Chapter 3 - THE LEDGER ANTHONY ROSSI DIED FOR
Claire did not want to return to the Conti mansion.
Damian stopped arguing.
That frightened Nico.
“What?”
Nico asked once they were alone in the hallway.
“I said stop.”
“You’re letting her stay?”
“No.”
“You just said—”
“I’m changing tactics.”
Nico stared.
Damian went back inside.
Claire watched him suspiciously.
“I’m not ordering you into my house.”
She looked almost more confused than when he had.
“Good.”
“I am explaining the alternatives.”
“That sounds like ordering with more words.”
“Probably.”
Lily giggled beneath the blanket.
Damian ignored her.
“Vescari knows this address.”
Claire’s face tightened.
“You don’t know that.”
“He called me fifteen seconds after we confirmed your identity.”
Silence.
“That means either this apartment is watched, my people are compromised, or both.”
Claire went pale.
Damian continued.
“You need medical care. Lily needs somewhere secure. My estate has both.”
“And if I refuse?”
“I assign security to the building and have a doctor stay here.”
Claire stared.
“You’d do that?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Lily answered.
“Because he’s less scary now.”
Damian looked at her.
“Thank you.”
Claire almost smiled.
Then coughed so violently the conversation ended.
By afternoon, she agreed to the mansion.
Not because Damian demanded it.
Because Lily asked.
“Can we go to the big house? It’s warm.”
Claire’s eyes closed.
That was that.
Damian gave her two adjoining rooms on the second floor.
Not servant quarters.
Guest rooms.
Claire protested.
He ignored this protest because he had limits.
The doctor started IV antibiotics.
Oxygen.
Fluids.
Within hours, her breathing improved.
Lily sat beside the bed coloring.
Damian stood in the doorway.
“Eat.”
Claire looked at the tray.
“I’m not hungry.”
“I wasn’t asking.”
Her eyebrow rose.
“Back to orders?”
“Yes.”
“I was wondering how long it would last.”
“Four hours.”
She smiled despite herself.
That was dangerous.
Damian left before he noticed how dangerous.
The ledger came up that evening.
Claire had finally slept.
Lily was in the kitchen eating noodles with Mrs. Caruso, the cook.
Damian and Nico sat in his office.
“Anthony Rossi’s ledger could bury Vescari,” Nico said.
“It could also bury people who work for us.”
“Depends what’s inside.”
“Exactly.”
Nico leaned back.
“You going to ask her for it?”
“No.”
Nico blinked.
“No?”
“If I ask, she’ll think protection has a price.”
“She has the one thing our biggest rival has killed for.”
“And?”
“And you don’t want it?”
Damian looked toward the window.
“I want Vescari gone.”
“That ledger could do it.”
“I know.”
“Then?”
Damian turned.
“She walked into my house because she thought nobody would find her there.”
“Which was irrational.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“I’m not proving she was wrong by becoming another man who wants something from her.”
Nico stared for several seconds.
“Lily broke your brain.”
“Leave.”
“Gladly.”
But before Nico reached the door, Damian stopped him.
“Find out who told Vescari.”
Nico’s humor vanished.
“About Claire?”
“Yes.”
“Could be her building.”
“Could.”
“But you don’t think so.”
“No.”
Damian had learned survival through distrust.
He hated needing that instinct now.
“Only six people knew we went to her apartment.”
“Driver. You. Me. doctor. two guards.”
“And someone connected her identity before Vescari called.”
Nico nodded.
“I’ll find it.”
Later that night, Damian passed the guest rooms.
Lily sat on the hallway floor.
He stopped.
“What are you doing?”
“Mama sleeping.”
“That usually happens in bedrooms.”
“She coughs less now.”
“Yes.”
Lily looked up.
“Is she dying?”
Damian’s chest tightened.
“No.”
“You promise?”
He hesitated.
Children asked for impossible things casually.
“I promise she’s getting better.”
Lily accepted that.
Then patted the carpet beside her.
“Sit.”
Damian stared.
“I have an office.”
“You have legs.”
