Chapter 10 - The Betrayal
Sofia stopped breathing.
Riccardo didn’t turn around.
“Marco.”
“I’m sorry, boss.”
Riccardo’s eyes closed.
“How long?”
Marco’s voice shook.
“Seven years.”
Antonio swore.
Vittorio smiled.
“Everyone has a price.”
Marco snapped.
“It wasn’t money.”
Vittorio’s smile thinned.
Riccardo finally turned.
“What did he have on you?”
“My brother.”
Marco swallowed.
“He’s alive.”
Riccardo frowned.
“You told me Carlo overdosed.”
“I thought he did.”
Marco’s eyes filled with rage.
“Vittorio kept him locked away. He sends me videos.”
Vittorio shrugged.
“Family motivates people.”
Sofia looked at Marco.
“So you gave him the safe house?”
Marco looked away.
“Yes.”
“Father Matteo?”
“Yes.”
“The warehouse?”
His silence answered.
Riccardo lowered his weapon.
Sofia stared.
“What are you doing?”
Riccardo looked at Marco.
“If you were going to kill me, you would’ve done it already.”
Marco’s jaw tightened.
Vittorio barked, “Shoot him.”
Marco didn’t.
“Marco.”
Vittorio’s voice became colder.
“Your brother dies if you hesitate.”
Marco closed his eyes.
Then he spun and shot one of Vittorio’s men.
Chaos exploded.
Riccardo fired.
Antonio pulled Sofia behind the vault door.
Greco’s men returned fire.
Bullets punched into steel.
Marco shouted, “Back exit!”
Sofia grabbed the metal case.
Vittorio saw it.
“Get the girl!”
A man rushed her.
Sofia swung the case into his face.
He dropped.
Antonio stared.
“Remind me not to upset you.”
“Move!”
They ran deeper into the vault corridor.
Riccardo followed.
Marco stayed behind, firing.
“Go!”
Riccardo turned.
“Marco!”
“Go!”
A shot cracked.
Marco staggered.
Riccardo started back.
Sofia grabbed him.
“He told you to go!”
Riccardo hesitated.
Then they ran.
An old service stairwell led to street level.
Antonio kicked open the door.
They emerged behind the bank.
Elena’s vehicle screeched around the corner.
“Get in!”
They piled inside.
Sofia clutched the ledgers.
Riccardo stared back at the building.
No Marco.
His face was empty.
Sofia touched his arm.
He looked down at her hand.
Then at her.
“We have the proof,” she said.
Riccardo nodded slowly.
“Then we use it.”
Antonio opened the first ledger.
Names filled the pages.
Judges.
Police captains.
Business owners.
Politicians.
Millions in payments.
Then Antonio stopped.
“What?”
Riccardo leaned closer.
Antonio pointed to a name.
Sofia recognized it.
Everyone did.
Senator Andrew Whitaker.
The current governor’s leading ally.
Elena whispered, “This goes higher than Greco.”
Antonio flipped another page.
Then another.
His face became pale.
“There’s a more recent entry.”
Riccardo frowned.
“How recent?”
“Last month.”
“That’s impossible.”
“These ledgers were supposed to be twenty-three years old.”
Antonio looked up.
“Someone has been adding to them.”
Sofia stared at the handwriting.
One name appeared repeatedly beside the payments.
G. CARUSO.
Riccardo whispered, “Gabriel.”
Then Sofia saw another name.
Her stomach dropped.
ELENA ROSSI.
She turned toward the woman who raised her.
May you like
Elena’s face told her everything.
Sofia whispered, “What did you do?”
