Chapter 4 - The Price of Trust
They arrived in Sicily two days later.
Khloe hadn't returned in five years.
The old Rossi estate looked smaller than she remembered.
The stone walls were cracked.
The gardens were dead.
The windows were broken.
But the underground entrance remained.
Nicholas brought only four men.
Khloe objected.
“That's not enough.”
“I don't need an army.”
“You don't understand.”
“I understand you.”
She looked at him.
“You really don't.”
They entered the tunnel.
The air smelled of dust and stone.
Khloe led the way.
Halfway through, she stopped.
“What?”
She pointed to the wall.
A symbol had been carved into the stone.
A wolf.
But beneath it was something new.
Three lines.
Khloe's face tightened.
“That wasn't there before.”
Nicholas touched the marking.
“Someone has been here.”
A gunshot echoed through the tunnel.
Everyone dropped.
More followed.
Nicholas pulled Khloe behind a stone column.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
“Khloe.”
She looked at him.
“You don't know how to fight beside me.”
A faint smile touched her lips.
“You still haven't figured out who you're talking to.”
She moved.
Fast.
Two attackers came around the corner.
Khloe disarmed the first.
Nicholas handled the second.
For several seconds, they moved together without speaking.
Perfectly.
Like they had done it before.
When the shooting stopped, Nicholas stared at her.
“You really are her.”
Khloe breathed heavily.
“The Angel of Palermo?”
“Yes.”
“I never liked that name.”
“Why?”
“It makes me sound nicer than I am.”
Nicholas laughed.
It was the first time she had heard him laugh.
Then he noticed blood on her sleeve.
“You're hurt.”
“It's nothing.”
He tore a strip from his shirt.
“Sit.”
“I can handle it.”
“I know.”
He wrapped the wound.
His fingers were surprisingly gentle.
Khloe looked at him.
“You shouldn't care this much.”
Nicholas didn't look up.
“Too late.”
The words struck deeper than either expected.
They reached the vault before midnight.
Khloe entered the old code.
The steel door opened.
Inside were ledgers.
Hard drives.
Photographs.
And one sealed envelope.
Khloe opened it.
Her father's handwriting appeared.
Katarina, if you're reading this, then I failed to protect you.
Her hands trembled.
The Rossi family was betrayed by someone we trusted.
She continued reading.
But the traitor was never acting alone.
Then came the final line.
Look to America.
Khloe looked up.
Nicholas understood immediately.
“The betrayal didn't end in Sicily.”
“No.”
“It continued here.”
Enzo examined the files.
“There's something else.”
A financial record connected the Rossi network to several American corporations.
One name appeared repeatedly.
Moretti Holdings.
Khloe stared at Nicholas.
“What does this mean?”
Nicholas's face became unreadable.
“I don't know.”
She stepped backward.
“You're connected.”
“I didn't know.”
“But your family did.”
“Khloe—”
She grabbed the files.
“I need to know whether you brought me here to help me or because you wanted what my father left behind.”
Nicholas didn't answer immediately.
That silence hurt.
Khloe turned away.
“That's what I thought.”
He caught her wrist.
She pulled free.
“Don't.”
His voice softened.
“I won't lie to you.”
“Then tell me the truth.”
“I don't have it yet.”
She looked at him.
“But I will find it.”
Khloe's eyes filled with frustration.
“And if the truth destroys us?”
May you like
Nicholas stepped closer.
“Then we survive it.”
