Chapter 7 - THE VANE LEDGER
The downtown train station was eerily quiet at 2:00 a.m.
The snow had intensified into a blizzard, blanketing Chicago in a silent white shroud. We moved like ghosts through the shadows of the financial district, Lorenzo leaning slightly on me for support. The makeshift bandage had slowed the bleeding, but his skin was dangerously cold to the touch.
"Right here," Lorenzo murmured, gesturing to a heavy brass door set into the stone facade of the historic First Trust Bank.
"It's locked," I whispered, glancing nervously down the empty street.
Lorenzo reached into his pocket and pulled out a small electronic key fob. He pressed it against a hidden panel in the stone. A green light flashed, and the heavy door clicked open with a soft hiss.
"My family owns the building," he said, ushering me inside.
The interior was magnificent and dead silent. Marble floors, towering columns, and the smell of old money and polish. Lorenzo led me past the dark teller stations, straight to the vault in the back. He punched a twelve-digit code into the keypad. The massive steel wheel engaged, slowly pulling back the locking bolts.
We stepped into the safety deposit room. Walls of polished steel boxes gleamed in the dim emergency lighting.
"Box 814," Lorenzo said, his voice tight.
I walked down the aisle, counting the numbers. 810... 812... 814.
My hand shook as I slid my father’s brass key into the lock. It turned with a satisfying, heavy click.
I pulled the long metal box out and set it on the viewing table.
Lorenzo stood beside me, his breath shallow. We opened the lid together.
Inside lay a black, leather-bound ledger. On top of it was a sealed envelope. It simply read: For Evelyn.
My throat closed up. My father's handwriting.
I tore open the envelope.
Evie, my brave girl. If you are reading this, I am gone. I discovered the Vanes are laundering cartel money through the shipping yards and framing the Morettis. I couldn't walk away. Not when Lorenzo's father treated me like family. I have hidden the ledger here. I am so sorry I had to leave you, my sweet girl. I did it so they wouldn't look for you. Live a good life. Be brave. — Dad.
Tears spilled hotly over my freezing cheeks. He loved me. He never stopped loving me.
"He was a brave man," Lorenzo said softly, wiping a tear from my cheek with his thumb.
I picked up the heavy ledger. "We have it. Let's finish this."
We walked back out of the vault, the ledger clutched tightly to my chest.
As the heavy vault door swung shut behind us, a bright floodlight suddenly blinded us from the bank lobby.
"Slow clap for the happy couple," a cold, melodic voice echoed through the marble hall.
My blood turned to ice.
Standing in the center of the lobby, surrounded by eight men with automatic rifles, was Celeste Vane. She was no longer wearing her emerald gown. She wore a sleek black trench coat, holding a silver pistol loosely in her manicured hand.
May you like
Next to her stood Gilbert, my manager, a smug smile plastered across his bruised face.
"You really thought you could walk into a bank your family owns without triggering my father's surveillance, Lorenzo?" Celeste laughed. "Hand over the book, Evelyn. And I promise I'll make your death much faster than your father's."
