Chapter 2 - THE MAFIA BOSS’S UNCLE KIDNAPPED HER MOTHER FOR A LEDGER ADRIAN SWEARS HE NEVER SAW—THEN THE MAID FOUND IT HIDDEN IN THE ONE OBJECT NOBODY WAS ALLOWED TO TOUCHThe antique compass had belonged to Malcolm Romano.
Isabella remembered that before Adrian did.
They returned to Romano Tower at 2:11 a.m.
Marcus wanted Isabella moved to a secure residence.
She refused.
“My mother is missing.”
“Which is exactly why—”
“No.”
Adrian intervened.
“Marcus.”
“What?”
“She said no.”
Marcus looked surprised.
So did Isabella.
Adrian turned toward her.
“What do you need?”
“A complete explanation.”
He nodded.
“Come upstairs.”
Malcolm Romano had been dead six years.
Heart attack.
Officially.
Adrian had inherited the legitimate holdings and the criminal organization attached to them.
“I didn't want either,” he said.
Isabella sat across from him.
“Then why take them?”
“Because my younger brother was nineteen.”
“You have a brother?”
“Had.”
The correction was quiet.
“Julian died three years ago.”
“How?”
“Car bomb.”
Isabella's anger cooled.
“Dominic?”
“I never proved it.”
“But you believed it.”
“Yes.”
“And now he knows about our daughter.”
“Yes.”
The word tasted like fear.
Adrian continued.
“My father distrusted Dominic. Before he died, he told me if anything happened to him, I should look north.”
“North?”
“I assumed Canada. Shipping routes. Accounts.”
Isabella glanced toward the desk.
The antique compass.
Its needle always pointed north.
She stood.
“What?”
Adrian asked.
She walked toward it.
“You told housekeeping never to touch this.”
“It was my father's.”
“Exactly.”
The compass rested beneath a glass case.
Isabella lifted it.
Heavy.
Too heavy.
She turned it over.
A tiny seam ran along the base.
“Marcus.”
Tools arrived.
Inside the compass was a key.
And a handwritten number.
Vault 47 sat beneath an old Romano-owned bank.
Inside was a single black ledger.
Dominic had been right.
Adrian opened it.
And the Romano family began falling apart.
Names.
Dates.
Payments.
Police officers.
Judges.
Politicians.
But worse—
records of killings.
Malcolm Romano had documented crimes committed by Dominic.
Including the car bomb that killed Julian.
Including evidence that Dominic had been siphoning money from Romano companies.
Including a payment made to a private investigator twenty-three weeks earlier.
The night Adrian met Isabella.
Isabella stared.
“He was already watching you.”
“Yes.”
“Before he knew about the baby.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Adrian turned another page.
The answer waited.
Malcolm's final note:
Dominic believes Adrian cannot produce an heir and intends to challenge succession when the time is right. If Adrian ever has a child, Dominic will consider that child a threat.
Isabella sat.
“This is insane.”
“Yes.”
“My daughter hasn't even been born.”
“I know.”
“She doesn't inherit anything.”
“She won't.”
Isabella looked sharply at him.
Adrian closed the ledger.
“I won't let her.”
That was the first time he spoke about fatherhood in a way Isabella could believe.
Not inheritance.
Not blood.
Not ownership.
Choice.
Dominic called at noon.
Abandoned church.
South Side.
Ledger.
No police.
Adrian planned to go.
Isabella said:
“So am I.”
“No.”
She stared.
He caught himself.
“I don't want you there.”
“Different sentence.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you're pregnant.”
“Still my mother.”
“Isabella—”
“No.”
Adrian paced.
“I can get Elena out.”
“You don't know her.”
“What?”
“My mother survived a stroke that doctors said would kill her. She notices everything. If she's seen something useful, she may only tell me.”
Adrian looked at Marcus.
Marcus reluctantly nodded.
“She's right.”
Adrian hated that.
“Fine.”
The church smelled of dust and cold stone.
Dominic stood near the altar.
Silver-haired.
Elegant.
Elena Cruz sat in a wheelchair beside him.
Alive.
Isabella almost ran.
Her mother saw her.
“Bella.”
“Mom.”
Dominic smiled.
“Touching.”
Adrian carried the ledger.
“Release her.”
“Ledger first.”
“No.”
Dominic's smile faded.
“You were always sentimental.”
“You murdered Julian.”
“Your brother was weak.”
Adrian's hands tightened.
Isabella saw the rage.
She touched his arm.
Not to comfort him.
To keep him focused.
Her mother first.
Dominic noticed.
“Interesting.”
He looked at Isabella.
“Do you know what Adrian is?”
“Yes.”
“Do you?”
Isabella said nothing.
Dominic smiled.
“He has killed men.”
Adrian did not deny it.
“He has bribed judges.”
Still no denial.
“Broken businesses.”
No denial.
“Ordered beatings.”
Adrian looked at Isabella.
“Yes.”
Dominic seemed disappointed.
“You told her?”
“Not yet.”
Adrian's voice was quiet.
“But I wasn't going to lie.”
Isabella's stomach twisted.
That conversation would come later.
If they survived.
The exchange began.
Marcus remained outside.
Federal agents were not present.
At least Dominic believed that.
Adrian had contacted an organized-crime prosecutor before leaving.
Not police.
Federal agents surrounded the block.
Adrian placed the ledger on a pew.
Dominic moved toward it.
Elena suddenly shouted:
“Bella! Floor!”
Isabella dropped.
Elena kicked her wheelchair backward.
A gunshot exploded.
The bullet meant for Isabella struck stone.
Adrian drew.
Dominic's guard fired again.
Chaos.
Federal agents stormed.
Adrian had a clear shot at Dominic.
Isabella saw it.
“Adrian!”
He looked at her.
She didn't need to say more.
Alive.
Answers.
Court.
Adrian lowered his aim and shot Dominic in the leg.
Agents tackled him.
Elena was safe.
At the hospital, Isabella hugged her mother until both cried.
Elena whispered:
“He talked.”
“Who?”
“Dominic.”
“About what?”
“He said the baby wasn't the first Romano child he tried to eliminate.”
Isabella froze.
“What?”
Elena nodded toward Adrian outside the room.
“Ask him about Julian's girlfriend.”
Her name had been Claire Donovan.
Pregnant.
Six years earlier.
She disappeared before Julian died.
Adrian had believed she left voluntarily.
The black ledger suggested otherwise.
Dominic paid someone to “resolve the succession issue.”
Claire had been seven months pregnant.
No body was ever found.
Neither was the baby.
Adrian sat in the hospital corridor staring at the page.
“If they're alive…”
Marcus finished:
“Your niece or nephew would be six.”
Adrian looked toward Isabella.
Suddenly their daughter's danger was part of something much older.
Dominic hadn't merely targeted one unborn child.
He had spent years eliminating anyone who could weaken his claim to the Romano empire.
And somewhere—
May you like
possibly—
another Romano child had survived.
Related Stories
