Chapter 8 - THE PRICE ON EMMA’S LIFE
Clara read Emma’s name three times.
The letters did not change.
Neither did the date.
Tomorrow.
Her daughter had been entered on a death list as casually as a shipment number.
Clara grabbed the page.
“Who wrote this?”
Don Ricci examined the signature code.
“The order came from the Romano accounts.”
“Vivian?”
“Possibly.”
“Possibly?”
Clara’s voice rose.
“My child has a scheduled date.”
Alessandro took the document from her.
“The authorization uses Vittorio’s cipher.”
“Then he ordered it.”
“Unless someone copied his cipher.”
Clara stared at him.
“You are still giving them doubt.”
“I am identifying the person we must stop.”
“They both tried to take her tonight.”
“Yes.”
“That is enough for me.”
Alessandro’s eyes met hers.
“It is enough for me too.”
A metallic sound came from the tunnel.
Everyone turned.
Alessandro raised his weapon.
Don Ricci closed the document case.
Clara stepped behind a cabinet.
Footsteps approached.
Slow.
Uneven.
A man appeared in the doorway.
Daniel Bennett leaned against the frame.
Blood covered his shirt.
Clara forgot how to breathe.
Daniel looked at her.
His brown eyes filled with something that might have been relief or shame.
“Clara.”
She crossed the room.
For one second, she believed she would embrace him.
Then she struck him across the face.
Daniel staggered.
Alessandro moved forward.
Clara lifted one hand.
“Do not.”
Daniel pressed his palm against his cheek.
“I deserved that.”
“You deserved worse.”
“I know.”
“Where were you?”
Daniel looked toward the guards.
“We need to leave.”
“No.”
“Vivian’s men are close.”
“Then speak quickly.”
“Clara.”
“You had two years.”
Her voice shook.
“You had seven hundred and thirty mornings to let me know you were alive.”
“I couldn’t.”
“You could breathe.”
“I was watched.”
“You could walk.”
“Not always.”
“You could hide documents in a rabbit.”
“That was before the crash.”
“You could send one word.”
“They monitored every account.”
“Then write on a wall.”
“I tried.”
“Where?”
Daniel looked away.
Clara laughed bitterly.
“You did not try big enough.”
The phrase came from Emma.
Daniel noticed.
“Is she here?”
“You do not get to ask about her yet.”
Pain crossed his face.
“She is my daughter.”
“She thinks you live in the stars.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Clara wanted him to feel every night Emma had cried.
Every question she had answered alone.
Every fever she had endured without sleep.
Every bill she had paid while grieving a man who had still been breathing.
“Vivian said you worked for the Circle.”
Daniel looked at the document case.
“I did.”
Clara’s anger became cold.
“You helped them?”
“At first, I believed the accounts were political insurance.”
“What does that mean?”
“I calculated the financial impact of deaths.”
Don Ricci moved toward him.
“My daughter’s death?”
Daniel looked at the old man.
“Yes.”
Don Ricci struck him.
Daniel fell against the cabinet.
“You calculated her value?”
“I did not know they intended to kill her.”
“You listed what her death would transfer.”
“I thought they were preparing for natural succession.”
“She was thirty-two.”
Daniel lowered his eyes.
“I was a coward.”
Don Ricci drew his pistol.
Alessandro placed one hand on the barrel.
“Not yet.”
The old man’s breathing became heavy.
Daniel looked at Clara.
“When I understood what the numbers meant, I copied everything.”
“You continued attending meetings.”
“To gather evidence.”
“You continued getting paid.”
“Yes.”
“You came home and kissed Emma after calculating the value of people’s lives.”
His face collapsed.
“Yes.”
Clara wanted to hate him completely.
It would have been easier.
But she saw the scar near his temple.
The damage in his left hand.
The exhaustion hollowing his face.
None of it erased his choices.
“Who caused the crash?”
“Marco.”
Alessandro’s expression hardened.
“Why did you survive?”
“I jumped before the vehicle reached the ravine.”
“Who made the second set of footprints?”
“Vivian.”
Clara’s skin went cold.
“She was in the car?”
“She followed Marco.”
“Why?”
“She wanted the ledger.”
Daniel looked toward the case.
“I told her I had hidden it inside the wreck.”
“She believed you?”
“For a while.”
“What happened after you escaped?”
“I reached an abandoned maintenance shed.”
“Why didn’t you call me?”
“Because Marco sent me a photograph.”
Daniel’s voice broke.
“You were asleep in our bedroom.”
Clara felt sick.
“Emma was beside you.”
“They were inside our home?”
“Yes.”
“He said if I contacted you, you would both die before the call ended.”
Clara looked toward Alessandro.
He remained silent.
Daniel continued.
“I let them believe I would cooperate.”
“For two years?”
“I was moved between safe houses.”
“You could have escaped.”
“I did.”
“When?”
“Four times.”
Clara stared at him.
“What happened?”
“The first time, they broke my hand.”
He held up his damaged fingers.
“The second time, they showed me photographs of Emma at the park.”
Clara’s anger shifted toward fear.
“The third time?”
“They placed a bomb beneath your car.”
Her breath stopped.
“It failed to detonate because I returned before the signal was sent.”
“You returned to them?”
“Yes.”
Clara understood the terrible choice.
Daniel had surrendered to keep the bomb from being triggered.
It did not forgive everything.
But it changed the shape of his absence.
“The fourth time?”
“I reached Father Matteo.”
“The priest Vivian took hostage.”
“He had been passing messages between families.”
Daniel looked at Alessandro.
“I told him to contact you.”
“He never did.”
“Then he belongs to them.”
The chapel scene returned to Clara.
Father Matteo had dropped just before Alessandro fired.
Had it been courage?
Or had he known Vivian’s timing?
Don Ricci looked toward the tunnel.
“We left the priest at the villa.”
Alessandro touched his earpiece.
Static answered.
The underground signal had disappeared.
Daniel moved toward the document case.
“This is not the complete ledger.”
Clara frowned.
“What is missing?”
“The account seals.”
“What are they?”
“Proof of who authorized each removal.”
“Where are they?”
Daniel looked toward the stopped clock.
“Behind it.”
Alessandro climbed onto the chair.
He lifted the clock from the wall.
A metal compartment had been built into the stone.
Inside were twelve black envelopes.
Each bore a family name.
Moretti.
Ricci.
Bellandi.
Romano.
And eight others.
Alessandro opened the Moretti envelope.
Inside was a page covered in dates.
Every date corresponded to a death.
At the bottom was his father’s signature.
Alessandro stared at it.
“My father was part of the Circle.”
Daniel nodded.
“For twenty-six years.”
Don Ricci opened his own envelope.
His hands began trembling.
His signature appeared beside three deaths.
“This is false.”
“No,” Daniel said.
“It isn’t.”
Don Ricci looked ready to shoot him.
Daniel continued.
“The Circle did not always order murders.”
“It began as an agreement to prevent wars.”
“Each family submitted emergency succession plans.”
“Over time, the Romanos learned to alter the documents.”
“They turned preparation into selection.”
Clara looked at Alessandro’s envelope.
“Did your father know?”
“Near the end.”
Daniel took a shaky breath.
“He tried to leave.”
“That is why Luca died.”
Alessandro’s voice became empty.
“Yes.”
“And my father?”
“He died of a heart attack.”
Daniel looked at him.
“No.”
Alessandro went still.
The tunnel lights went out.
A voice came through the darkness.
“Thank you for opening the compartment.”
May you like
Father Matteo stepped into the doorway holding Emma by the hand.
A pistol rested against the side of her head.
