The Devil's Vow

Chapter 3 - The Ledger

Sofia read the words again.

A DEBT MUST BE PAID.

The sentence sat beneath her father's signature like a threat disguised as an agreement.

She traced the edge of the document without touching the ink. Her father's handwriting was unmistakable. She had seen it thousands of times on birthday cards, shopping lists and notes he'd left beside her breakfast when she was younger.

There was no mistaking it.

"This is real," she whispered.

Alessandro remained on the other side of the desk.

"Yes."

"What did he owe your family?"

"That's what we're trying to find out."

Sofia looked up sharply.

"You said his debt was his life."

"That's what the document suggests."

"No. You said it like you knew."

Alessandro's expression tightened.

"I knew what my father told me."

"And what did he tell you?"

He was silent.

Sofia closed the file.

"You're doing it again."

"Doing what?"

"Giving me pieces of the truth and expecting me to be grateful for them."

Something changed in his eyes.

"You want the truth?"

"Yes."

"Then understand that once you have it, you can't give it back."

Sofia held his gaze.

"I lost my father eleven years ago. Whatever truth you're protecting can't hurt me more than ignorance already has."

For several seconds, Alessandro said nothing.

Then he walked around the desk and stopped beside her.

He took another document from the file.

"This is the last financial record connected to your father before his death."

Sofia looked at it.

There were numbers.

Names.

Dates.

Companies she'd never heard of.

And at the bottom, one name appeared repeatedly.

De Luca Holdings.

Her stomach tightened.

"My father worked with your family."

"Yes."

"How long?"

"Years."

"Why didn't I know?"

"Because he wanted you away from it."

She looked up.

"And you knew?"

"I knew enough."

"Yet you never came looking for me."

The question escaped before she could stop it.

Alessandro went still.

Sofia hadn't expected the silence that followed.

She hadn't expected the strange expression that crossed his face either.

Regret.

It was there for barely a second.

Then it vanished.

"I couldn't."

"Why?"

"Because your father made me promise."

She stared at him.

"To protect me?"

"Yes."

"By staying away?"

"By staying alive."

The answer unsettled her.

Sofia turned back toward the desk.

"What happened to him?"

"Antonio disappeared."

"My father died."

"That's what your mother told you."

Sofia froze.

Slowly, she turned.

"What did you just say?"

Alessandro's jaw tightened.

"I said that's what you were told."

"You think my father might still be alive?"

"No."

"Then what are you saying?"

"I don't know how he died."

Sofia's breath caught.

"You don't know?"

"No body was ever recovered."

She stared at him.

For eleven years, she'd believed her father had died.

She'd attended a funeral.

She remembered her mother's grief.

She remembered black clothes, flowers and people whispering about a terrible accident.

She remembered being twelve and not fully understanding why everyone had suddenly started speaking to her in soft voices.

But she'd never seen his body.

"Why didn't anyone tell me?"

"Because your mother believed you were safer believing he was dead."

Sofia's eyes burned.

"Everyone lied to me."

Alessandro didn't contradict her.

That somehow hurt more.

She stepped away from the desk.

"I need air."

He followed her.

"I'll take you outside."

"I can walk by myself."

"I know."

"Then stop following me."

He stopped.

Sofia walked out of the study.

She found herself in a long corridor lined with portraits. Men and women stared down from ornate frames, generations of De Lucas frozen in time.

Powerful faces.

Cold eyes.

She stopped in front of one portrait.

"Your family has been here a long time."

"Longer than you think."

"How long?"

"Three generations in this city."

"And how many people have you hurt?"

Alessandro didn't answer immediately.

"Enough."

Sofia looked at him.

She had expected denial.

Instead, she'd received honesty.

It made him more frightening.

She walked toward the glass doors at the end of the corridor.

Alessandro followed at a distance this time.

Outside, the rain had weakened to a fine mist.

Sofia stepped onto the terrace and breathed deeply.

The grounds stretched before her, dark and silent.

She closed her eyes.

For the first time since leaving the gallery, she allowed herself to feel afraid.

Not because of the men who had attacked her.

Because of the possibility that her entire childhood had been constructed around a lie.

"You should have told me sooner."

Alessandro stood several feet away.

"I didn't know you."

