Chapter 9 - The Ledger and the Living Brother

The bottling room had not been used in fifteen years.

Dust.

Broken racks.

Old corking equipment.

Daniel found a loose floorboard.

Under it:

A black ledger.

Wrapped in plastic.

Names.

Payments.

Dates.

Union funds.

Political donations.

Shell companies.

Robert Bellini.

Marco DeLuca.

Arthur Pendleton.

And three entries tied to the night Matteo died.

One payment.

One vehicle.

One location.

Luca read them twice.

Then closed the book.

Vanessa looked at him.

“Is it enough?”

“Yes.”

“For police?”

“For federal investigators.”

“And Nicholas?”

Luca’s face hardened.

“We get him first.”

DeLuca called at 1:03 a.m.

Luca answered.

“I have the ledger.”

“Good.”

“Proof of life.”

A pause.

Then Nicholas’s voice.

“Vanessa?”

She grabbed the phone.

“Nicholas!”

“I’m okay.”

A man struck something nearby.

Nicholas gasped.

Vanessa started crying.

DeLuca returned.

“Tomorrow. Eleven p.m. Old Union freight terminal.”

Luca said:

“No.”

Silence.

“You want the ledger tonight.”

DeLuca laughed.

“Impatient.”

“I want Nicholas tonight.”

“And why would I agree?”

Luca looked at the ledger.

“Because I know Robert Bellini paid you fifty thousand before Matteo died.”

Silence.

For the first time, DeLuca said nothing.

Luca continued.

“And I know you kept copies.”

Vanessa stared at him.

That part was a guess.

DeLuca’s silence made it useful.

Luca continued.

“You kill Nicholas, I send everything to investigators before sunrise.”

Another pause.

Then DeLuca said:

“Carriage house. One hour.”

He hung up.

Vanessa looked at Luca.

“You’re not going alone.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“You are not part of this exchange.”

“My brother is.”

“And that is exactly why.”

She stared.

“You don’t get to protect me by deciding for me.”

The sentence stopped him.

Because it sounded too much like something he would have said himself.

Luca looked at her.

Then nodded.

“Fine.”

Emma spoke from the doorway.

“What about the wedding?”

Everyone turned.

Saturday.

Two days.

Twenty-four guests had just celebrated an engagement built over secrets neither side understood.

Luca looked at Vanessa.

She looked back.

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For the first time, neither knew whether there would be a wedding.

But there were more important things to survive first.