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Chapter 44: Black Ledger
The rain had eased to a drizzle by the time Dante and Aria reached the outskirts of the Cradle District, a place the Dominion Guard rarely patrolled and the city’s elite pretended didn’t exist. The streetlamps here buzzed and flickered, throwing thin veins of light across cracked cobblestone. Every shadow felt thicker than it should, every closed shop window like a watching eye.
They weren’t here for the streets—they were here for the Black Ledger.
The name wasn’t just a title. It was a myth whispered in both underworld circles and government corridors. A single, leather-bound book supposedly containing decades of Dominion contracts, bribes, covert assassinations, and names—names of allies, enemies, and traitors alike. Whoever possessed the Ledger didn’t ju
