She Found Who Was Robbing the Don’s Syndicate—Then He Claimed Her Before Everyone
Chapter 4
She did not wait to see who.
Elena seized the reins from the driver and shouted for him to move.
The carriage lurched forward.
Behind them, hooves thundered across the road.
“They’re following us!” the driver cried.
“I know!”
The road twisted between the trees.
Elena looked back.
Two riders were gaining.
She knew the country well enough to recognize a narrow path leading toward the river.
“Turn left!”
“That road is flooded!”
“Then drive through it!”
The carriage plunged into muddy water.
One wheel struck a hidden stone.
The vehicle tilted violently.
Elena was thrown against the side.
Behind her, one rider shouted.
Then came the crack of a pistol.
Wood splintered beside Elena’s head.
She ducked.
The driver whipped the horses forward.
They reached the riverbank and disappeared among the reeds.
For nearly an hour Elena remained hidden.
When she finally returned home, she found her front door open.
Nothing had been stolen.
Except one thing.
Her father’s old account book.
Elena stood in the doorway, staring at the empty shelf.
Her father had died twelve years earlier.
That book contained nothing valuable.
At least, she had always believed so.
She entered her bedroom and locked the door.
Then she remembered something he had told her when she was a child.
“If anyone ever asks about my old accounts, tell them you burned them.”
She had never understood why.
Now she did.
Someone had been searching for the book.
And whoever wanted it believed it contained something worth killing for.
Elena spent the night searching the house.
Near dawn, she found a loose brick behind the fireplace.
Inside was a small iron box.
Her father’s book was not there.
Instead, she found a single letter.
The seal had been broken long ago.
The handwriting was hers to recognize.
Her father’s.
Elena, if you ever find this, do not trust the men who say they serve the Belladonna house.
Her hands trembled.
The greatest thief is never the man carrying the stolen goods.
Below that was one final sentence.
He is the man who controls the books.
Elena looked toward the darkness outside.
Thomas Vane had access to the books.
So did Silvio Caruso.
But there was another man who had access to everything.
The man everyone feared.
Don Matteo Belladonna.
