Chapter 5 - The Lockbox
“A key?” I stared at the small piece of brass, my mind reeling. “To what?”
“I don’t know,” Alessandro admitted, picking it up. “But the engraving on the teeth matches a private vault facility in Zurich. Tomaso must have left something there. Something the Romanos killed him for.”
The revelation that my husband was Alessandro’s long-lost brother shifted everything. The man who had been my employer—the man I feared—was my brother-in-law. Emma’s uncle.
I looked at Emma, sleeping peacefully on the bed. “If Vivian’s family knows who Thomas really was, they won’t stop. They’ll come for Emma. She’s the true heir.”
“They have to get through me first,” Alessandro said, the warmth in his voice hardening into steel. “We leave for Zurich tonight. You, me, and Emma. We travel under the radar.”
Two hours later, we were in the back of an armored SUV, speeding through the dark Italian countryside toward the Swiss border. Emma was strapped into a car seat, blissfully asleep.
Alessandro sat beside me in the dim light of the cabin. For the first time, the distance between the Boss and the Housekeeper vanished.
“You must hate me,” he said quietly, staring out the window. “If he hadn’t saved me, he would still be with you.”
“I could never hate the man my husband gave his life for,” I said honestly. “Thomas made his choice. He saved his brother.”
Alessandro looked at me, a profound gratitude softening his sharp features.
We arrived at the Zurich vault facility at dawn. It was a sterile, underground bunker built into the side of a mountain. Alessandro presented the key to a silent, stone-faced banker.
We were led to a private viewing room, and a heavy metal lockbox was placed on the table.
My hands shook as I turned the brass key. The lid popped open.
Inside wasn’t money or gold. It was a thick leather ledger, and resting on top of it was a child’s drawing.
I picked up the drawing. It was made with crayons. It depicted a man with a scarred face handing a blue rabbit to a little girl.
“Emma drew this,” I whispered. “She drew this the day before Thomas died.”
Alessandro picked up the ledger and opened it. His eyes scanned the pages, and the blood drained from his face.
“This isn’t just a list of the Romano family’s crimes,” he said, his voice dropping to a horrified whisper. “This is a list of their allies. Half the families in that room yesterday were plotting against my father. They orchestrated Tomaso’s kidnapping thirty years ago. And Don Ricci—the old man who defended you—he’s the one pulling the strings.”
Before the shock could fully register, the heavy steel door of the viewing room hissed open.
May you like
Standing in the doorway, flanked by four armed mercenaries, was Don Ricci.
He leaned heavily on his cane, a cold smile stretching across his wrinkled face. “I’m afraid, Alessandro, that ledger doesn’t leave this room. And neither do you.”
