Chapter 3 - The Secret Sewing Machine
Sarah survived surgery.
But she remained unconscious.
Lily and I were taken to a private room.
She slept curled beneath a blanket.
I sat beside the window.
For the first time in thirty years, I thought about Sarah.
We had grown up together.
She knew me before the money.
Before the violence.
Before the reputation.
She knew the boy who stole apples from the market because his mother couldn't afford them.
She knew the man I could have become.
Then my father found out we were together.
He threatened her.
I believed she had abandoned me.
She hadn't.
She had been protecting me.
At dawn, I returned to Apartment 4B.
The police had secured the place.
I went straight to the sewing machine.
The silver rose was still carved into the wood.
I touched it.
Then I noticed something.
A small panel beneath the machine.
It opened.
Inside was a key.
And a letter.
The handwriting belonged to my father.
I unfolded it.
Nathan,
If you're reading this, Sarah failed to keep you away from the truth.
My hands tightened.
Your inheritance was never money.
I read faster.
It's information.
A second paragraph followed.
I built a private ledger containing every illegal transaction involving our family and its partners. Names. Accounts. Politicians. Judges. Everyone.
My stomach tightened.
If Victor Bellini ever finds it, he will control the city.
Then came the final line.
The ledger belongs to Lily.
I stared at the page.
My daughter had inherited the most dangerous secret my family possessed.
The sewing machine wasn't just sentimental.
It was a hiding place.
I searched deeper.
Behind the wooden base, I found a metal compartment.
Inside was a small flash drive.
And a photograph.
Sarah.
My father.
And a baby.
Me.
But written on the back was another name.
Lily's mother is not the only person who knows.
I froze.
Someone else had known about Sarah.
Someone else had helped her.
Then my phone rang.
Daniel Rossi.
I answered.
“Boss.”
“Where are you?”
“Hospital.”
“Sarah?”
“Alive.”
Silence.
Then he said:
“That complicates things.”
I smiled coldly.
“Why?”
“Because now you know.”
My grip tightened.
“Know what?”
He laughed.
“You really don't understand.”
Then the line went dead.
I stared at the phone.
Daniel had just admitted something without realizing it.
He knew Sarah was alive.
And he knew exactly what she had been hiding.
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The betrayal wasn't coming.
It had already arrived.
