She Found Who Was Robbing the Don’s Syndicate—Then He Claimed Her Before Everyone
Chapter 3
The next morning, Elena found a dead rat on her desk.
Its throat had been cut.
A tiny folded scrap of paper had been tied around its body.
Stop counting.
She stared at the message for several seconds.
Then she removed the paper, placed it inside her coat, and returned to work.
Fear would have been easier if she had not already discovered the pattern.
Instead, the threat sharpened her attention.
That afternoon she compared Thomas Vane’s handwriting with the warehouse receipts.
The numbers matched.
The signatures did not.
Someone had been forging the names of riverboat captains.
But Thomas was not working alone.
Every stolen shipment had passed through one of four warehouses.
All four were controlled by Matteo Belladonna.
Elena spent the following week following the trail.
She discovered false wagon manifests.
She found duplicate keys.
She discovered that several guards were being paid twice.
Most disturbing of all, she found payments to a man called Silvio Caruso.
Caruso was not a clerk.
He was one of Matteo’s most trusted men.
Elena had seen him escort Matteo into private meetings.
She knew better than to accuse him.
So she watched.
One evening, she followed Caruso from the trading house.
He rode south along the river, leaving the crowded district behind.
Elena hired a small carriage and kept far enough away to avoid being noticed.
Caruso eventually stopped beside an abandoned mill.
Three men were waiting.
Barrels were loaded from one wagon onto another.
Elena counted them.
Twelve.
Then she saw the mark burned into the wood.
Belladonna.
Her heart pounded.
The stolen goods were being moved through a route that belonged to Matteo himself.
She leaned closer to the carriage window.
A fourth man stepped from the mill.
Thomas Vane.
Elena’s stomach dropped.
Thomas handed Caruso a folded document.
“Next shipment is Friday,” he said.
“And the woman?” Caruso asked.
“She’s getting close.”
Elena stopped breathing.
“Who?”
Thomas looked toward the road.
“Miss Moretti.”
A horse suddenly screamed.
Elena pulled the carriage curtain shut.
Someone had discovered her.
