Chapter 3 - THE BLEEDING LEDGER
Gunfire erupted, but not from the nursery. It came from the corridor. Lorenzo didn't hesitate. He kicked the heavy oak door outward the moment the lock splintered, firing twice into the shadows. I shielded Leo with my body, burying my face into the plush rug. Screams echoed, followed by the heavy thud of bodies hitting the floor. When the deafening silence returned, Lorenzo pulled me to my feet. Marcus was gone, having fled into the labyrinth of the mansion, but two masked men lay dead in the hallway.
We moved swiftly through the darkness, Lorenzo clearing every corner while I clutched his son. We reached his subterranean office, locking the reinforced steel door behind us. Lorenzo immediately logged into his encrypted terminal, bypassing the compromised security feeds to access the family's core financial servers. "The nurse wasn't just sleeping," he said, his voice laced with venom. "She was drugged. And Marcus was right about a generous man."
He pulled up months of internal accounting procedures, his eyes scanning the digital ledgers. I watched the screen, recognizing the sophisticated financial record-keeping techniques from my past life before everything fell apart. "Look at the shell accounts," I pointed out, my voice trembling but certain. "Someone has been manipulating the reconciliation logs. They aren't just embezzling; they are siphoning funds to the very cartel hunting Marcus. Your accountant, or whoever manages your books, bought my ex-boyfriend's debt to use him as a disposable hitman tonight." Lorenzo looked at me, truly seeing me for the first time. "My underboss, Silas, handles the ledgers. He wanted me distracted by Leo's failing health."
