Chapter 5 - The Ledger of Blood
Elena survived.
Barely.
The bullet had missed her heart by inches.
While Alfred’s doctor operated in a secure room, Mina sat beside the window clutching the old wooden music box Lev had retrieved from her apartment.
She hadn't opened it yet.
Alfred stood across the room.
“Your mother said not to trust Salvatore.”
“I heard.”
“Do you?”
Alfred didn't answer.
Mina turned the key.
A delicate melody began.
She remembered listening to it as a child.
Her father sitting beside her.
Her mother smiling from the doorway.
A family built on secrets.
Mina turned the box upside down.
Nothing.
Then she noticed a tiny indentation.
She pressed it.
The bottom opened.
Inside was a microfilm capsule.
Alfred stared.
Salvatore had been telling the truth.
The ledger existed.
Just not in the form anyone expected.
They scanned it.
Hundreds of pages appeared.
Payments.
Names.
Dates.
Betrayals.
Then Mina found her father.
DAVID VALE.
Beside his name:
CONFIDENTIAL INFORMANT.
Alfred read silently.
Mina’s father had been working with federal investigators.
But deeper in the records was something worse.
Alfred’s father had discovered him.
There was an order.
REMOVE VALE.
Mina stepped away from the computer.
“No.”
Alfred looked sick.
“My father killed yours.”
Mina couldn't speak.
Everything inside her wanted to blame Alfred.
But he had been a child then.
He hadn't ordered anything.
Still, the Costello name suddenly felt heavier.
Then another entry appeared.
ELENA VALE — TERMINATION SUSPENDED.
AUTHORIZED: S. COSTELLO.
Salvatore.
“He saved her,” Mina whispered.
Alfred frowned.
“Then why did she tell us not to trust him?”
Mina continued scrolling.
She found the answer.
A transfer dated fourteen years earlier.
Ten million dollars.
Recipient:
S. COSTELLO.
The same day Elena disappeared.
Alfred’s face hardened.
Salvatore had taken money.
But from whom?
Mina traced the account.
It led through shell corporations.
Finally to one name.
Vincent Hale.
Impossible.
Vincent had been barely twenty then.
Unless the account belonged to someone else first.
Mina searched historical ownership.
The original holder appeared.
MARCUS HALE.
Vincent’s father.
Alfred stared at the screen.
“My father’s rival.”
The truth assembled itself.
Marcus Hale had paid Salvatore ten million dollars.
Elena had disappeared.
David Vale had died.
Years later, Marcus’s son Vincent entered Alfred’s organization.
Not as an enemy.
As an employee.
A trusted financial director.
Revenge had been growing inside the Costello empire for decades.
The door opened.
Salvatore entered.
Alfred immediately raised his gun.
Salvatore looked at the screen.
Then sighed.
“You found it.”
“Ten million dollars.”
“Yes.”
“You sold my father?”
“No.”
“Then explain.”
Salvatore slowly removed his gun and placed it on the floor.
“Marcus Hale paid me to deliver Elena.”
Mina’s blood ran cold.
“But I didn't.”
“Why?”
“Because she had a daughter.”
His eyes met Mina’s.
“You.”
Mina said nothing.
“I took the money and helped Elena disappear instead.”
Alfred lowered the weapon slightly.
“What about David?”
Salvatore looked ashamed.
“I was too late.”
Mina closed her eyes.
Her father had died because he tried to expose Alfred’s father.
And Salvatore had saved her mother.
Nothing was simple anymore.
“Why did she tell us not to trust you?”
“Because she doesn't know I saved her.”
Mina frowned.
“How could she not know?”
“I arranged it through someone else.”
“Who?”
Salvatore hesitated.
Then the door behind him opened.
Elena stood there, pale and weak.
And beside her was Lev.
Elena looked at Salvatore.
“You.”
Salvatore’s face softened.
“Elena.”
“You're the one?”
He nodded.
Tears filled her eyes.
“All these years…”
“I couldn't tell you.”
Alfred lowered his gun completely.
For one moment, it seemed the mystery was finally unraveling.
Then Lev spoke.
“Boss, we have Vincent.”
Alfred turned.
“Where?”
“Garage.”
Vincent had attempted to escape the city.
They brought him upstairs.
His expensive suit was torn.
Blood marked his mouth.
But he smiled when he saw Mina.
“You found the ledger.”
Mina stared at him.
“You knew my mother.”
“For years.”
“You were following me.”
“Yes.”
“The pregnancy?”
Vincent laughed softly.
“That was unexpected.”
Alfred stepped toward him.
“Why does my child matter?”
“Because heirs matter to men like you.”
“Not enough of an answer.”
Vincent looked directly at Mina.
“Ask him why he never married you.”
Mina stiffened.
Alfred’s expression became lethal.
Vincent continued.
“Ask why you're good enough for his bed but never his name.”
“Stop.”
“No, Alfred. She deserves to know.”
Mina looked at Alfred.
“Know what?”
Vincent smiled.
“Costello marriages aren't romantic decisions.”
Alfred said nothing.
“They’re alliances.”
Mina felt something twist inside her.
Vincent looked delighted.
“Alfred has been promised to someone for years.”
Mina turned toward him.
“Is that true?”
Alfred’s silence answered first.
Mina stepped backward.
“Who?”
“Mina—”
“Who?”
“Isabella Romano.”
The name landed like glass.
Mina knew the Romano family.
Everyone did.
“When?”
“The arrangement was made when I was twenty-three.”
“And you never told me?”
“I never intended to marry her.”
“But you let me spend two years loving you without knowing.”
“Yes.”
Mina laughed through tears.
“This is exactly why I was leaving.”
Alfred moved toward her.
She backed away.
“Don't.”
Vincent smiled.
He had achieved exactly what he wanted.
Division.
But then Mina noticed something.
Vincent kept looking toward the clock.
Waiting.
“For what?” she asked.
His smile disappeared.
Mina stepped closer.
“You keep checking the time.”
Alfred looked at the clock.
2:43 a.m.
Vincent suddenly laughed.
“You really think tonight was about the ledger?”
Alfred grabbed him.
“What did you do?”
Vincent looked toward Mina.
“At six tomorrow morning, she was supposed to board a plane.”
Mina froze.
“How do you know that?”
“I arranged the ticket.”
“No. I bought it.”
“You bought what we showed you.”
Mina felt sick.
Vincent smiled again.
“The identity. The route. The apartment waiting at the destination. Every piece of your escape.”
Alfred tightened his grip.
“Why?”
“Because we needed Mina outside Boston.”
“Who is we?”
Vincent’s smile widened.
“You still haven't figured that out?”
Then Alfred’s phone rang.
The airport security office.
One of his men answered and went pale.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“The flight Mina was booked on…”
He swallowed.
“It exploded on the runway ten minutes ago.”
Silence.
Mina stopped breathing.
The flight she had planned to take.
The seat she had chosen.
The plane meant to carry her and her unborn child away.
Destroyed.
Vincent looked at Alfred.
“Now you understand.”
Alfred stared at him.
Vincent whispered:
“She wasn't supposed to escape you.”
He looked at Mina.
May you like
“She was supposed to die.”
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