Chapter 6 - WHAT MARCO DISCOVERED
Pietro survived.
Barely.
He woke six hours later in one of Dante’s private medical rooms.
Dante stood beside the bed.
Khloe waited outside.
She was not family.
Not business.
Not anything.
Then Dante opened the door.
“He asked for you.”
“Me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
That did not make her feel better.
Pietro looked smaller awake.
Old.
Tired.
Nothing like the founder people feared.
He studied Khloe.
“You’re Jared’s girl.”
Her stomach tightened.
“No.”
“Good.”
Interesting.
“How do you know Jared?”
“He worked security for Marco.”
There.
Confirmation.
Pietro explained.
Nine years earlier, he discovered members of his own organization were using Varga shipping routes for something Dante had forbidden.
Human trafficking.
Not drugs.
Not weapons.
People.
Dante went cold.
He had always outlawed it.
Even criminals have lines.
Pietro claimed he tried to shut it down quietly.
Then someone attempted to kill him.
Salvatore staged his death.
Why not tell Dante?
Because the traitor might be close to Dante too.
So Pietro disappeared.
Three years later, Marco found him.
Marco had independently discovered the missing-container network.
He connected it to Pietro’s “death.”
Then Marco began working with Jared and Elias to trace access logs.
“Jared helped him?”
Khloe asked.
“At first.”
Pietro coughed.
“Jared liked money more than loyalty.”
Of course.
Marco discovered the trafficking route.
Elias found the ledger.
Jared found the internal security bypass.
Then someone offered Jared more money to switch sides.
“He betrayed Marco?”
“Yes.”
Khloe felt sick.
The man who had terrorized her for two years had once helped betray a man to death.
Then Dante asked:
“Who ran the route?”
Pietro looked at him.
“You already know.”
“No.”
“You do.”
Dante’s face hardened.
“Say it.”
Pietro closed his eyes.
“Salvatore.”
The uncle.
The man whose house they were in.
The man who helped Pietro fake his death.
Khloe frowned.
“That makes no sense.”
Pietro looked at her.
“Exactly.”
Salvatore saved Pietro because he needed him hidden.
Alive but silent.
If Pietro died publicly, succession chaos might trigger audits.
If he vanished, Salvatore could manipulate routes quietly.
Then Marco found out.
Salvatore could not control him.
So Marco died.
Dante’s expression turned terrifyingly calm.
“Where is Salvatore?”
Pietro shook his head.
“He left yesterday.”
“Why?”
“He said Jared resurfaced.”
Khloe went cold.
“Jared knows Salvatore?”
“Yes.”
“How well?”
Pietro looked at her.
“Well enough to fear him.”
Then Khloe remembered something.
Jared had once taken her to Tacoma.
Said he was meeting a client.
Left her in the car outside a waterfront house.
She had seen an older man through the window.
Silver hair.
Walking with a cane.
“What?” Dante asked.
Khloe described it.
Pietro went pale.
“That was Salvatore.”
Then Dante asked:
“When?”
“Last summer.”
Silence.
Jared had still been working for Salvatore recently.
Then Pietro whispered:
“Your coat.”
Khloe froze.
“What?”
“He put the phone in your coat because Salvatore told him to.”
“How do you know?”
Pietro’s face tightened.
“Because that burner was mine.”
Everything stopped.
Pietro had loaded the evidence.
The phone had been intended for Dante.
But why use Khloe?
Pietro answered:
“Because Salvatore watches every messenger.”
Then Dante said:
“But he wouldn’t watch her.”
Pietro looked at Khloe.
“No.”
Pause.
“Until Jared fell in love with her.”
Khloe laughed bitterly.
“Jared didn’t love me.”
Pietro’s eyes softened.
“No.”
“He loved owning something Salvatore couldn’t control.”
Then a nurse entered carrying Pietro’s old jacket.
From inside the lining fell a folded piece of paper.
One address.
A storage facility south of Seattle.
May you like
And below it:
MARCO’S ORIGINAL LEDGER.
