Chapter 10 - Forty-Two Million Dollars
We reached the estate in fourteen minutes.
It felt like four hours.
The gates were open.
Too open.
A guard lay unconscious near the security booth. Alive, but bleeding from the scalp. Marco was already inside with two federal agents.
I ran toward the guest wing.
"Mom!"
No answer.
Her room was empty.
The bed was made. Her suitcase was gone.
On the pillow sat my old engagement ring from Ethan.
My knees nearly folded.
Lorenzo picked it up with a handkerchief.
"He has her."
My phone rang.
Ethan.
I answered.
"Put my mother on."
"Still bossy when you're scared," he said.
"If you hurt her -"
"I'm not the violent one, Amy. Look who you're standing beside."
Lorenzo's face became stone.
Ethan continued, "Bring me Daniel's original ledger. Silas wants the pages your father kept off the books."
I frowned. "There are no pages off the books."
Ethan laughed. "Then your mother dies for nothing."
The line went dead.
I grabbed Dad's ledger and flipped through it again.
Every page numbered.
Except between 86 and 91.
Five pages had been cut out cleanly.
"Mom," I whispered.
She had hidden more than one thing.
Natalie called from the study. "We found Silas's withdrawal route. Money moved through three shell companies. Final destination is a private airfield account. Plane leaves at dawn."
Lorenzo looked at me. "Ethan wants missing pages. Silas wants forty-two million. They aren't running together. They're bargaining with each other."
That gave us a crack.
We searched the guest room.
Inside Mom's toiletry bag, I found a hotel sewing kit. One needle was bent. The carpet near the closet had three tiny pulled threads.
I followed them to the baseboard.
Behind it was a folded envelope.
My name was written on the front.
Amelia - if they ever come for me, do not trust the ledger alone.
Inside was a flash drive.
I plugged it into Lorenzo's laptop.
One video file opened.
Dad appeared on screen, older than I remembered and terrified in a way I had never seen.
"If you're watching this," he said, "Silas knows about the ledger. But Silas is not the man in charge."
Lorenzo and I exchanged a look.
Dad leaned toward the camera.
May you like
"The person funding them is someone the Duca family believes is dead."
Then the video cut to black.
