Chapter 2 - The Ledger Tony Tried to BurnThe blast threw glass across the alley like diamonds.
Khloe covered Danny's head with her body.
Dominic's security men pulled them behind the concrete wall as black smoke poured from the shattered windows of Oasis Auto Spa.
For three seconds, the night became nothing but alarms, fire and screaming.
Then Dominic Russo stood.
Leo grabbed his coat.
“Boss.”
Dominic looked at the burning building.
“The explosion came from the office.”
“Yes.”
“And Tony said ledger.”
Leo followed his gaze.
Tony Marquez was on his knees beside the dumpster.
Whatever confidence the man had possessed was gone.
His face looked hollow.
Dominic walked toward him.
“What ledger?”
Tony said nothing.
Dominic stopped directly in front of him.
“Your next answer determines whether the police hear your story from you or from everyone else.”
Tony looked up.
“You don't call police.”
“Tonight I do.”
The approaching sirens grew louder.
That frightened Tony more than Dominic did.
“I didn't plant anything.”
“Not what I asked.”
“There are records.”
“Of?”
Tony's lips trembled.
“Collections.”
Khloe heard him from where she knelt beside Danny.
Paramedics had arrived and were cutting away his jacket.
One pressed gauze against the gunshot wound while another fitted oxygen over his face.
Khloe refused to release his hand.
“Whose collections?” Dominic asked.
Tony glanced at her.
That single glance told Khloe the answer involved her.
Dominic saw it.
“Talk.”
Tony swallowed.
“Debts.”
“Whose debts?”
“People who borrowed money.”
“From whom?”
Tony shut his eyes.
“The Bellini organization.”
The alley became silent.
Even Leo looked at Dominic.
Khloe didn't understand the significance.
Dominic did.
Carlo Bellini had spent twelve years publicly pretending his family had left organized crime.
Privately, the Bellinis and Russos had maintained a fragile peace across Chicago.
No attacks on family.
No interference with legitimate businesses.
No targeting civilians to settle disputes.
Those rules were the reason men like Dominic could sit in restaurants without expecting the windows to explode.
If Bellini had ordered a bomb placed beneath Dominic's car, the peace was finished.
Dominic looked at Tony.
“You're telling me Carlo Bellini owns this car wash?”
“Not on paper.”
“Of course not.”
“The company belongs to Lakeview Automotive Holdings.”
Leo pulled out his phone.
“Lakeview Automotive traces through three LLCs.”
Tony nodded.
“Eventually it reaches Bellini.”
Khloe stared at him.
“What does this have to do with Danny?”
Tony didn't answer.
Khloe stood.
Blood covered her hands.
“What does this have to do with my brother?”
Dominic turned.
“Khloe—”
“No.”
Her voice shook with rage.
“I've spent six months washing cars twelve hours a night because this man told me my brother forged my name on a guarantee for seventy-five thousand dollars.”
Tony looked away.
Khloe stepped toward him.
“You took almost every paycheck.”
“Khloe…”
“You sent men to my apartment.”
“I didn't send—”
“You told me Dominic Russo owned the debt.”
Tony's face changed.
Dominic's gaze became deadly.
“He told you what?”
Khloe looked at Dominic.
“That your people bought Danny's gambling debt.”
Dominic's jaw tightened.
“I've never heard Danny Hayes's name before tonight.”
Tony began speaking rapidly.
“She needed motivation.”
Khloe stared at him.
“Motivation?”
“To keep paying.”
“My mother died thinking I was still behind on rent because every dollar I earned was going to you.”
Tony's face collapsed.
“I didn't know about your mother.”
“You knew enough.”
Dominic stepped between them before Khloe could move closer.
Not to protect Tony.
To protect Khloe from doing something that would follow her forever.
“Leo.”
“Yes?”
“Get everything from the office that survived.”
“Fire department won't let us in yet.”
“Then the second they do.”
Tony shook his head.
“You won't find it.”
Dominic looked back.
“Why?”
“That blast destroyed the records.”
Danny suddenly moved on the stretcher.
Khloe rushed toward him.
His fingers curled weakly around hers.
“No.”
She bent close.
“What?”
Danny pulled the oxygen mask aside.
“Not all.”
“Danny, don't talk.”
“Locker.”
“What locker?”
“Union Station.”
Khloe froze.
Danny fought for breath.
“Three-one-seven.”
Tony's face went white.
Dominic noticed.
“So there is another copy.”
Danny's eyes flickered toward him.
“I took pictures.”
“Of the ledger?”
