Chapter 5 - THE ASHES OF THE ESTATE
Marco shoved me so hard into the grand hallway that I lost my footing, crashing onto the marble floor with Lily clutched tightly against my chest.
"Move!" Marco bellowed, grabbing my collar and dragging me toward the heavy oak front doors.
Behind us, the library was a frenzy of motion. Dante didn't follow us toward the exit. He had shattered the reinforced glass of the grand window and was throwing himself out onto the sprawling back terrace.
"Dante!" I screamed, the sound tearing my throat.
"Keep going!" Marco yelled, kicking the front doors open.
We spilled out onto the sweeping circular driveway, the cold New York air biting at my face. Marco didn't stop until we were behind the massive stone fountain, fifty yards from the mansion's front steps.
I covered Lily with my body, squeezing my eyes shut and praying to a God I hadn't spoken to since Jorge's funeral.
The explosion didn't sound like it did in the movies. It wasn't a booming roar. It was a sharp, concussive crack that sucked the air out of my lungs, followed instantly by the horrifying sound of structural collapse.
The entire west wing of the Moretti mansion—the library, the study, and the master suite above it—blew outward in a blinding flash of orange fire and black smoke. Shards of antique glass, splintered mahogany, and chunks of marble rained down on the driveway, clattering violently against the stone fountain shielding us.
Lily screamed, burying her face into my neck, her small hands gripping my apron so hard her knuckles turned white.
"I've got you, baby, I've got you," I sobbed, rocking her against my chest.
The shockwave passed, leaving a ringing silence that was quickly filled by the wail of the estate's emergency alarms and the shouts of the surviving guards.
I peeked over the edge of the fountain. The west wing was gone, reduced to a burning crater of rubble.
"Dante," I whispered, my heart dropping into my stomach. He had jumped out the back window mere seconds before the blast.
Marco was already sprinting across the lawn toward the back of the house, his gun drawn, shouting orders into his radio. "We have a breach! Perimeter compromised! Secure the grounds and find the boss!"
I didn't wait. I scooped Lily into my arms and ran after Marco, my cheap black work shoes slipping on the damp grass.
When I rounded the corner of the estate, the heat from the burning library hit me like a physical wall. The back terrace was covered in debris, burning books, and shattered stone.
And lying near the edge of the manicured rose garden, covered in ash and blood, was Dante Moretti.
"Mr. Moretti!" I screamed, dropping to my knees beside him.
He was breathing, but his dark suit was torn, and a jagged piece of shrapnel was embedded in his left shoulder. He groaned, his eyelids fluttering open as I pressed my apron against the wound to slow the bleeding.
"Elena," he rasped, coughing violently as the black smoke swirled around us. "Is Lily... is she..."
"She's safe," I cried, tears cutting tracks through the soot on my face. "She's right here. You saved us."
Dante gripped my wrist, his fingers slipping on the blood. "Victor... he wants me dead, but he wants the ledger more. The ledger in the false bottom. Did it survive?"
I looked toward the burning remains of the library. "Dante, everything is gone. It's ashes."
"No," Dante wheezed, shaking his head. "The desk was lined with a fireproof safe box. The blast would have thrown it. Find it, Elena. Before Victor's men come back to sweep the rubble."
"I can't leave you," I protested.
"Marco will patch me up," Dante ordered, his voice weak but commanding. "Find the box. If Victor gets the ledger, he gets the offshore account numbers. He gets the entire Moretti fortune. And he'll use it to buy his way out of the country with Mia."
I looked at Marco, who was kneeling on Dante's other side, applying a heavy field dressing to the shoulder wound. Marco gave me a sharp nod. "Go. Keep your head down."
I told Lily to stay right next to Marco, kissing her forehead before I stood up and ran toward the burning debris.
The heat was suffocating. I tied my apron over my nose and mouth, squinting through the thick smoke as I navigated the burning beams and shattered stone. I searched frantically, kicking aside burning books and broken picture frames.
Then, I saw it.
Near the edge of the crater, half-buried under a collapsed marble pillar, was the charred remains of the mahogany desk. And sitting in the ashes beside it was a heavy, black metal box.
The lock had melted off in the heat, the lid popped slightly ajar.
I grabbed it, the metal searing hot against my palms, and ran back toward the rose garden.
"I got it!" I yelled, dropping to my knees beside Dante.
Dante had managed to sit up, leaning heavily against Marco. He nodded to the box. "Open it."
I pried the scorched lid open. Inside, untouched by the flames, was the thick leather ledger. But there was something else sitting on top of it.
A small, folded piece of paper with my name written on it in elegant, looping cursive.
I stared at it. "This wasn't in the desk when I opened it earlier."
Dante frowned. "Open it."
May you like
With trembling fingers, I unfolded the paper.
Elena,If you are reading this, Dante's library is gone, and you are still alive. Victor believes he is one step ahead, but he is a predictable man. He thinks he can use Mia to force Dante into a trap at the Falcone warehouse. But Mia isn't at the warehouse.I took her.Bring Dante to the old carousel in Central Park at midnight. Come alone, or I will hand the girl over to Victor myself.— Sofia
