Chapter 5 - The Man Who Started the Debt
Gabriel's father was dead.
Or so he'd believed.
His name was Carlo Russo.
He had been one of my father's most trusted lieutenants.
He had disappeared seventeen years ago after betraying the organization.
I thought he was buried in Sicily.
Gabriel stared at me.
“I've spent years believing my father died.”
Eleanor shook her head.
“He didn't.”
“Where is he?”
“In the city.”
The information destroyed Gabriel.
For years, he had built his life around escaping his father's shadow.
Now he learned the man was alive.
And possibly behind everything.
We found Carlo in an old private clinic.
He was seventy-three.
Weak.
Confined to a wheelchair.
He looked nothing like the monster described in old stories.
I approached.
“Did you create the debt?”
He smiled.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because your father stole from me.”
“I want the truth.”
Carlo looked at Gabriel.
“My son never knew.”
Gabriel stepped closer.
“You used me.”
“Yes.”
“You threatened Luca.”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Carlo's expression hardened.
“Vincent Rane.”
I looked at Sophia.
Carlo continued.
“Rane wanted the ports. He discovered the debt records and used them to manipulate everyone.”
“But why Sophia?”
“Because Matthew found the evidence.”
“And Elena?”
“She found it first.”
I asked,
“Who ordered her kidnapping?”
Carlo closed his eyes.
“Rane.”
“Why?”
“Because Elena planned to expose him.”
Gabriel looked at me.
“He told me he'd kill Luca if I didn't cooperate.”
“Why not come to me?”
“I tried.”
“When?”
“The night Elena died.”
I remembered.
Gabriel had called me eleven times that night.
I hadn't answered.
Because I was inside a meeting.
The guilt returned.
“Why did Elena tell me not to trust you?”
“Because she knew you would blame me.”
“For what?”
“For what happened.”
Carlo pointed toward Sophia.
“Her husband didn't die in a car accident.”
Sophia froze.
“What?”
“Matthew was murdered.”
“By Rane?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He had the final evidence.”
“What evidence?”
Carlo looked at me.
“The debt was never owed.”
Silence.
Every forged document.
Every payment.
Every threat.
A lie.
But the deception had been designed to make me think Sophia was responsible.
Carlo continued.
“Rane wanted you angry enough to destroy the person who could expose him.”
“Who?”
“Sophia.”
I frowned.
“Why her?”
“Because her father was the original accountant who tracked your father's stolen assets.”
Sophia stared.
“My father?”
“He left behind a ledger.”
The Black Ledger.
Everything connected.
The diner.
The debt.
Matthew.
Elena.
Gabriel.
Sophia.
Luca.
And Rane.
We returned to the mansion.
Sophia looked defeated.
“My family has spent generations running from yours.”
I looked at her.
“You're not responsible for what our fathers did.”
“But people keep dying because of it.”
“We end it here.”
She smiled sadly.
“Can you?”
I didn't know.
That night, Luca asked me something.
“Dad?”
“Yes?”
“Are we friends with Emma?”
“Yes.”
“Is Sophia good?”
“Yes.”
“Then why is everyone fighting?”
I sat beside him.
“Because adults make mistakes.”
“Do they say sorry?”
“Sometimes.”
“Did you say sorry to Sophia?”
I looked away.
“No.”
“You should.”
Children had a brutal way of making complicated things simple.
The next morning, I found Sophia in the garden.
“I owe you an apology.”
She looked at me.
“For what?”
“For suspecting you.”
“You didn't know.”
“I should have.”
She smiled.
“Matthew would have liked you.”
“I wish I'd met him.”
“He would have liked Luca too.”
I nodded.
For the first time, our grief felt shared instead of separate.
Then Marcus arrived.
“We found Rane.”
“Where?”
“Your father's old estate.”
I froze.
The estate had been abandoned since his death.
I hadn't visited it in twenty years.
We went there that night.
Rane was waiting.
He stood beneath my father's portrait.
“You finally came.”
“Where is Elena?”
He smiled.
“Alive.”
My heart stopped.
“Where?”
“Safe.”
“Take me to her.”
“You don't understand.”
“What?”
“Your wife wasn't my enemy.”
“Then why take her?”
“Because she found the truth.”
“What truth?”
Rane gestured toward the portrait.
“Your father didn't create this empire.”
“What?”
“He inherited it.”
From whom?
Rane smiled.
“From someone who is still alive.”
Sophia stepped forward.
“Who?”
Rane looked at her.
“Your father.”
She froze.
“What?”
Rane laughed.
“Matthew Bennett was never an accountant.”
Sophia's face went white.
“He was working for me.”
“No.”
“He was placed beside you years ago.”
Sophia staggered backward.
I looked at Rane.
“You're lying.”
“Ask her why she received the debt file before she ever met you.”
I looked at Sophia.
She began crying.
“It's not true.”
Rane smiled.
“Then tell him.”
She couldn't.
I stepped backward.
“Tell me.”
“I didn't know.”
“You knew about the debt.”
“My father left it with me.”
“You knew about my family.”
“I knew about the ledger.”
“You knew Matthew was involved.”
“I knew he was investigating.”
“You knew more than you told me.”
She covered her mouth.
“I was trying to protect Emma.”
My trust cracked.
I had believed Sophia was simply a woman caught in someone else's war.
Now I didn't know what she was.
Rane stepped closer.
“She came to you exactly when I needed her to.”
I pointed my gun.
“Where is Elena?”
He smiled.
“Soon.”
Then the lights went out.
May you like
When they returned, Rane was gone.
And Sophia had disappeared with him.