Danny nodded.
“Why?”
A bitter smile touched his mouth.
“Insurance.”
The paramedic pushed the mask back over his face.
“We have to transport now.”
Khloe climbed into the ambulance.
Dominic caught the rear door before it closed.
She looked at him.
For the first time that night, there was no fear in her expression.
Only exhaustion.
“Go with your brother,” Dominic said. “Leo will follow.”
“Why?”
“So nobody gets near him.”
“You think someone will?”
“Someone already shot him.”
Khloe looked toward Tony.
Then at the burning car wash.
“Why are you helping us?”
Dominic paused.
“Because somebody used my name to enslave you to a debt that wasn't mine.”
Her eyes narrowed slightly at the word.
He didn't soften it.
“That makes it my problem.”
The ambulance doors closed.
Dominic watched it pull away.
Leo approached.
“Police are going to ask questions.”
“Tell them the truth.”
Leo blinked.
“All of it?”
“The bomb. The shooting. The fake debt.”
“What about Bellini?”
Dominic looked at Tony.
“We don't know enough yet.”
Tony laughed nervously.
“You know enough to get me killed.”
Dominic stared at him.
“You were comfortable with Khloe getting killed.”
Tony stopped laughing.
Dominic turned toward Leo.
“Union Station.”
“I'll send someone.”
“No.”
Dominic buttoned his coat.
“I'll go.”
Leo hesitated.
“Boss, whoever arranged tonight knew your schedule.”
Dominic stopped.
That fact had been sitting quietly in the back of his mind since the first explosion.
His Maybach had not been scheduled to visit Oasis Auto Spa.
The decision had been made only two hours earlier when Leo noticed salt buildup after they left a dinner meeting.
Only six people knew.
Dominic.
Leo.
His driver.
Two security men.
And Dominic's cousin, Vincent Russo, who had called during the drive.
Someone hadn't merely targeted Dominic.
Someone close to him had helped.
Forty minutes later, Dominic stood inside Chicago Union Station beneath fluorescent lights while commuters dragged suitcases past without realizing the man opening locker 317 controlled half a dozen businesses and was feared across three states.
Leo remained beside him.
The key had been taped beneath Danny's phone case.
Dominic inserted it.
The locker opened.
Inside sat a blue backpack.
Leo pulled it out carefully.
“No wires.”
They unzipped it.
A cheap laptop.
Three flash drives.
Photographs.
Copies of loan agreements.
Stacks of payroll records.
And a small black notebook.
Dominic opened it.
Names.
Dates.
Amounts.
Interest rates that would never survive legal scrutiny.
Payments collected through businesses across Chicago.
Then Dominic saw a familiar name.
Hayes, Daniel — $75,000.
Beneath it:
COLLATERAL GUARANTOR — KHLOE HAYES.
SIGNATURE OBTAINED 4/11.
Dominic turned the page.
There was a photocopy of Khloe's supposed signature.
Then another document.
A handwritten note:
GIRL UNAWARE. T.M. SAYS SHE'LL WORK IT OFF.
Dominic's fingers tightened.
Leo cursed quietly.
Then he pointed farther down the page.
Another name appeared repeatedly.
V. RUSSO.
Dominic stared.
Dozens of entries showed money moving through accounts connected to someone identified only by those initials.
Leo spoke carefully.
“Vincent?”
Dominic didn't answer.
Vincent Russo was his first cousin.
More than that, he was the closest thing Dominic had to a brother.
They had grown up together after Dominic's father was murdered.
Vincent had stood beside him at funerals.
Weddings.
Trials.
Business meetings.
He had watched Dominic's back for twenty years.
Dominic flipped another page.
A notation had been made beside the date.
D.R. ROUTE CONFIRMED BY V.R.
Leo whispered, “Boss.”
Dominic closed the book.
“Don't say it yet.”
His phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
No greeting.
A man's distorted voice spoke.
“You should have died at the car wash.”
Dominic's eyes hardened.
“Try again.”
The voice laughed.
“We will.”
The call ended.
Leo immediately began tracing the number.
Dominic looked down at the notebook.
Then his phone rang again.
This time it was one of the men at the hospital.
Dominic answered.
“Yes?”
“Mr. Russo, we have a problem.”
“What happened?”
“Someone came into Mercy pretending to be hospital security.”
Dominic's blood chilled.
“Danny?”
“He's alive.”
“And Khloe?”
A pause.
Dominic's voice dropped.
May you like
“Where is Khloe?”
“We can't find her.”
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