Chapter 7 - THE TRAITOR’S LAST BARGAIN
Leo survived.
Three days later, he was conducting meetings from his bedroom against medical advice.
Elena confiscated his phone.
He stared at her.
“Give it back.”
“No.”
“You don’t work here anymore.”
“Then you can’t fire me.”
Marco coughed to hide a laugh.
Leo pointed toward the door.
“Everyone out.”
Elena stayed.
“You too.”
“No.”
His expression softened.
That frightened her more than his anger ever had.
Then Arthur disappeared.
The guard outside his room was found unconscious.
No forced exit.
No broken cameras.
Arthur had left willingly.
On the pillow was a message.
I CAN GET DANIEL BACK. DON’T FOLLOW ME.
Daniel was alive.
The execution video had been staged.
Arthur had recognized a scar on his son’s wrist that was missing from the supposed corpse shown later.
Leo immediately understood.
“Moretti wants the ledger.”
Elena nodded.
“And Arthur is going to trade it.”
“He doesn’t have it.”
“He thinks he can get it.”
Leo opened his safe.
Empty.
Elena stared.
“You moved it?”
“No.”
Only four people knew the combination.
Leo.
Marco.
Arthur.
And Elena.
She looked at him.
“I didn’t take it.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“Because if you had, you wouldn’t still be arguing with me.”
Marco entered carrying security footage.
It showed Evelyn walking into Leo’s bedroom.
Twenty minutes later she left carrying a black bag.
Elena went cold.
“No.”
Evelyn was gone from the guest suite.
A note waited on the bed.
I’m sorry. This ends with me.
They traced Arthur and Evelyn to an abandoned freight terminal.
Leo insisted on going despite his wound.
The exchange was already happening when they arrived.
Arthur stood beside Evelyn.
Daniel knelt twenty feet away.
Samuel Price held a gun against his head.
Carlo Moretti stood behind him.
Seventy years old.
Silver-haired.
Elegant.
A man who had buried enemies while shaking hands at charity dinners.
Evelyn held the ledger.
Carlo smiled.
“After twenty-eight years.”
Evelyn raised it.
“Daniel first.”
Carlo nodded.
Price shoved Daniel forward.
Arthur ran to his son.
Then Carlo lifted his gun.
Evelyn saw it.
“Arthur!”
She pushed him aside.
The bullet struck her.
Chaos exploded.
Leo’s men moved.
Marco fired.
Price ran.
Arthur dragged Daniel behind cover.
Elena reached her mother.
Evelyn was conscious.
“Ledger,” she gasped.
Carlo had it.
Leo pursued him into the warehouse.
Elena followed despite Marco shouting at her to stay back.
Carlo reached an upper catwalk.
Leo cornered him.
“You should’ve died like your mother,” Carlo said.
Leo’s face changed.
Carlo smiled.
“She begged beautifully.”
Leo lunged.
They crashed into the railing.
The ledger fell to the floor below.
Carlo drew a knife.
Leo caught his wrist.
His injured shoulder gave out.
Carlo forced him backward.
Then Elena appeared.
“Carlo.”
He turned.
She held a gun.
“You’re Evelyn’s girl.”
“Yes.”
“You look like her.”
“Put the knife down.”
Carlo smiled.
“You won’t shoot.”
“Why?”
“Because your mother raised you better.”
A voice behind Elena answered.
“No.”
Evelyn stood at the stairwell, one hand pressed against her bleeding side.
“I raised her smarter.”
Carlo’s smile disappeared.
Police sirens sounded outside.
Carlo looked toward the windows.
Evelyn smiled weakly.
“You spent twenty-eight years trying to destroy the evidence.”
She pointed toward the ledger below.
“That was never the only copy.”
Carlo went still.
Evelyn had uploaded everything.
Federal investigators had it.
Prosecutors had it.
Reporters had encrypted copies scheduled for release.
Carlo’s empire was already collapsing.
He turned toward Leo in rage.
That second of distraction was enough.
Leo disarmed him.
Carlo hit the floor.
Leo stood over him.
Every instinct built into him by generations of violence demanded one ending.
A bullet.
Instead, Leo kicked the gun away.
“No.”
Carlo laughed.
“Too weak to finish it?”
Leo looked toward Elena.
“No.”
Then back at Carlo.
“Strong enough not to become you.”
Police flooded the warehouse.
Carlo Moretti was arrested.
Samuel Price was captured two blocks away.
Arthur held his son.
Elena held her mother.
And Leo Rossi stood beneath the broken lights of the warehouse as the criminal world his father had inherited finally began to collapse.
But the black ledger had one secret left.
On its final page was a list of active businesses.
One name appeared above all others.
ROSSI HOLDINGS — BENEFICIARY: ELENA BENNETT.
Elena stared at Leo.
“What does that mean?”
Leo looked equally stunned.
Evelyn closed her eyes.
Because she knew.
May you like
Giuseppe Rossi had not merely protected Elena.
He had left her half of everything.
