Chapter 2 - The Maid Who Knew Too Much
By morning, the Gallo estate had become a fortress.
Every entrance was guarded.
Every vehicle was checked.
Every staff member was questioned.
Dominic himself reviewed the security system with Leo.
“How did Vivien get inside?”
Leo shook his head.
“We haven't figured it out.”
“Keep looking.”
“Yes, boss.”
“And Frankie?”
“Concussion. Broken jaw. He'll recover.”
Dominic nodded.
“Good.”
He returned to the kitchen.
Nora was making coffee.
She wore a plain gray sweater and black slacks.
Her hair was tied neatly at the back.
There was no trace of the woman from the previous night.
No blood.
No wild eyes.
No iron poker.
She looked like herself again.
That bothered him more than the violence.
She placed a cup in front of him.
“You're up early.”
“I didn't sleep.”
“Neither did I.”
He stared at her hands.
Fresh bandages covered her knuckles.
“Sit.”
She sat.
Dominic remained standing.
“Who taught you to fight?”
Nora's face remained blank.
“No one.”
“Wrong answer.”
She sighed.
“Does it matter?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I have enemies who spend decades training people to kill men like me.”
Nora looked at him.
“And you hired a maid.”
Dominic's jaw tightened.
“I didn't hire a soldier.”
“No.”
“You hid something.”
“So did you.”
The words hit harder than he expected.
Dominic pulled out a chair.
“Start talking.”
Nora looked toward the windows.
The morning light painted the marble counter in pale gold.
“You don't want the truth.”
“Try me.”
“You'll lose the illusion.”
“I don't have many illusions left.”
She looked at him.
“My name isn't Nora Bell.”
Dominic froze.
She continued.
“Nora Bell died eleven years ago.”
His eyes narrowed.
“Then who are you?”
Before she could answer, a gunshot cracked outside.
Dominic shoved Nora down instinctively.
Leo shouted from the courtyard.
“Ambush!”
Dominic drew his weapon.
Men rushed through the side entrance.
Chaos erupted.
Nora stayed low.
Dominic moved toward the hallway.
Shots shattered glass.
He fired twice.
A man dropped.
Leo returned fire from the stairs.
Within less than a minute, it was over.
Three attackers were down.
One fled.
Dominic followed him into the rain.
The man escaped through the hedge.
When Dominic returned, Nora was no longer in the kitchen.
“Where is she?”
Beatrice pointed upward.
“She went to the second floor.”
Dominic climbed.
He found Nora in his study.
Standing beside the locked safe.
His safe.
The one only he and his father had ever accessed.
She was holding a file.
Dominic's blood ran cold.
“Step away.”
Nora turned.
She didn't look surprised.
“You keep secrets poorly.”
Dominic reached for the weapon at his waist.
She didn't move.
“What did you open?”
“Nothing.”
“Put the file down.”
She did.
He picked it up.
Inside were photographs.
His father.
Arthur Vale.
And a young woman Dominic recognized immediately.
Nora.
Except younger.
Her hair was longer.
Her eyes harder.
In one photograph she stood beside a man Dominic knew as Gabriel Bell.
A former enforcer who had disappeared thirteen years ago.
Dominic stared at the picture.
“Explain.”
Nora said nothing.
Dominic pulled another photograph.
Gabriel Bell was holding a newborn baby.
On the back, one name had been written.
Elena Bell.
Dominic looked up.
“You're Gabriel's daughter.”
Nora swallowed.
“Yes.”
Everything shifted.
Gabriel had betrayed Arthur Vale thirteen years earlier.
Then he vanished.
Nora had vanished too.
Until she appeared in Dominic's home under a false name.
“Why are you here?”
“I needed somewhere no one would think to look.”
“Why my house?”
“Because Arthur never believed you cared about anyone enough to hide them.”
Dominic stared.
“And you knew my father?”
“Everyone in our world knew your father.”
“What do you want?”
“Survival.”
“That isn't enough.”
She took a breath.
“Arthur killed my mother.”
Dominic went still.
“Gabriel tried to expose him.”
Nora continued.
“Your father knew.”
Dominic shook his head.
“My father hated Arthur.”
“Did he?”
She stepped closer.
“You need to stop believing the men who raised you.”
Dominic looked at the photograph.
His father had always told him Arthur was dangerous.
That part was true.
But now doubt entered.
“What happened to Gabriel?”
“He died protecting me.”
“Who killed him?”
“Arthur's men.”
“And you blamed my father?”
“No.”
Nora’s voice softened.
“I blamed myself.”
Dominic frowned.
“For what?”
“For surviving.”
She looked toward the window.
“Gabriel spent his whole life trying to get me out. The night he died, he told me one thing.”
“What?”
“Never trust a man who owns the room.”
Dominic almost smiled.
“That sounds like him.”
Nora looked directly at him.
“You own every room.”
“And?”
“So I stayed quiet.”
Dominic looked down at the file.
Then he noticed something.
A symbol stamped on one page.
A black crown surrounded by three silver lines.
His father's private mark.
“What is this?”
“Proof.”
“Of what?”
Nora whispered,
“That Gabriel wasn't trying to destroy Arthur.”
Dominic looked up.
“He was trying to expose him.”
“And my father helped him.”
A knock sounded.
Leo entered.
“Boss, we found something.”
He handed Dominic a phone.
“A message from the shooter.”
The screen showed a single line.
YOU HAVE THE WRONG WOMAN IN YOUR HOUSE.
Dominic looked at Nora.
Her face had gone pale.
“They know I'm here.”
He nodded.
“What do they want?”
Nora's eyes hardened.
“Not me.”
“What then?”
She said nothing.
Dominic waited.
Finally she whispered,
“A ledger.”
“What ledger?”
“The Black Ledger.”
Leo stepped forward.
His expression changed.
“That doesn't exist.”
Nora looked at him.
“It does.”
Dominic studied her.
The Black Ledger was a rumor even inside the criminal world.
A record of every payment, every betrayal, every political connection linking three syndicates.
A document worth enough money to start a war.
“Where is it?”
Nora looked toward him.
“My father hid it before he died.”
“Where?”
She hesitated.
“Here.”
Dominic's expression hardened.
“Where?”
May you like
She pointed toward the library.
“Inside the one book you have never opened.”
