She Found Who Was Robbing the Don’s Syndicate—Then He Claimed Her Before Everyone
Chapter 12
Men shouted.
A chair overturned.
Someone fired blindly.
Elena crawled across the floor.
Her fingers found the loose board.
She pulled.
Beneath it was a narrow passage.
She slipped inside.
Matteo followed.
They crawled through darkness until they reached the riverbank.
Behind them, Caruso’s men were still searching.
Matteo untied Elena’s hands.
“You knew there was a passage.”
“No.”
“I knew you were looking at something.”
“I thought you trusted me.”
“I did.”
He stopped.
“I do.”
They emerged beside a row of boats.
Elena pointed toward the water.
“There.”
A small vessel was leaving the harbor.
Caruso was aboard.
Matteo seized another boat.
They followed.
The chase lasted nearly an hour.
Eventually Caruso’s boat reached an island where an old stone fort stood abandoned.
He ran inside.
Matteo followed with Elena close behind.
Inside the fort, they found a hidden room.
Crates of stolen goods lined the walls.
Documents covered the table.
And beneath them lay the final ledger.
Elena opened it.
Every theft.
Every bribe.
Every payment.
Every murder.
Caruso had recorded everything.
Not because he was careless.
Because he was arrogant.
He believed no one would ever defeat him.
Matteo read the pages silently.
Then he looked at Elena.
“My father.”
She nodded.
Caruso had ordered the poisoning.
He had arranged Elena’s father’s accident.
He had manipulated Lorenzo.
He had used Thomas.
He had even forged the records that claimed Matteo’s mother had abandoned the family.
The entire conspiracy was there.
But Caruso was gone.
A door slammed behind them.
Smoke began pouring through the room.
“He’s burning the fort,” Elena said.
Matteo grabbed the ledger.
“Run.”
The corridor filled with smoke.
They reached the entrance.
A beam crashed down.
Matteo pushed Elena aside.
The beam struck his shoulder.
“Matteo!”
“Go!”
“No.”
She pulled at the beam.
He shouted through clenched teeth.
“Leave me!”
Elena refused.
She grabbed a broken iron bar and levered the beam upward.
Matteo crawled free.
They reached the outside just as flames consumed the doorway.
Caruso stood on the opposite hill.
He watched them escape.
Then he disappeared into the forest.
Matteo looked at Elena.
“We have the ledger.”
She shook her head.
“Not enough.”
“Why?”
“Because Caruso still has one thing.”
“What?”
“The people.”
She looked toward the distant town.
“If he reaches them first, he’ll claim we fabricated everything.”
Matteo understood.
They needed to return before sunrise.
And they needed to do something no one had ever seen the Don do before.
Tell the truth.
