Chapter 7 - THE EMPIRE WAS ALREADY CRACKING
By sunrise, Nico’s empire had split into two invisible sides.
Men who still answered to him.
And men pretending they did.
For once, Nico didn’t gather everyone into a room and threaten them.
He called outside counsel.
Independent accountants.
People Vincent couldn’t pressure through family loyalty.
I noticed.
I didn’t praise him.
Basic sanity shouldn’t earn applause.
But I noticed.
Arthur discovered that Vincent’s theft went back farther than expected.
Seven years.
Before I knew Nico.
Before Nico became head of the organization.
One set of transfers had even occurred while Nico’s father was still alive.
“That’s impossible,” Nico said.
Arthur shook his head.
“Unless your father knew.”
They searched old records stored at another property.
At noon, Arthur returned carrying a leather ledger.
It had belonged to Nico’s father, Lorenzo.
Most entries were ordinary.
Names.
Debts.
Businesses.
Then, near the back, one page had been marked with a red line.
VINCENT — DO NOT GIVE HIM CONTROL.
Nico read it twice.
His father had known.
Below that was another note.
He wants the chair, not the work. If anything happens to me, Arthur knows where the second book is.
Every eye turned toward Arthur.
Nico’s expression became dangerous.
“You had another ledger?”
Arthur looked almost offended.
“I was nineteen.”
“You knew about this?”
“I knew your father gave me a sealed box and told me not to open it unless the family turned on itself.”
“And you never mentioned that?”
“The family hadn’t turned on itself until yesterday.”
I almost laughed.
Apparently secrecy was hereditary in Nico’s world.
Arthur retrieved the box from a bank vault that afternoon.
Inside was another ledger.
And a letter.
Lorenzo had discovered Vincent’s father stealing from family businesses years earlier.
He suspected Vincent had joined him.
But Lorenzo died before proving it.
According to the letter, Arthur was supposed to give the evidence to Nico only if the same pattern returned.
It had.
The second ledger showed names that matched Vincent’s modern payments almost perfectly.
This wasn’t a new conspiracy.
It had been waiting for years.
Then I noticed one name in Lorenzo’s old records.
Anthony Ellison.
My last name.
My father’s name.
He died when I was thirteen.
I stared at Arthur.
“Why is my father in this book?”
Nico took the ledger.
His expression changed.
“Mara…”
“What?”
He clearly knew something.
That terrified me.
“What did my father have to do with yours?”
Nico closed the book slowly.
“Your father once saved my father’s life.”
I stared at him.
“You knew my dad?”
“No.”
“But you knew his name.”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
Nico hesitated.
May you like
That hesitation answered too much.
“Since before I met you.”
