The Mafia Boss Locked the Door After Midnight — Then His Secretary Whispered Why She Was Leaving
Chapter 9
Richard’s expression changed.
“What?”
Marco smiled.
“Everything my father stole, everything he hid, everything he recorded—it belongs to the person who can expose it.”
Richard looked at Isabella.
“You.”
She stepped backward.
“Why?”
Marco answered.
“Because your mother was the original heir.”
Isabella froze.
“My mother?”
Vincent stared at Marco.
“What are you talking about?”
Marco explained that Isabella’s mother had once worked for the Moretti family.
She had discovered the Raven Group’s crimes.
She had copied evidence.
Then she disappeared.
Years later, she raised Isabella under a different surname.
Isabella had never known.
“My mother knew your family?”
“She knew everything.”
Richard interrupted.
“She knew too much.”
Marco looked at him.
“You killed her.”
Richard smiled.
“She died of natural causes.”
“No.”
Marco stepped forward.
“She was murdered.”
Richard’s expression remained calm.
Then he looked at Isabella.
“You have something that belongs to us.”
“What?”
“Your mother’s inheritance.”
Isabella shook her head.
“I don’t have anything.”
Richard smiled.
“You have the ledger.”
She looked at Marco.
He nodded.
“Inside the pendant was only the key.”
“Then where is the ledger?”
Marco looked toward her.
“Your mother hid it.”
“Where?”
“She gave it to you when you were a child.”
Isabella frowned.
“I don’t remember.”
“That’s because she wanted you to forget.”
He pointed toward her necklace.
“The pendant isn’t the hiding place.”
“Then what is?”
Marco said:
“Your first memory.”
Isabella closed her eyes.
She remembered a bedroom.
Her mother kneeling beside her.
A music box.
A lullaby.
Then her mother whispering:
“Whenever you’re afraid, listen to the song.”
Isabella suddenly remembered the music box.
She had kept it all her life.
It was in a storage box at her apartment.
Vincent understood.
“We need to get it.”
Richard raised his weapon.
“No.”
Gabriel stepped forward.
“Richard.”
Richard looked at him.
“You.”
Gabriel smiled.
“You really should have retired.”
Richard fired.
Gabriel moved.
The bullet struck the wall.
Chaos erupted.
Vincent pulled Isabella behind cover.
Marco attacked one of the guards.
Celia ran toward the exit.
Richard disappeared into the darkness.
“Where is he going?” Isabella asked.
Vincent looked around.
“He’s going to your apartment.”
They raced back to Chicago.
When they arrived, the apartment door was open.
Everything had been searched.
Drawers emptied.
Furniture overturned.
But the storage box remained.
Isabella opened it.
The music box was gone.
She panicked.
Then she remembered something.
Her mother had always told her:
“Never keep the important thing where you think it belongs.”
She looked at the wall.
A childhood photograph hung crookedly.
Behind it was a small compartment.
Inside was the music box.
Isabella opened it.
The familiar melody played.
Then a hidden drawer opened.
Inside was a tiny flash drive.
Marco smiled.
“The ledger.”
Isabella stared at it.
Then her phone rang.
Richard.
His voice was calm.
“You found it.”
Isabella froze.
“How?”
“You’re not the only one who remembers.”
He paused.
“Come to the old church.”
“Why?”
“Bring the ledger.”
“And if I don’t?”
Richard laughed.
“Then your baby becomes the reason Marco dies.”
