CHAPTER 1 — The Ledger Beneath the Cathedral
CHAPTER 1 — The Ledger Beneath the Cathedral
The silence between them lasted so long that the old grandfather clock in the hallway became louder than either heartbeat.
Mara searched Dominic's face for deception.
She found exhaustion.
Nothing more.
"If this is another trap..." she whispered.
"It isn't."
"You expect me to believe the man every document points to is suddenly innocent?"
Dominic slowly reached inside his shirt—not toward a weapon, but toward a thin silver key hanging beneath his collar.
He placed it on the marble counter.
"If I wanted you dead," he said quietly, "you would never have made it through your first week in this house."
Mara didn't answer.
Because she knew he was right.
"The ledgers your father hid?"
"I've been looking for them too."
Her breathing stopped.
"You knew my father?"
"I owed him my life."
The words shattered everything she believed.
Dominic leaned against the counter as though the confession weighed more than any bullet.
"Twenty-five years ago your father kept me alive after my own family ordered my execution."
Mara stared at him.
"No."
"They said he betrayed the Syndicate."
"They lied."
"My father died because he refused to help them steal the ports."
Dominic nodded once.
"So did mine."
Before Mara could ask another question, every light inside the penthouse flickered.
Then went dark.
Only the city lights beyond the windows illuminated the kitchen.
Dominic didn't panic.
"They're early."
A deafening explosion echoed somewhere below.
The emergency generators failed.
The security monitors went black.
Then came gunfire.
Not outside.
Inside the building.
Dominic immediately grabbed Mara's wrist.
"Come with me."
She resisted.
"You said you wouldn't force me."
"I'm not."
He pressed the silver key into her palm.
"The truth is beneath Saint Augustine Cathedral."
"What?"
"Your father's final ledger."
"It names every traitor."
Another burst of automatic gunfire rattled the glass walls.
Dominic looked toward the hallway.
"They've started."
Heavy footsteps approached.
Someone shouted from outside.
"Boss!"
"They're inside!"
Dominic drew his pistol for the first time since entering the kitchen.
His expression hardened.
The broken husband disappeared.
The leader of the Crescent Syndicate returned.
But before stepping away, he looked back at Mara.
"If I die tonight..."
"...don't waste your life getting revenge on the wrong man."
The kitchen doors exploded inward.
Masked gunmen stormed inside.
May you like
Dominic shoved Mara behind the marble island just as bullets shattered crystal chandeliers above them.
The war had begun.
