“Delete My Number,” She Said—Then Six Men Stepped Aside for the Crime Lord She’d Been Secretly Writing To
Chapter 8
The next morning, Matteo discovered the ledger had vanished.
He immediately blamed himself.
Vale had taken it from the warehouse before the escape.
Without it, their evidence was incomplete.
Clara disagreed.
“We still have the copies.”
Matteo looked at her.
“Copies?”
“You taught me to keep records.”
She opened a leather case.
Inside were pages she had copied months earlier.
Matteo smiled.
“I knew there was a reason I liked you.”
Clara’s cheeks warmed.
Eleanor laughed.
But the moment passed quickly.
The copies revealed something unexpected.
Vale wasn’t acting alone.
Several magistrates had received payments.
A customs officer.
A sheriff.
Two merchants.
And one name Clara recognized.
Her uncle.
Matteo looked at her.
“Are you certain?”
“Yes.”
Her uncle had always been kind to her.
He had brought gifts when she was young.
He had attended family dinners.
Now she wondered whether every smile had been false.
They returned to the Bennett estate.
Her uncle was waiting.
He had brought armed men.
Clara’s heart sank.
“You.”
He sighed.
“I had hoped you would never find this.”
Matteo stepped forward.
“Leave.”
Her uncle laughed.
“You still think fear protects you.”
“No.”
Matteo looked at Clara.
“She does.”
Clara stepped beside him.
Her uncle stared.
“You chose him?”
Clara answered quietly.
“I chose the man who gave me a choice.”
The guards raised their weapons.
Then the estate doors opened.
Magistrates entered.
But not Vale’s magistrates.
Honest officers.
Clara had secretly sent copies of the ledger to them.
Her uncle’s face collapsed.
Matteo smiled.
“You should have read her letters more carefully.”
