Chapter 8 - THE PRICE OF FAMILY
Everything happened at once.
Gideon's men entered through the side doors.
Gunfire erupted.
Marcus dragged Marissa behind the altar.
Gabriel pulled me toward the rear exit.
“Run.”
“What about the ledger?”
“Keep it.”
We ran through the hidden passage beneath the chapel.
Behind us, gunfire echoed through the stone walls.
The tunnel ended near the lake.
We emerged into freezing rain.
Leo was waiting in an SUV with two guards.
When he saw Gabriel, he jumped out.
“Dad!”
Gabriel grabbed him.
“Get inside.”
Leo looked at me.
“Are you okay?”
“I am.”
He nodded.
Then looked at Gabriel.
“Who's that man?”
Gabriel looked toward the chapel.
“My uncle.”
Leo frowned.
“Is he bad?”
Gabriel hesitated.
“Yes.”
We drove.
For the first time, I saw Gabriel without his usual confidence.
He looked exhausted.
“What now?” I asked.
He stared out the window.
“We expose them.”
“How?”
“With the ledger.”
“And if the police are involved?”
“We don't trust the police.”
“Then who?”
“Federal prosecutors.”
I looked at him.
“You're willing to turn yourself in?”
“Yes.”
That surprised me.
“You could lose everything.”
He looked at Leo.
“I already lost too much.”
We contacted an assistant U.S. attorney through a judge named Sarah Bennett, whose name appeared in the ledger as one of the few people who had refused payment.
She agreed to meet.
The meeting took place in an underground parking garage.
Sarah examined the ledger.
Her face changed page by page.
“This is enough to destroy half the state.”
“Will you use it?”
“If you give me the original.”
I looked at Gabriel.
He nodded.
I handed it over.
Then a gunshot rang out.
Sarah dropped.
Gabriel moved.
Marcus returned fire.
Chaos.
Sarah was alive.
A bullet had grazed her shoulder.
We escaped.
But the ledger was gone.
Gideon's men had taken it.
I thought it was over.
Then I remembered my father's words.
The ledger is not the evidence.
The ledger is the key.
I looked at the silver key around my neck.
“There is another copy.”
Gabriel stared.
“How do you know?”
“My father.”
“What did he say?”
I closed my eyes.
“Keep the truth where fire cannot reach it.”
Marissa gasped.
“The river.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
“Your father used to talk about the river.”
We drove to an abandoned mill.
Inside was a rusted machine.
Beneath it was a waterproof case.
Inside were digital drives.
Copies of every transaction.
Every name.
Every recording.
Every confession.
Everything.
We had the evidence.
But Gideon had Leo.
I didn't know when it happened.
One minute he was beside Gabriel.
The next, he was gone.
A guard lay unconscious.
The SUV door was open.
Gabriel stared.
“No.”
He ran into the street.
“LEO!”
His voice broke.
I had never heard him sound like that.
Not as a boss.
Not as a killer.
As a father.
We searched for hours.
Then my phone rang.
Gideon.
“You have something I want.”
I said nothing.
“The drives.”
“Where is Leo?”
“Safe.”
“If you hurt him—”
“I won't.”
“Why?”
“Because I'm not a monster.”
I laughed bitterly.
“You kidnapped a six-year-old.”
“I need leverage.”
“What do you want?”
“The original ledger.”
“We don't have it.”
“You do.”
Silence.
He knew.
“Come alone.”
“Where?”
“The Rossi estate.”
“Why?”
“Because that's where this started.”
The call ended.
Gabriel looked at me.
“You're not going.”
“I am.”
“No.”
“He has Leo.”
“I'll go.”
“He wants me.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“He wants the key.”
I looked at him.
“Then I'll give it to him.”
Gabriel grabbed my wrist.
“No.”
I stared at him.
“You don't get to decide for me.”
“I do when your life is at risk.”
“Two years ago, I entered your house because I was looking for my brother.”
He went still.
“I stayed because I wanted answers.”
I pulled my wrist free.
“Now I'm staying because Leo is family.”
Gabriel looked at me.
For the first time, neither of us spoke as employer and employee.
He looked at me like someone he couldn't afford to lose.
“Come back,” he whispered.
“I will.”
May you like
He nodded.
“Then let's bring our son home.”
