Chapter 9: The Ledger of Saints
”
Vincent watched the live feed.
Marcus lay pale beneath the clinic lights, barely conscious after surgery. Dominic stood beside him with the pistol pressed against the bandage covering his wound.
Nico was on his knees near the door.
Two armed men held him at gunpoint.
Maya had been forced against the wall.
Victoria stood between Dominic and the camera.
“Don’t come,” she said.
Dominic struck her across the face.
“Speak when asked.”
Vincent’s hand tightened around Bellini’s pistol.
Elena disconnected the capsule reader.
The live feed disappeared.
“How did Dominic reach the clinic?” she asked.
Bellini answered from the doorway.
“He has access to emergency medical networks. Victoria probably triggered one when she used the equipment in the bridge garage.”
“Then he tracked the ambulance,” Vincent said.
Isabella sat in Bellini’s examination chair, one hand pressed against the bandage behind her shoulder.
Her expression had become distant.
She had been freed from one prison only to watch the people responsible continue moving everyone around the board.
“We can’t take the capsule to him,” Elena said.
“He’ll kill them if we don’t,” Vincent replied.
“He may kill them anyway.”
“Yes.”
Elena looked at him.
“You sound comfortable with that.”
“I sound familiar with Dominic.”
Bellini checked the building cameras.
Eight men had entered the lobby.
Two more vehicles stopped outside.
“We need to leave,” he said.
Vincent looked at him.
“You’re coming.”
“I can’t.”
“Dominic already considers you a liability.”
“I have patients, a career—”
“You have five minutes before he erases both.”
Gunfire sounded in the hallway.
Bellini’s private security guard fell against the penthouse door.
Elena helped Isabella through the rear medical exit.
Bellini opened a concealed stairwell behind a storage cabinet.
Vincent followed last.
Dominic’s men breached the apartment seconds later.
The stairwell led down into the neighboring university building. Bellini had designed it so public officials and married executives could visit his penthouse without being seen.
They entered an empty anatomy laboratory.
Models of human organs stood beneath fluorescent lights.
Bellini unlocked a loading door.
His car waited outside.
Elena took the keys.
“You’re not driving,” she said.
They left the campus as police vehicles approached Bellini’s tower.
Dominic had likely arranged the response to create additional confusion.
Elena drove toward the river.
Vincent sat beside her.
Isabella and Bellini occupied the back seat.
“Where are we going?” Bellini asked.
“To meet someone outside the family,” Elena replied.
Vincent looked at her.
“Who?”
“Assistant U.S. Attorney Claire Dawson.”
He knew the name.
Claire Dawson had led an unsuccessful racketeering investigation against the Torinos five years earlier. Three witnesses disappeared, one recanted, and a fourth was arrested on unrelated charges.
Vincent had never ordered any of it.
Dominic had handled the investigation.
At the time, Vincent considered the outcome proof of Dominic’s competence.
Now he understood what that competence had included.
“You’ve been communicating with Dawson,” Vincent said.
“She helped file the sealed inheritance petition.”
“She wants to imprison me.”
“She should.”
Bellini shifted nervously.
“You’re taking us to a federal prosecutor while Dominic has access to the entire government network?”
“Dawson operates outside the local office,” Elena said. “She trusts six people.”
“Six can be bought.”
“She trusts four now.”
Vincent almost approved.
The meeting location was an abandoned ferry terminal on the southern riverbank.
Claire Dawson waited inside an unmarked utility truck with two federal agents.
She was in her early forties, wearing jeans beneath a tactical jacket. Her hair was pulled back, and her expression sharpened when Vincent entered.
“I agreed to meet Elena,” she said. “Not you.”
Vincent sat across from her.
“Plans changed.”
“You’re under investigation for more crimes than I could list before sunrise.”
“Then speak quickly.”
Dawson looked toward Isabella.
Elena introduced her.
The prosecutor’s skepticism disappeared when she saw the original medical files and the implanted capsule.
Bellini authenticated the records.
Dawson connected the capsule to an isolated laptop.
The files opened.
For several minutes, no one spoke.
One of the agents whispered, “This can collapse half the city.”
“More than half,” Vincent said. “Some names are national.”
Dawson looked at him.
“You recognize them?”
“I recognize which ones belong to Dominic and which ones belong to other organizations.”
“There’s a difference?”
“Yes.”
“You expect me to trust your categories?”
“No. I expect you to verify them before Dominic realizes which evidence we have.”
Dawson examined the video of Luca’s death.
Then Adriana and Enzo’s.
Her expression remained controlled, but anger entered her eyes.
Elena told her about the clinic hostage situation.
Dawson opened a communications case.
“We can deploy a rescue team.”
“No,” Vincent replied.
“You don’t command federal agents.”
“Dominic has police, judges, and at least two people inside your local office. A large operation warns him.”
Dawson glanced at the names inside the capsule.
“Who can reach the mansion without being detected?”
“I can.”
“You’re the hostage he wants.”
“Which makes me the person he’ll allow near the door.”
Elena placed the Saint Michael medal on the table.
“The archive beneath the chapel contains the original covenant and Antonio’s confession. Dominic wants both destroyed.”
Dawson said, “The capsule is enough to build cases.”
“No,” Vincent replied. “It proves crimes, but Dominic’s lawyers will attack Bellini, the chain of custody, the technology, and Isabella’s mental condition.”
Bellini objected.
“My records are authentic.”
“You spent decades falsifying records,” Vincent said. “Your credibility is the first thing they will destroy.”
Dawson knew he was right.
The original covenant and Antonio’s recording could establish motive, ownership, and the internal conspiracy.
