Chapter 5 - The Man Alessio Trusted Most Ordered Nari’s Death—But She Knew the Language He Thought No One UnderstoodThey fled through the underground garage at 1:12 a.m.
Nari sat beside Alessio in the back of the armored SUV.
Neither spoke.
Ethan drove.
Another car followed.
For ten minutes, the city passed outside.
Then Nari said:
“He won't stop.”
“No.”
“He'll come after my mother.”
“She passed away.”
“My younger brother.”
Alessio turned.
“You have a brother?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“New Jersey.”
“Name?”
“Jonah.”
“Age?”
“Twenty-three.”
Alessio immediately called Ethan.
“Send two men.”
Nari stared at him.
“You believe me.”
“I heard the French.”
“You understand French.”
“No.”
He looked at her.
“I understand you.”
She swallowed.
They reached Jonah's apartment.
The door was open.
Nari ran inside.
The apartment was empty.
A note sat on the table.
You should have stayed invisible.
Nari began shaking.
Alessio stood behind her.
“We'll find him.”
“You don't know that.”
“I do.”
“How?”
“Because Richard needs him.”
“Why?”
“To reach you.”
She looked up.
“Then he has already won.”
“No.”
Alessio's voice was steady.
“He wants you frightened.”
“It's working.”
“Fear isn't defeat.”
She looked at him.
“What is?”
“Giving him what he wants.”
They searched the apartment.
No blood.
No signs of struggle.
Just a missing laptop.
Then Nari noticed something.
A coffee cup.
Cold.
Still half full.
“He was taken after midnight.”
“How do you know?”
“My brother always drinks coffee hot.”
Alessio almost smiled.
“Good.”
“What?”
“You're thinking again.”
“I've been thinking the whole time.”
“Not like this.”
Nari followed the clue.
Jonah's laptop had been remotely accessed.
She traced the connection.
A shipping terminal.
Brooklyn.
The same place.
They arrived forty minutes later.
Jonah was tied to a chair.
Alive.
Three men guarded him.
Alessio moved first.
The confrontation lasted less than a minute.
When it was over, Jonah stared at him.
“Who are you?”
Alessio answered:
“Your sister's boss.”
Jonah looked at Nari.
“You work for him?”
“Yes.”
“Then we're in trouble.”
Nari untied him.
“What did they want?”
Jonah looked at her.
“They asked where your father kept the key.”
Nari froze.
“What key?”
Jonah swallowed.
“The one you don't know you have.”
She felt cold.
Alessio looked at him.
“Explain.”
“They said your father hid something.”
“What?”
“Something called the Orpheus Ledger.”
Nari's eyes widened.
“My father never mentioned it.”
“He mentioned it to Mom.”
“What did she say?”
“That it was hidden in plain sight.”
They returned to the safe house.
Nari searched her mother's possessions.
Jewelry.
Letters.
Photographs.
Then she found an old music box.
Her mother had kept it locked for years.
Nari opened it.
Inside was a small silver key.
And a folded paper.
The key opens the language of the dead.
She looked at Alessio.
“What does that mean?”
He didn't know.
Nari did.
“It means the ledger isn't written in one language.”
She unfolded another page.
Symbols.
French.
Russian.
Arabic.
German.
Italian.
Spanish.
Portuguese.
English.
Eight languages.
Her blood ran cold.
“My father built this.”
Alessio stared.
“Why?”
“So nobody could translate it alone.”
Nari began decoding.
Every language revealed a section.
Money.
Names.
Orders.
Dates.
Then she found something terrifying.
A list of planned targets.
Politicians.
Police.
Judges.
And one final entry.
CHICAGO.
Alessio stared.
“When?”
Nari looked at the date.
“Three days.”
“What happens?”
She translated another line.
“War.”
“Between whom?”
“Everyone.”
The ledger described a plan to sabotage a major international shipping convention in Chicago.
Multiple criminal groups would blame each other.
Governments would retaliate.
Ports would shut down.
Trade routes would collapse.
Thousands could die.
Nari looked at Alessio.
“Your father tried to stop this.”
“And Voss?”
“He continued it.”
“Why?”
“Because chaos makes power cheap.”
Alessio stood.
“We have three days.”
Nari shook her head.
“No.”
“What?”
“We have less.”
She translated another note.
At midnight, Orpheus begins.
She looked at the clock.
11:41 p.m.
Alessio stared.
Ethan entered.
“We have a problem.”
“What?”
“Richard Voss has called a board meeting.”
“When?”
“Midnight.”
Alessio's expression hardened.
“They're going to trigger something.”
Nari took the ledger.
“Then we go.”
“To the board meeting?”
“Yes.”
“You'll be killed.”
“Maybe.”
Alessio looked at her.
“But not before we stop them.”
She stared.
“You are insane.”
He smiled faintly.
“Probably.”
At midnight, they entered the Franks headquarters.
The boardroom was full.
Richard Voss stood at the head of the table.
He smiled when Alessio entered.
“Well.”
He looked at Nari.
“You brought her.”
Nari's blood ran cold.
Voss continued:
“I've been waiting fifteen years for someone to finish your father's work.”
Alessio raised his weapon.
“What work?”
Voss smiled.
“The work that will begin tonight.”
Then every screen in the room turned red.
A countdown appeared.
00:59:59
May you like
Sixty minutes.
The war had started.
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