Chapter 19 - The Syndicate’s Whisper
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“What is it, Dad?” Matteo asked, leaning around my waist to get a better look.
Luca didn't answer right away. He reached into the dark hole and pulled out a heavy, canvas duffel bag. It was covered in decades of dust and grime, the heavy brass zipper rusted completely shut.
He hauled it up and dropped it heavily onto the workbench. The sound it made was dense and metallic.
“Hand me a knife, Claire,” Luca said, his voice tense.
I grabbed a utility knife from the pegboard and handed it to him. Luca didn't bother trying to fix the rusted zipper. He drove the blade directly into the thick canvas fabric and sliced it open from end to end.
The heavy bag fell open.
Inside, wrapped tightly in oilcloth and sealed in heavy plastic, were dozens of small, heavy bricks.
Luca took one out and sliced through the plastic.
Gold.
Solid, unmarked gold bars. There had to be millions of dollars' worth inside the bag.
But that wasn't what made Luca’s breath catch in his throat. Beneath the stacked gold bars lay a thick, leather-bound ledger. It looked ancient, the leather cracking and dry.
Luca pulled the ledger out and opened it. I walked closer, peering over his arm to look at the yellowed pages.
The pages were filled with names, dates, and amounts. But as Luca flipped through the pages, a sickening realization washed over his face.
“These aren't my father’s accounts,” Luca whispered, tracing a finger down a column of names. “These are Falcone accounts. Bribes. Payoffs. Hits ordered by the Falcone family thirty years ago.”
“Why would your father have their ledger?” I asked, confused.
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Luca looked up, staring blankly at the wall. “Because the Falcones didn't lose this book. My father stole it. He stole their money, and he stole their secrets to build our family’s empire. He used this ledger to blackmail them into giving up the city.”
Vanessa was right. Antonio Moretti wasn't a saint. He was a thief who had stolen a kingdom. And the Falcones had finally found out where he hid the evidence.
