The Detonator at East Docks

Chapter 3 The Gaslighter's Mask

Breakfast with the Morettis took place beneath a crystal chandelier at a table long enough to keep enemies apart. The servants filled gold-rimmed plates that no one seemed interested in eating from.

Julian put a croissant on Chloe's plate and rested his fingers over hers. He checked who had noticed before he withdrew his hand. Chloe sat straighter and looked at me.

Dante ate at the head of the table in a black suit. Each time he set down his knife, the nearest conversation paused.

“Ava, you're so quiet,” Chloe said. “You must be exhausted. Keeping up with Dante is probably hard work. Julian and I think marriage should be comfortable. Gentle.”

[She’s so cold. Like a calculator. Dante will get bored of her soon.]

She turned her diamond bracelet until it caught the light.

“Comfort is fine if you want a pet.” I put my napkin beside my plate and addressed the old Don. “I prefer a partner who makes a profit.”

Then I looked at Julian. “I reviewed the East Docks reports this morning. The shipping manifests are short two million dollars for the last month. Where did it go?”

The servants stopped moving. The East Docks belonged to Julian.

“Bookkeeping errors happen, Ava.” Julian kept smiling. “You of all people should know that.”

“This one repeats across the manifests. Someone is siphoning money from your territory. I assumed the Don would want to know.”

The Don's fork stopped halfway to his mouth. “Is this true?”

“I'm looking into it, Father.” Julian's hand left Chloe's. “It's an internal matter.”

“Two million dollars is not minor,” the Don said.

Julian did not speak again for the rest of the meal.

-

Later, Chloe hurried out of the west wing and nearly ran into me outside the library. The villa was warm, but she had knotted a silk scarf high around her neck.

“I hope you're happy. You embarrassed him!” She blocked the library door.

“The missing money embarrassed him.” My attention stayed on the scarf.

Chloe tossed back her hair. The silk slipped.

Finger-shaped bruises covered the skin below her jaw. Someone had closed a hand around her throat hard enough to leave every mark.

My own throat tightened. In the cellar, Julian had whispered apologies while his fingers cut off my air.

Chloe saw me looking and pulled the scarf back into place. “It's nothing. We were just playing.”

She brushed past me and hurried away.

Julian had used the same word with me.

Back in my suite, I laid the East Docks reports across the bed. Two million dollars was missing. Chloe's bruises were fresh. Julian had gone quiet the moment I mentioned the manifests.

Julian already had every luxury the Moretti name could buy. What he lacked was control, and two million dollars could purchase plenty of it.

Weapons. Men willing to use them.

Enough explosives to wipe out a meeting at the port.

Only one man in the family would require that much force.

Dante.

The family's largest port transaction was scheduled for next month. In my last life, people had called the ambush there a deal gone wrong. Dante survived it, barely. This time, the missing money gave the attack a Moretti name.

I sat on the edge of the bed with the manifests around me. Avoiding Julian's cellar had put me in the path of his bomb. If I warned Dante without proof, Julian would bury the accounts and try again.

The proof would be inside the Golden Serpent.