Chapter 523: The Price of Trust

Chapter 523: The Price of Trust
Chapter 523: The Price of Trust

Rain followed them through the narrow alley as Dante pulled Isabella toward the waiting car. Samuel climbed into the back seat, while Marco took the passenger side and Victor watched the street behind them.

“Drive,” Victor said.

Dante slammed the door and started the engine.

The tires sprayed water as they disappeared into traffic.

For several blocks, nobody spoke.

Isabella stared through the window, her arms folded tightly across her chest. Her mother was alive. Her father had apparently been connected to Blackwater. Adrian wanted her dead. Every answer created another question.

Dante glanced at her.

“You okay?”

She laughed once, but there was no humor in it.

“No.”

“I didn't think so.”

“My entire family has secrets.”

“So does mine.”

“That doesn't make me feel better.”

“I wasn't trying to.”

She looked at him.

“What were you trying to do?”

“Remind you that you're not alone.”

Her expression softened.

Then Samuel spoke from the back.

“We need somewhere private.”

Victor answered immediately.

“The warehouse on Mercer.”

“No,” Samuel said. “Adrian knows every Moretti property.”

Dante's hands tightened around the steering wheel.

“Then where?”

Samuel looked toward Isabella.

“Her family had a house outside the city.”

Isabella frowned.

“My family didn't own anything outside the city.”

“They did.”

“Where?”

“Lakewood.”

The name struck something inside her.

“I remember a lake,” she whispered.

Samuel leaned forward.

“Your mother used the house as a safe place.”

Isabella closed her eyes.

A memory surfaced.

She was a little girl, standing on a porch while her mother knelt in front of her.

A red wooden box sat between them.

Three words.

Never open this.

Isabella opened her eyes.

“We're going there.”

Dante nodded.

“Then we're going together.”

The drive lasted nearly an hour. By the time they reached Lakewood, the rain had become heavier. The road narrowed until the city disappeared behind them.

The house appeared through the trees.

It was old, two stories, with dark windows and peeling white paint.

Isabella stared.

“I know this place.”

Dante parked.

“You've been here before?”

“When I was little.”

He took her hand.

“You don't go inside alone.”

She nodded.

They entered together.

The house smelled of dust and damp wood. Victor and Marco searched the downstairs rooms while Samuel examined the hallway.

Isabella walked upstairs.

Dante stayed close.

At the end of the hallway was a bedroom.

She opened the door.

The room was almost empty except for a small wooden cabinet beneath the window.

Isabella approached it.

Her hands trembled.

She opened the cabinet.

A faded red box waited inside.

Dante crouched beside her.

“Is that what you remembered?”

She nodded.

Inside were letters, photographs, and a small brass key.

Dante picked up a photograph.

It showed his father standing beside Elena Romano.

They were young.

And they were smiling.

Dante stared at it.

“My father knew your mother.”

Isabella picked up another photograph.

Elena stood between Antonio and Adrian.

Samuel came closer.

His face changed.

“They knew each other before Blackwater.”

Dante looked at him.

“Then tell me what happened.”

Samuel shook his head.

“Not until we know what is in that box.”

Isabella opened one of the letters.

The handwriting belonged to her mother.

She read silently, then handed it to Dante.

He read aloud.

“Antonio, if Adrian discovers the ledger exists, he will kill everyone who knows about it. I moved the original somewhere he will never think to look.”

Dante looked up.

“The ledger.”

Samuel nodded.

“The one Adrian wants.”

Isabella pointed to the bottom.

“There’s more.”

Dante continued.

“If anything happens to me, the key belongs to Isabella.”

He held up the brass key.

“Where does this go?”

A voice came from downstairs.

“Dante!”

Victor.

They rushed down.

Victor stood beside a wooden wall panel.

“There’s something behind this.”

He pushed it open.

A narrow compartment appeared.

Inside was a metal safe.

Dante inserted the key.

The lock clicked.

The safe opened.

Inside lay a black leather ledger.

Nobody moved.

Samuel whispered, “That's it.”

Dante reached for it.

A gunshot shattered the window.

The bullet struck the safe.

“Down!”

Dante pulled Isabella to the floor.

Marco returned fire from the doorway.

Victor killed the lights.

Another shot tore through the wall.

“They found us!” Marco shouted.

Dante grabbed the ledger.

“Back door!”

They rushed through the kitchen.

Bullets struck the walls as they ran.

Outside, headlights appeared between the trees.

Two vehicles.

Then another.

Dante stopped.

“We're surrounded.”

Samuel pointed toward the lake.

“The boathouse.”

They ran.

Marco fired toward the trees while Victor covered Samuel.

Dante and Isabella reached the boathouse first.

Inside was an old motorboat.

Dante pulled the cover away.

“Can it run?”

Isabella found the ignition.

“I think so.”

She turned the key.

Nothing.

Again.

The engine coughed.

“Come on.”

Gunfire grew louder.

Men moved through the trees.

Isabella turned the key a third time.

The engine roared.

Dante smiled.

“That's my girl.”

She pushed the throttle forward.

The boat tore away from the dock.

Marco, Victor, and Samuel jumped aboard.

Dante took the wheel.

The shoreline disappeared behind them.

For several minutes, nobody spoke.

Only the rain and the engine filled the darkness.

Isabella sat beside Dante, holding the ledger against her chest.

“Dante.”

“Yeah?”

“If my mother is alive, I need to find her.”

“We will.”

“And if she isn't?”

“Then we'll find whoever took her.”

She looked down at the ledger.

“What if everything my father believed was wrong?”

Dante glanced at her.

“Then we'll find the truth.”

She looked at him.

“I don't know who I can trust anymore.”

“You can trust me.”

Her eyes held his.

“I want to.”

Dante covered her hand with his.

“That's enough for tonight.”

Samuel broke the silence.

“There is something you need to know before you open it.”

Dante kept his eyes on the water.

“What?”

“The ledger contains names, payments, police contacts, judges, and politicians. But the pages are different.”

“How?”

“They explain why Blackwater was created.”

Isabella looked at him.

“Why was it created?”

Samuel hesitated.

“To control the city without ever appearing to control it.”

Dante's jaw tightened.

“And Adrian?”

“He was only one part of it.”

Isabella stared at the ledger.

“Who else?”

Samuel looked toward the shoreline.

“People your father trusted.”

Dante's expression hardened.

“Give me names.”

“I can't.”

“You can.”

“Not here.”

Dante turned toward him.

“Why?”

“Because if the wrong person hears one name, everyone connected to Blackwater will know we have the ledger.”

Victor looked over his shoulder.

“Then we need to assume someone knows.”

A light appeared across the lake.

Then another.

Marco stood.

“Boats.”

Dante looked back.

Three shapes were moving across the water.

“They followed us.”

Isabella tightened her grip on the ledger.

Dante pushed the throttle forward.

“Hold on.”

The engine screamed as the boat surged ahead.

Samuel stared at the lights.

“Dante, don't go toward the city.”

“Why?”

“Because Adrian won't be waiting there.”

Dante looked at him.

“Who will?”

Samuel answered quietly.

“Your father's friend.”

Behind them, the boats gained speed.

Dante looked at Isabella.

She looked back at him.

Neither said a word.

They both understood.

Whatever waited ahead was bigger than Adrian.

It was connected to Dante's father, Isabella's mother, and the secret buried inside Blackwater.

And now they were carrying the evidence.