Chapter 5 - The Safe Containing My Father’s Fortune Would Open Only for a Child I Had Never Known ExistedWe found Elena's car abandoned three miles from the estate.
The windshield was cracked.
The driver's door was open.
But there was no sign of her.
No sign of Elsie.
No sign of whoever had helped her escape.
I wanted to tear the city apart.
Marco reminded me that panic was what our enemies wanted.
He was right.
So I did the only thing I knew.
I became cold.
I returned to my father's study.
There was something Elena had said.
The inheritance.
The child.
The safe.
I searched every locked drawer.
Nothing.
Then Nero entered.
He walked toward the fireplace.
Stopped.
And scratched at the wall.
I stared.
"What?"
He scratched again.
Marco brought a flashlight.
Behind a decorative panel was a metal keypad.
I entered my father's birth date.
Wrong.
My mother's.
Wrong.
Adrian's.
The keypad beeped.
ACCESS DENIED.
Then I remembered the ledger.
If the girl survives, the Russo line survives.
I typed Elsie's birth date.
The lock opened.
Inside was a room filled with documents.
A computer.
Several passports.
And a single steel box.
The box had no keyhole.
Only a fingerprint scanner.
Marco looked at me.
"Your finger."
I tried.
Nothing.
Then something unexpected happened.
Nero placed his paw against the scanner.
The box didn't open.
The system displayed:
BIOLOGICAL AUTHORIZATION REQUIRED.
I stared at it.
"Adrian."
Marco nodded.
"His DNA."
We needed blood.
His remains had never been formally buried.
The old family cemetery contained only an empty grave.
He had disappeared.
Then I understood.
Adrian's body had never been found.
Someone had taken it.
Someone had preserved his DNA.
And that meant the safe had been designed for his child.
Elsie.
If Elena found the safe, she could use Elsie to open it.
Inside were the names of politicians, judges, police chiefs, businessmen and organized-crime families.
Evidence powerful enough to destroy half of Chicago.
But there was something else.
A video.
Adrian appeared on screen.
Older than in the photographs.
Tired.
He looked directly into the camera.
"If you're watching this, Alessio, then I'm already dead."
I couldn't breathe.
"I know you'll think I betrayed you."
He shook his head.
"I didn't."
He explained everything.
Our father had created a network called the Red Ledger.
He controlled families by threatening their children.
When Adrian discovered it, he copied the evidence.
He planned to expose everyone.
Then he met Sienna.
And everything changed.
"My daughter will be born soon."
He smiled sadly.
"She's the only thing I have left."
Then his expression hardened.
"Protect her from Elena Varga."
I froze.
Elena's surname.
Varga.
A family I knew.
One of the most dangerous.
Adrian continued.
"Elena isn't working alone."
He named another person.
The screen went dark.
I stared.
Marco looked at me.
"Who?"
I couldn't answer.
Because the name belonged to the man who had been standing beside me for years.
Marco.
My head of security.
May you like
I turned.
He was gone.
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