Chapter 5 - The Ledger of Dead Men
They did not go to Adrian's house.
Not immediately.
Clara called 911 anonymously.
Leo contacted Nico.
Within minutes, police vehicles surrounded Adrian's property.
Whoever had attacked fled before officers entered.
Adrian was found alive in his basement.
One gunshot wound.
Nonfatal.
Vincent was gone.
So was the ledger.
At the hospital, Adrian refused police questions.
Leo entered his room alone.
Adrian looked pale.
“You came.”
“Of course.”
Adrian looked toward the door.
“Vincent?”
“Gone.”
“I trusted him.”
“So did I.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
“I'm sorry.”
“For what?”
“The businesses.”
“You knew?”
“Not at first.”
Leo's expression hardened.
Adrian continued quickly.
“I discovered money moving through my companies two years ago. Vincent told me Dad had arranged it.”
“And you believed him?”
“I wanted to.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
Adrian laughed weakly.
“Because everything I have came from you.”
Leo stared.
“My house. My companies. My life.”
Adrian looked at him.
“You protected me so much I became terrified of disappointing you.”
Leo had no answer.
Adrian continued.
“When I discovered the second ledger, I realized Dad had been keeping records on Bell.”
“What was in it?”
“Judges. Cops. politicians. businessmen. Payments. Murders.”
“Samuel Hayes?”
Adrian nodded.
“His name was there.”
Clara entered quietly.
Adrian recognized her.
“The maid?”
“Detective Hayes' daughter,” Leo said.
Adrian's eyes widened.
Clara approached.
“Did the ledger say who ordered my father's death?”
Adrian looked away.
“Tell her.”
Leo's voice left no room for refusal.
Adrian swallowed.
“The order came from Bell.”
Clara closed her eyes.
Years of uncertainty ended in one sentence.
“Why?”
“He discovered Bell's network.”
Clara's voice trembled.
“And Antonio Rossi?”
Adrian stared at Leo.
“Dad tried to protect him.”
Leo froze.
“What?”
“Dad warned Hayes to leave the city.”
Adrian took a breath.
“That's why Dad died too.”
Silence filled the room.
Leo stepped closer.
“Our father wasn't killed by the Morettis?”
“No.”
“Who killed him?”
Adrian whispered:
“Vincent.”
Leo's face became stone.
“Bell ordered it. Vincent arranged it.”
The truth rearranged twenty years of Leo's life.
He had built his empire believing rival families murdered his father.
He had retaliated.
Men died.
Territory changed hands.
All because Raymond Bell and Vincent had manufactured a lie.
Clara looked at Leo.
“That's why they want you dead now.”
“Why now?”
“Because Bell is retiring.”
Adrian answered.
“He wants everything cleaned up before he leaves office.”
Clara nodded.
“Your father. My father. Arthur. Me. Leo. Anyone connected to the old records.”
Leo turned toward the window.
“So this isn't a war between families.”
“No,” Clara said.
“It's a cleanup.”
Leo's phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
A video appeared.
Vincent sat inside Leo's father's old warehouse.
The missing ledger rested on a table.
Vincent looked directly into the camera.
“Leo. You've always been stubborn.”
He smiled.
“Bring Clara to Warehouse Twelve tomorrow at midnight.”
Clara stiffened.
Vincent continued.
“You get the ledger. Adrian gets to live. Bell disappears.”
Then his smile vanished.
“Refuse, and every copy of that ledger burns.”
The video ended.
Leo looked at Clara.
“No.”
She understood immediately.
“Leo—”
“You're not going.”
“That ledger can destroy Bell.”
“I said no.”
“And how many people die if Bell stays protected?”
“Not you.”
Clara stared at him.
“Why?”
The question surprised him.
“Why what?”
“Why do you care whether I live?”
Leo opened his mouth.
Nothing came.
Clara's eyes softened.
“For six months, you barely spoke to me.”
“I noticed you.”
“You noticed your coffee.”
“I noticed everything.”
The room became strangely quiet.
Leo stepped closer.
“I noticed when your leg hurt.”
Clara blinked.
“I noticed you hated thunderstorms but pretended you didn't.”
Her breathing changed.
“I noticed you always left the kitchen light on when I came home late.”
He paused.
“And I noticed that whenever there was blood in my house, you looked at me like you were wondering whether I was the monster who killed your father.”
Clara looked down.
“I was.”
“And you stayed.”
“I needed answers.”
“You saved me.”
She looked back at him.
“I couldn't let them murder you.”
“Why?”
Now it was his question.
Clara did not answer.
She didn't need to.
Adrian cleared his throat awkwardly from the hospital bed.
“I'm still here.”
For the first time in days, Clara laughed.
Leo almost did too.
Then Nico entered.
His expression destroyed the moment.
“Leo.”
“What?”
“We've got another problem.”
“Bell?”
Nico shook his head.
“The Morettis.”
Leo frowned.
“They want a meeting.”
“Why?”
Nico handed him a phone.
A message appeared.
WE NEVER ORDERED THE HIT. VINCENT PAID THREE MEN USING OUR NAME. WE WANT BELL TOO.
Leo stared at it.
For twenty years, Bell had kept criminal families fighting one another while building his own hidden empire behind the chaos.
Now the people he manipulated were discovering the truth.
Clara looked at Leo.
“What are you thinking?”
Leo put the phone down.
“That Bell expects a mafia war.”
“And?”
Leo smiled.
“So we're going to give him the one thing he never planned for.”
“What?”
“Peace.”
But when Leo turned toward Adrian, his brother's face had gone white.
“What?” Leo asked.
Adrian whispered:
“There was something else in the ledger.”
“What?”
“A name I didn't tell you about.”
Leo approached.
Adrian's voice cracked.
“Mom.”
Leo stopped breathing.
Their mother had supposedly died when Leo was twelve.
Adrian looked at him with terrified eyes.
May you like
“The ledger says she's alive.”
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