Chapter 9 - The Ledger's Secret
I lay perfectly still in the massive bed, listening to Roman’s footsteps fade down the hallway.
If Dante died tonight, my only leverage and my only escape route died with him.
I had to find the master passwords before Roman returned.
I slipped out of bed, ignoring the sharp pain radiating from my surgical incision.
I crept down the darkened staircase, making my way to Roman’s private study.
The door was unlocked, a rare oversight caused by the chaos of my return.
I slipped inside and closed the heavy oak doors without making a sound.
I walked straight to his massive mahogany desk and opened his laptop.
It required a biometric thumbprint, but I had prepared for this exact moment years ago.
I pulled a clear piece of tape from my pocket, onto which I had lifted Roman’s thumbprint from a whiskey glass earlier that evening.
I pressed the tape over the scanner.
The laptop chimed softly and unlocked.
I frantically searched through the encrypted files, looking for anything labeled with the offshore accounts.
Finally, I found a hidden folder named 'Legacy'.
I clicked it open, holding my breath.
Rows upon rows of banking numbers, routing codes, and master passwords appeared on the screen.
Dante's wire picked up every keystroke as I navigated the immense wealth of the Vescari empire.
But as I scrolled past the three hundred million dollars, my blood turned to ice.
The accounts were not in Roman's name.
They weren't in shell company names either.
Every single cent of the Vescari empire had been legally transferred into a trust fund.
The sole beneficiary of that trust fund was Marco Hartwell Vescari.
Roman had used my son to hide his entire criminal wealth from the federal government.
By legally binding the money to the baby, Roman had made Marco the ultimate target for every rival mafia family in the country.
Whoever controlled the child, controlled the money.
Suddenly, the study doors clicked behind me.
I snapped the laptop shut and spun around in terror.
It wasn't Roman.
It was Camille.
Her arm was in a sling from where I had broken her wrist, and she looked exhausted.
She didn't raise a weapon or shout.
She just looked at me with sad, tired eyes.
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"You found it, didn't you?" she whispered.
"You know why he needs the baby alive now."
