Chapter 4 - THE LEATHER LEDGER
“How did you get past my men?” I demanded, positioning my body between the doorway and Claire’s bed.
Bianca laughed, a cold, empty sound. “Your men? Salvatore, you’ve been out of the game too long. They haven’t been your men for months.”
She tossed the heavy leather ledger onto the foot of Claire’s bed. I recognized it immediately. It was Vincenzo’s—Lorenzo’s father’s—private journal. I hadn’t seen it in nearly thirty years.
“You think this is about a little affair?” Bianca sneered, looking at Lorenzo. “You really are as stupid as your father was. Read it. Read what Vincenzo wrote on the last page before he died.”
Lorenzo snatched the ledger. His eyes scanned the final, hastily scribbled entry. I watched his face drain of all color.
“This... this isn't possible,” Lorenzo stammered, dropping the book.
“What does it say?” Claire asked, pushing herself up slightly, her maternal instinct fighting through the pain.
I picked up the ledger. The handwriting was unmistakably Vincenzo’s.
If I don't survive tonight, it is because the traitor is already inside the house. It isn't a rival family. It’s Rosa’s brother. He knows about Elena. He knows about the bloodline. He will use anyone to destroy Salvatore's legacy.
I felt the room spin. Rosa’s brother, Marco, had been dead for two decades. Or so I thought.
“Bianca,” I said, my voice dangerously low. “Who are you?”
She reached into her coat and pulled out a tarnished silver pocket watch. It bore the Romano crest, but with a deep scratch across the center. It was the watch I had buried with Marco.
“I’m Marco’s granddaughter,” Bianca smiled cruelly. “And I didn't just come to steal Lorenzo. I came to take back the empire you stole from my family.”
Before any of us could react, the hospital lights cut out. Plunged into total darkness, chaos erupted. I heard a scuffle, a grunt of pain, and the sound of running footsteps.
When the emergency backup generators hummed to life seconds later, the room was bathed in dim red light.
Bianca was gone.
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But that wasn't what stopped my heart.
The hospital bed was empty. Claire was gone too.
