“Delete My Number,” She Said—Then Six Men Stepped Aside for the Crime Lord She’d Been Secretly Writing To
Chapter 10
The chapel roof began to crack.
Matteo searched for an exit.
There was none.
Then Clara remembered the old plans.
The chapel had once been connected to a burial tunnel.
She pointed toward the altar.
“There.”
Matteo kicked away the boards.
A stone stairway appeared.
They descended.
Smoke followed them.
The tunnel led beneath the hill and emerged near the river.
They crawled out.
Behind them, the chapel collapsed.
Vale was gone.
But he had left something behind.
A leather case.
Inside was the original ledger.
And a confession.
Vale had written everything.
Every payment.
Every stolen property.
Every murder.
Every name.
Clara stared at the pages.
Matteo touched her shoulder.
“It is over.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“What?”
She looked at the final page.
A list of victims.
Hundreds of families.
Their land.
Their debts.
Their losses.
“This isn’t over for them.”
Matteo understood.
“You want to restore the land.”
“Yes.”
“It will cost a fortune.”
“I know.”
He smiled.
“Then we begin.”
For the first time, Clara realized that the man she had been writing to wasn’t merely protecting her.
He was changing because of her.
And she was changing because of him.
The crime lord who had once ruled through fear began dismantling the businesses built on stolen property.
Ships were sold.
Illegal warehouses were closed.
Money was returned.
Farmers received deeds proving ownership.
Workers received fair wages.
Matteo’s men became guards for merchants who had once feared them.
People began whispering that Belladonna had gone soft.
Matteo didn’t care.
He had finally found something more powerful than fear.