“We need the archive,” she said.
“And the hostages,” Elena added.
Vincent studied a map of the mansion.
Dominic controlled the gates, visible tunnels, and security system.
But the old grounds included storm drains built before the estate walls.
One entered beneath the family cemetery.
“We use the cemetery drain,” Vincent said.
Dawson shook her head.
“You are not leading my agents into a family compound based on memory.”
“I’m not leading your agents anywhere. A tactical team remains outside the perimeter until I confirm the hostages’ location.”
“You’re proposing to go inside alone.”
“With Elena.”
“No,” Isabella said.
Everyone looked at her.
She reached for Elena’s hand.
“I lost you once.”
Elena squeezed her fingers.
“You didn’t lose me. They took me.”
“Then don’t let them take you again.”
Vincent looked toward Dawson.
“Isabella stays with you.”
The prosecutor nodded.
“Bellini too.”
Bellini began to protest.
Dawson placed a set of restraints on the table.
“You can stay voluntarily or in custody.”
Bellini sat down.
Vincent used the satellite phone to call Dominic.
The old consigliere answered immediately.
“You found the capsule,” Dominic said.
“Yes.”
“Bring it to the mansion.”
“I want proof Marcus is alive.”
The live camera activated.
Marcus remained on the bed.
Victoria sat in a chair nearby with her hands bound.
Nico was no longer visible.
“Where’s my driver?” Vincent asked.
“He attempted to become heroic.”
“Is he alive?”
“For the moment.”
“I enter through the front gate. No weapons.”
Dominic laughed.
“You’ve never entered a room without a weapon.”
“Tonight is full of firsts.”
“The capsule?”
“I’ll carry it.”
“The girl stays outside.”
“Elena is required to authenticate the covenant.”
A pause.
Dominic knew it was true.
“Both of you,” he said. “No federal agents.”
“Release Maya when we arrive.”
“She has seen too much.”
“She is irrelevant.”
“No one is irrelevant after tonight.”
The call ended.
Dawson gave Elena a small transmitter disguised as a shirt button.
“It sends audio and location data. Press twice when you confirm the hostages.”
Vincent received a similar device.
Dawson looked at him.
“You understand that when this is over, I’m arresting you.”
“If this is over, I’ll allow it.”
“You don’t get to allow arrest.”
Vincent stood.
“Everyone gets to allow something, Counselor. The difference is what it costs.”
He and Elena drove toward the estate in Bellini’s car.
The rain had stopped.
Dawn remained more than an hour away.
Elena kept her eyes on the road.
“You’re planning something you haven’t told Dawson.”
“Yes.”
“Tell me.”
“No.”
She pulled the car to the side of the road.
“We either do this together or I take the capsule and leave you here.”
Vincent looked at her.
“You inherited Luca’s patience.”
“I inherited his distrust of you.”
“The capsule we’re carrying is empty.”
Elena’s anger shifted to surprise.
“The real one?”
“With Dawson.”
“Dominic will know.”
“Not immediately.”
“What’s your plan?”
“Give him what he wants long enough to reach the archive.”
“And then?”
“Destroy the criminal records.”
Elena stared at him.
“You want to protect yourself.”
“I want to prevent Dominic from releasing the names of informants, witnesses, and families.”
“The files also prove your crimes.”
“Yes.”
“You expect me to believe you’ll destroy evidence to protect innocent people?”
“No. I expect you to believe I understand what happens when dangerous information is released without control.”
Elena started driving again.
“Dawson gets copies before anything is destroyed.”
“Agreed.”
They approached the Torino estate.
The gates opened.
Marcus’s men watched from the guard posts.
Elena drove to the front entrance.
They were searched and taken inside.
The mansion looked as though a storm had passed through it. Furniture was overturned. Broken glass covered the floor. Blood marked the staircase.
Dominic waited in the central hall.
Marcus lay on a wheeled hospital bed nearby.
Victoria remained bound.
Nico sat against the wall, alive but bruised.
Maya knelt beside him.
Dominic looked at the capsule case in Vincent’s hand.
“Place it on the table.”
Vincent obeyed.
Dominic opened the case.
He handed the capsule to Bellini’s former assistant, who inserted it into a portable reader.
The screen displayed an error.
Dominic looked at Vincent.
“You brought me an empty shell.”
Vincent pressed the transmitter twice.
Federal agents now had the hostage location.
Dominic raised his pistol toward Elena.
“You always believed you were the smartest man in the room.”
“No,” Vincent said. “I believed I owned the room.”
He looked toward the ceiling.
A red light blinked on the security camera.
Dawson’s team had entered the system.
Dominic smiled.
Then every exterior door locked.
The lights turned red.
A recorded announcement filled the mansion.
SECURITY PROTOCOL BLACK CROWN ACTIVATED.
Vincent had never heard of Black Crown.
Victoria’s face became pale.
“What did you do?” Marcus asked Dominic.
“I made certain no one leaves with the Torino secrets.”
Steel shutters descended across the windows.
The basement alarms began sounding.
Dominic looked toward the chapel.
“The archive has been sealed.”
Smoke rose from beneath the floor.
He turned to Vincent.
“You have ten minutes to open it before the entire house burns.”
Then Elena’s transmitter crackled.
Claire Dawson’s voice came through.
“Vincent, pull out now. Someone attacked our ferry location.”
Elena seized the transmitter.
“My mother?”
Static answered.
Then Isabella’s frightened voice came through the broken connection.
“Elena, don’t trust Marcus.”
May you like
A gunshot sounded.
The transmission went dead.