He looked around the empty hall.
No witnesses.
He sat.
Lily held up a drawing.
Three people.
One small.
One woman.
One enormous black rectangle.
“What is that?”
“You.”
His eyebrows rose.
“Why am I a rectangle?”
“You wear black.”
Fair.
“Why am I in the picture?”
She looked confused by the question.
“You brought Mama medicine.”
“That does not make me family.”
Lily studied him.
“What does?”
He opened his mouth.
Nothing came.
She returned to coloring.
Damian looked at the drawing.
He had no answer because nobody had ever taught him one.
His father believed family was blood and obligation.
His mother believed it was duty and sacrifice.
Neither definition explained why Damian was sitting on a hallway floor at ten thirty because a three-year-old did not want to be alone while her mother slept.
Claire’s voice came from the doorway.
“Lily?”
Both turned.
She stood weakly, one hand against the frame.
“You’re supposed to be in bed.”
“I’m talking to rectangle.”
Claire looked at Damian.
He closed his eyes.
“She means me.”
“I figured.”
“You should lie down.”
“So should you.”
“I live here.”
Claire smiled faintly.
“You say that like it’s normal.”
“It is for me.”
She looked at Lily’s drawing.
Her expression softened.
Then she saw the third figure.
Damian saw her notice.
Something awkward moved between them.
He stood.
“The doctor says you should sleep.”
“Damian.”
He stopped.
She had never used his first name.
“What?”
“My father’s ledger.”
His expression changed.
“You don’t need to tell me.”
“I want to.”
“You’re sick.”
“I’m also tired of running.”
He waited.
Claire looked at Lily.
Then back at him.
“My father kept two copies.”
“Two?”
“One paper.”
“And?”
“Microfilm.”
Damian frowned.
“My father was old-fashioned.”
“Where?”
“The paper ledger disappeared the night he did.”
“Vescari has it?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Why?”
“Because he wouldn’t still be looking for me.”
Good point.
“The microfilm?”
Claire swallowed.
“Hidden.”
“Where?”
“St. Agnes Cemetery.”
Damian stared.
“In your father’s grave?”
“No.”
She looked almost embarrassed.
“My mother’s.”
Nico appeared at the far end of the hall.
His expression was grim.
Damian noticed.
“What?”
Nico walked closer.
“We found the leak.”
“Who?”
He looked at Claire.
Then Lily.
“Not here.”
Damian’s jaw tightened.
“Nico.”
“It’s Gabriel.”
Everything stopped.
Gabriel Conti.
Damian’s cousin.
More importantly, the man who handled internal transportation security.
The man who had been at Damian’s side since they were teenagers.
Claire whispered, “Who’s Gabriel?”
Damian’s expression became unreadable.
“Someone I trusted.”
Lily looked at him.
“You sad?”
“No.”
Another childish stare.
Damian sighed.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Because betrayal hurt only when trust came first.
He did not say that.
Instead:
“Because sometimes grown-ups make terrible choices.”
Lily nodded.
“Mama says say sorry.”
Damian looked toward Nico.
Nico’s face was hard.
“I don’t think Gabriel’s planning to apologize.”
Damian stood.
“What did he give Vescari?”
“Claire’s identity. Her apartment. The clinic network our doctor uses.”
Damian’s blood chilled.
“Why the clinic?”
Nico looked toward Claire.
“He wanted Vescari to know where she’d go if she got worse.”
Claire went pale.
Damian’s voice dropped.
“Bring Gabriel.”
“Alive?”
Damian looked at Lily.
Three months ago, the answer would have been different.
“Yes.”
Nico nodded.
As he left, Claire said quietly, “You changed that answer.”
Damian looked at her.
“What?”
“You were going to say something else.”
He didn’t deny it.
“Why didn’t you?”
Lily had returned to coloring.
Damian watched her.
“Because children hear more than adults think.”
Claire studied him.
Then whispered:
“That sounds like something a father would say.”
Damian’s eyes moved to hers.
May you like
Neither looked away.
And somewhere across the city, Gabriel Conti was already running.
