Chapter 9 - THE BLACK LEDGER
The old Moretti church stood in Brooklyn.
What remained of it was surrounded by chain-link fencing and weeds.
The fire had destroyed the roof twelve years earlier.
Nobody had rebuilt it.
Adrian remembered funerals there.
Christmas Mass.
His father whispering with men in back pews.
Elena led them toward a stone stairway behind the ruined altar.
Her hands trembled.
“I haven’t been here in thirty years.”
Adrian looked at her.
“You don’t have to come.”
“Yes, I do.”
They descended.
Marcus went first.
Emily stayed beside Elena.
Noah remained at Ashford under guard.
The crypt smelled like damp stone.
Old plaques lined the walls.
Elena stopped before one marked Matteo Moretti.
Adrian’s grandfather.
She pressed two fingers behind the plaque.
A click.
The marble shifted.
Behind it sat a black leather book.
Adrian stared.
“The ledger.”
Elena nodded.
Before anyone could touch it, a gun clicked behind them.
Victor.
“Thank you, Aunt Elena.”
Marcus turned.
Too late.
Three armed men had entered behind Victor.
Helena stood beside him.
Alive.
Calm.
Smiling.
“You always were sentimental, Elena.”
Adrian looked at his aunt.
“You locked my mother away for twenty-two years.”
Helena shrugged.
“She was inconvenient.”
Elena stepped forward.
“You monster.”
Helena smiled.
“You married one.”
Victor pointed his gun toward Adrian.
“Give me the book.”
Marcus slowly lowered his weapon.
Helena looked at Emily.
“And you.”
Emily held Elena’s hand.
Helena laughed.
“A housekeeper destroyed thirty years of planning.”
“I’ve had worse reviews.”
Adrian almost smiled.
Helena did not.
“Bring her here.”
Victor’s man grabbed Emily.
She struggled.
“Get off me!”
Adrian’s voice changed instantly.
“Touch her again and I will end you.”
Victor laughed.
“You’re in a wheelchair.”
Adrian looked at him.
“And you still needed three men and a gun to face me.”
Victor’s smile vanished.
Adrian continued.
“Imagine how pathetic that makes you.”
Victor struck him across the face.
Emily screamed.
Adrian tasted blood.
Then laughed.
Victor hit him again.
“Stop!”
Elena cried.
Helena picked up the ledger.
“There.”
“Finally.”
Marcus watched carefully.
Adrian glanced at him.
Tiny movement.
Enough.
Marcus understood.
Adrian had known there was a chance they would be followed.
The ledger contained a tracking device.
Helena opened it.
Her eyes widened.
Names.
Dates.
Payments.
Decades of secrets.
“This can control half the city.”
Adrian wiped blood from his mouth.
“No.”
“It can destroy half the city.”
Helena closed the book.
“That depends who owns it.”
Then sirens sounded above.
Helena froze.
Victor turned toward the stairway.
“What did you do?”
Adrian smiled.
“Nothing.”
Emily looked at him.
He continued.
“The FBI did.”
Marcus grinned.
Helena raised her gun.
“If I go down…”
She pointed it directly at Elena.
May you like
“…your mother dies first.”
A shot exploded.
