Chapter 3 - THE SECRET IN THE OLD LEDGER
Three days passed.
I remained inside the Russo estate.
Dante never treated me like a prisoner.
He also never let me leave.
Oddly, I began to understand why.
Someone had tried twice to enter the property.
Both times, security stopped them.
The second man had been carrying a camera.
The first had been carrying a gun.
Dante became quieter after that.
One morning, I found him in the kitchen making coffee.
I stopped in the doorway.
“You make your own coffee?”
He looked at me.
“Apparently.”
I smiled.
“Terrifying.”
His mouth twitched.
“You're getting comfortable.”
“Your house has excellent coffee.”
“That's the only reason?”
“No.”
He waited.
I smiled.
“I also enjoy annoying you.”
He actually laughed.
It startled both of us.
Then Mrs. Bell entered.
“Mr. Russo, your aunt is here.”
Dante's expression immediately changed.
“My aunt?”
“Isabella.”
His jaw tightened.
“Send her away.”
A woman's voice came from the hallway.
“Still pretending you don't have a family?”
She entered without permission.
She was elegant, silver-haired, and carried herself like someone accustomed to being obeyed.
Her eyes landed on me.
“So this is her.”
Dante stepped forward.
“She is not part of this.”
Isabella smiled.
“Everyone becomes part of it eventually.”
Then she turned toward me.
“You should leave, sweetheart.”
I looked at Dante.
He said nothing.
I looked back at Isabella.
“Why?”
“Because women around my nephew tend to become collateral.”
Dante's voice became cold.
“Enough.”
Isabella stared at him.
“You're repeating your father's mistakes.”
His face hardened.
“Get out.”
She left.
I waited.
“What did she mean?”
“Nothing.”
“That wasn't nothing.”
Dante walked away.
I followed.
“Dante.”
He stopped.
“You said you don't trust people. Fine. But I'm already involved.”
He turned.
“You don't understand what you're involved in.”
“Then explain it.”
He stared at me.
“My father built an organization around the docks.”
“Criminal?”
“Yes.”
I wasn't shocked.
“I inherited it.”
“Because you wanted to?”
“No.”
“Then why stay?”
His eyes became distant.
“Because leaving would have put my younger sister in danger.”
I said nothing.
He continued.
“My father used fear to control everyone around him. When he died, the organization fractured.”
“And now?”
“Now someone is trying to take it back.”
I slowly understood.
“The person behind the attack?”
“Maybe.”
Then Gabriel entered.
“We found something.”
He placed an old ledger on the table.
It belonged to Dante's father.
Inside were names, payments, properties.
And one name repeated dozens of times.
Isabella Russo.
Dante stared.
“No.”
Gabriel pointed at a line.
“Look at the dates.”
I leaned closer.
The payments had begun seventeen years ago.
They continued for years.
Then stopped exactly one month before Dante's father died.
“Why would your aunt pay him?”
Dante didn't answer.
Gabriel did.
“She wasn't paying him.”
He flipped the page.
“She was paying someone else.”
A second name appeared.
Victor Hale.
Dante's oldest rival.
Dante's face became expressionless.
“My father and Victor were enemies.”
“Exactly.”
Gabriel pointed to the final entry.
“Three days before your father's death, Victor's name disappears.”
Dante looked up.
“What are you saying?”
Gabriel swallowed.
“I think Victor didn't disappear.”
He looked at me.
“He went underground.”
The room went silent.
That night, I couldn't sleep.
I walked downstairs for water.
Dante was standing by the window.
“Can't sleep?”
“No.”
He looked outside.
“Neither can I.”
I stood beside him.
“Do you ever get tired?”
“Yes.”
“You don't look it.”
“I've had practice.”
I smiled.
Then I noticed an old scar near his wrist.
“Who did that?”
“My father.”
My smile disappeared.
“How?”
Dante stared at the rain.
“I tried to protect my sister.”
“What happened?”
“My father punished me for disobedience.”
I looked at him.
He didn't elaborate.
He didn't need to.
For the first time, I reached toward him.
My fingers stopped before touching his hand.
He looked down.
Then he turned his palm upward.
An invitation.
I placed my hand in his.
Neither of us spoke.
But something changed.
Not love.
Not yet.
Something quieter.
Trust.
Then Dante's phone rang.
He answered.
His expression transformed.
“What?”
A pause.
“Where?”
He looked at me.
“Stay here.”
“What happened?”
“My sister has been taken.”
His fingers tightened around mine.
“And the person who took her left one message.”
“What message?”
May you like
Dante's eyes became ice.
“They asked for Eleanor.”
