Chapter 3 - The Piano Under the Dust
The piano had sat in the Vargas family mansion for eighteen years.
Nobody had touched it since my mother died.
Richard had told Nebula the instrument was too old and had it pushed into storage.
That had been a lie.
It was not a piano.
It was a safe.
Matteo, Marco, and two security men accompanied her into the old house.
The mansion smelled of dust and closed rooms.
Nebula walked slowly.
Every corner contained a memory.
Her mother singing.
Her father laughing.
Christmas mornings.
Then the night they died.
She stopped at the piano.
Matteo stood behind her.
“Are you sure?”
She nodded.
“My father used to tell me this was the only thing in the house that couldn't be replaced.”
She removed the wooden panel beneath the keys.
The bronze key fit.
A compartment opened.
Inside was a folder.
Nebula reached for it.
The first page carried her mother's handwriting.
My daughter,
If this reaches you, then you have finally learned that the people around you were not what they seemed.
Nebula's hands shook.
There were financial records.
Contracts.
Photographs.
And letters.
One was addressed to Matteo.
He opened it.
Matteo,
If Nebula leaves you, do not chase her.
If she returns, protect her.
She is worth more than the empire.
Matteo stared at the page.
Nebula looked at him.
“What does that mean?”
He handed it to her.
She read it.
Her mother had known.
Everything.
The abuse.
The trust.
Richard.
Then another document appeared.
A medical report.
Her mother's death had been ruled accidental.
But the report contained inconsistencies.
High levels of a sedative.
A second bruising pattern.
A missing medication bottle.
Nebula went cold.
“My mother was murdered.”
Matteo nodded.
“I suspected.”
“By Richard?”
“No.”
“Who?”
He opened the next file.
The name was there.
Gabriel Sloan.
Nebula couldn't breathe.
“Why?”
“Your mother discovered he'd been stealing from the company.”
“And he killed her?”
“Someone paid him.”
“Who?”
Matteo didn't answer.
He didn't have to.
The payment records showed Richard's signature.
Nebula sank onto the piano bench.
“He killed my mother.”
“Not directly.”
“He paid someone.”
“Yes.”
She cried.
Matteo knelt in front of her.
He did not touch her.
Not until she reached for him.
Then his arms came around her.
She buried her face against his chest.
For the first time in three years, she cried where nobody told her to stop.
“I thought I was crazy.”
“You weren't.”
“I thought I was difficult.”
“You weren't.”
“I thought nobody would believe me.”
“I believed you.”
She pulled away.
“Even when I left?”
“Yes.”
His answer nearly destroyed her.
A noise came from the hallway.
Security moved.
Marco appeared.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“Someone is inside.”
Matteo stood instantly.
He pushed Nebula behind him.
A man appeared at the end of the hall.
Richard.
Nebula froze.
He smiled.
“You always did make things dramatic.”
Matteo's hand moved toward his weapon.
Richard raised both hands.
“I came to talk.”
“You've talked enough.”
Richard looked at Nebula.
“You don't understand what's happening.”
“I understand perfectly.”
“No.”
He laughed.
“You think I married you for your money.”
“You did.”
“That was only part of it.”
Nebula's blood ran cold.
“What else?”
Richard looked at Matteo.
Then back at her.
“I married you because your mother left you something neither of us knew about.”
“What?”
“The Black Ledger.”
Matteo's face changed.
Richard smiled.
“Your father wasn't merely a businessman.”
“He was the man who kept records for half the East Coast.”
Nebula stared.
The ledger could destroy people.
Judges.
Police.
Politicians.
Mafia families.
Everyone.
Richard stepped closer.
“And your father didn't hide it.”
“Where is it?”
Richard smiled.
“You've been carrying the key all your life.”
Nebula looked at the bronze key.
“What?”
“The star.”
She turned it over.
A tiny symbol was engraved on the back.
A seven-pointed star.
Her father's family crest.
Richard whispered:
“Your father hid the ledger inside the church.”
Matteo's eyes narrowed.
“What church?”
Richard smiled.
“The church where Nebula was baptized.”
Then he reached into his jacket.
A gunshot exploded.
Richard fell.
Nebula screamed.
But the shooter wasn't Matteo.
A second man stood in the doorway.
He ran.
Matteo chased him.
Nebula remained beside Richard.
He was alive.
Barely.
His blood spread across the floor.
He looked at her.
“Don't… trust…”
Then he whispered one name.
“Chloe.”
Nebula went still.
May you like
Her sister.
The bride from tonight.