She turned.

"You said you remembered me."

"I remember the girl you were."

"And now?"

His eyes met hers.

"Now I'm trying to understand the woman you've become."

The words caught her off guard.

There was something different in his voice.

Something softer.

Before she could respond, a man's voice came from behind them.

"Alessandro."

Luca stood in the doorway.

His expression was serious.

Alessandro immediately straightened.

"What?"

"We found something."

Sofia watched them exchange a look.

"What did you find?"

Luca hesitated.

Alessandro looked at him.

"Tell her."

Luca nodded.

"The ledger."

Sofia's heart stopped.

"What ledger?"

Luca looked directly at her.

"The one your father stole."

Alessandro's expression hardened.

"Where?"

"That's the problem."

Luca held up a small evidence bag.

Inside was a single torn piece of black leather.

"The ledger is missing."

Sofia stared at it.

"Then why are you telling me?"

"Because," Luca said carefully, "your father's name was written inside it."

Alessandro's gaze moved to Sofia.

"And someone has been searching for it ever since."

Sofia looked between them.

"What does this ledger contain?"

"Names," Alessandro said.

"Whose names?"

"People who shouldn't be connected."

"Politicians?"

"Some."

"Police?"

"Some."

"Businessmen?"

"Yes."

She swallowed.

"Criminals?"

Alessandro's silence answered for him.

Sofia looked at the evidence bag again.

"Where is the rest?"

"We don't know."

"And these people think I know where it is?"

"That's one possibility."

"What's the other?"

Alessandro stepped closer.

"Your father may have left it somewhere only you can find."

Sofia shook her head.

"I would know."

"Would you?"

She frowned.

"What does that mean?"

"Your father may have hidden something inside one of your childhood belongings."

She thought of her old bedroom.

The boxes she'd brought with her when she moved away.

The books.

The jewellery.

The photograph albums.

Then something clicked.

Sofia reached into her coat pocket.

She pulled out the photograph Alessandro had given her.

"The picture."

He looked at it.

"What about it?"

"My father took this."

"Yes."

"I've never seen it before."

Alessandro stepped closer.

"Turn it over."

She did.

At first, there was nothing.

Then she noticed a faint indentation beneath the paper.

A series of numbers.

Sofia's pulse quickened.

"Those weren't there before."

Alessandro took the photograph carefully.

He held it beneath the light.

Three numbers.

17 — 04 — 09

Luca swore quietly.

Alessandro's expression became unreadable.

"What?"

He looked at Sofia.

"That's not a date."

"Then what is it?"

"A location."

Sofia stared at him.

"Where?"

Alessandro didn't answer.

"Alessandro."

He looked toward Luca.

"Call Marco."

Luca nodded and walked away.

Sofia stepped closer.

"Where does it lead?"

Alessandro lowered his voice.

"An old De Luca property."

"Where?"

"Your father knew about it."

She felt a chill move through her.

"Is that where the ledger is?"

"I don't know."

"Then we're going."

"No."

Sofia blinked.

"Excuse me?"

"You're staying here."

"You don't get to decide that."

"Tonight, I do."

She stepped directly in front of him.

"You've spent the entire evening telling me that my father left secrets behind. Now we find something that might finally explain them, and you're telling me to sit here?"

"It's dangerous."

"So is everything else in my life apparently."

"Sofia."

It was the first time he'd said her name without the distance of Miss Moretti.

She noticed.

So did he.

His expression changed.

For one suspended moment, neither moved.

Then Alessandro said quietly, "If we go there, you stay beside me."

She lifted her chin.

"I wasn't planning on wandering off."

"I mean it."

"And I mean that I'm coming."

His eyes searched hers.

Finally, he nodded.

"Fine."

Sofia exhaled.

"Good."

But as Alessandro turned away, his phone vibrated.

He looked at the screen.

His expression changed instantly.

"What is it?" Sofia asked.

He didn't answer.

He read the message again.

Then slowly looked at her.

"What?"

Alessandro slipped the phone into his pocket.

"Someone knows you're here."

Sofia's blood ran cold.

"Who?"

His gaze moved toward the dark windows of the estate.

"We don't know."

A beat of silence passed.

Then, somewhere outside, a single gunshot shattered the night.