could do.”
“You don't know that.”
“No.”
He stepped closer.
“But I know what guilt does when you feed it for fifteen years.”
Sophie looked at him.
His hand lifted slowly.
He touched her cheek.
She didn't move away.
For a moment, there was no ledger.
No Vittorio.
No dead parents.
No armed men.
Only Nicholas.
“Sophie.”
“Yes?”
He leaned closer.
Then every security light on the estate exploded at once.
Darkness.
Nicholas immediately pulled her down.
A rifle shot cracked through the night.
Glass shattered behind them.
Another bullet struck the stone railing exactly where Sophie's head had been.
Nicholas covered her.
Men shouted from inside.
Then a red laser appeared against Nicholas's chest.
Sophie saw it.
“Nicholas!”
She shoved him.
May you like
The rifle fired.
And Nicholas fell.
