Chapter 8 - The Ledger
The study smelled of old leather, cigar smoke, and expensive scotch. Rain lashed against the tall stained-glass windows, throwing jagged shadows across the room.
Elena hurried over to the north wall, where a massive painting of a lion hunting in a desert hung in a gilded frame. She reached behind the frame, feeling the cold steel of the concealed wall safe.
She pressed the medallion into the central slot.
A soft electronic chime sounded, followed by the hiss of a hydraulic seal breaking. The heavy safe door swung open three inches.
Inside lay a thick black leather journal, three encrypted flash drives, and stacks of foreign currency.
"I have it," Elena whispered, grabbing the journal and the drives and stuffing them into the hidden lining of her apron.
"Get out now," Lorenzo ordered through the earpiece. "Marco just left the dining room. He’s heading upstairs to get the same files."
Elena’s heart slammed against her ribs. She slammed the safe door shut, pulled the medallion out, and straightened the painting.
As she turned toward the exit, the heavy brass door handle began to turn.
There was no time to reach the hall. Elena scrambled behind a set of heavy velvet curtains covering the bay window just as the study door clicked open.
A man stepped into the room.
Through a tiny gap in the velvet, Elena saw Marco Moretti. He looked startlingly like Lorenzo, but his features were sharper, meaner, and his eyes lacked the quiet authority of his older brother. He looked nervous, constantly checking his watch.
Marco walked straight to the desk, pulled out a drawer, and took out a sleek blue velvet box. He opened it, looking down at a heavy diamond necklace that belonged to Lorenzo’s late wife.
"Fool," Marco sneered to himself, his voice filled with bitter hatred. "You gave everything to that girl and that weak wife. Now it’s all mine."
He slipped the velvet box into his pocket and turned toward the wall safe.
Elena held her breath, pressing her body against the cold glass of the window behind her. If he opened the safe and found the ledger missing, he would lock down the house instantly.
Marco reached behind the lion painting. He pulled out his keycard, but before he could insert it, a loud crash echoed from the floor below, followed by screaming and the sudden, rhythmic thud-thud-thud of suppressed gunfire.
The heavy glass windows of the study rattled.
Marco froze, pulling a silver pistol from his holster. "What the hell?"
"Marco!" a guard yelled from the hallway, throwing the door open. "It’s Lorenzo! He’s here! He brought thirty men, and they’ve already breached the front courtyard!"
"Impossible!" Marco roared, dropping his keycard. "He’s in the city! How did he get past the perimeter gates?"
"He didn't use the gates!" the guard panicked. "They came in from the water! They’re already in the main foyer!"
Marco’s face twisted in rage. "Kill him! Kill everyone who stands with him!"
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Marco sprinted out of the study, the guard right behind him, leaving the heavy oak door swinging open.
Elena didn't waste a second. She burst out from behind the curtain, grabbed her empty catering tray, and ran out into the hallway into absolute chaos.
