Chapter 9 - The Chapel Fire
The chapel doors were chained from the inside.
Flames moved behind the stained glass.
Matteo’s men broke through the side entrance.
Vittorio ran toward the altar.
His father’s tomb stood open.
The marble lid had been pushed aside.
Inside was no coffin.
There was a black leather ledger.
Isabella had hidden it inside the tomb after taking it from the vault.
The silver case at the station was meant to keep Vittorio chasing her while Marco retrieved the real book.
But Marco had not reached it.
A body lay near the altar.
The man’s face was burned beyond recognition.
His jacket carried Marco’s captain pin.
Vittorio did not trust appearances anymore.
He searched the man’s hands.
Marco had lost the tip of his left index finger during a knife fight years earlier.
The corpse had all ten fingers.
Another substitute.
Sophia’s lesson had become a rule.
Watch the hands.
The chapel roof groaned.
Matteo grabbed the ledger.
They escaped seconds before part of the ceiling collapsed.
Outside, Vittorio opened the book.
Half the pages had been cut out.
The missing section covered the previous five years.
Everything involving Isabella, Alessio, Domenico, and the Palermo negotiations was gone.
A sealed envelope remained inside the back cover.
It was addressed to both brothers.
Vittorio broke the wax.
Salvatore Morelli’s handwriting filled the first page.
If Vittorio reads this without Alessio, the family is already divided.
If Alessio reads it without Vittorio, the family is already dead.
Vittorio ordered Alessio brought from the cellar.
When the guards opened the door, they found one man unconscious.
The second guard was missing.
So was Alessio.
A tunnel behind the wine racks led directly to the chapel crypt.
Alessio had escaped during the fire.
The final page of Salvatore’s letter contained a confession.
He had not chosen Vittorio to inherit the organization.
He had chosen Alessio.
Vittorio looked up.
Matteo’s phone rang.
May you like
Alessio’s voice came through.
“Now you know whose empire you stole.”
