Chapter 6 - THE VAULT
The key opened a private deposit box registered under a dead woman's name.
Inside was a flash drive.
A ledger.
And one photograph.
Anthony stared at the photograph longer than anything else.
His father stood beside Celeste.
The date printed on the corner was six months earlier.
Salvatore Pellagrini was alive.
Anthony closed his eyes.
I watched twenty years of loyalty collapse inside him.
“My father taught me never to forgive betrayal.”
I whispered, “Maybe he was teaching you how to become him.”
Anthony looked at me.
For a second, I thought he would be angry.
Instead, he said, “That's what scares me.”
The flash drive contained videos Isabella had recorded.
In the last video, she looked directly into the camera.
Anthony stopped breathing.
“If you're seeing this,” Isabella said, “I didn't get the chance to tell you.”
Anthony sat down.
I reached for his hand.
He let me.
“Your father is destroying our family from inside. Vincent doesn't understand yet. Salvatore has been shaping him. Celeste works for him.”
Isabella looked exhausted.
Then she smiled sadly.
“Anthony, protect Luca.”
The video glitched.
“And if Evelyn Hart ever comes into your life, trust her. Her mother saved me once. I hope I can repay that debt.”
The screen went black.
Anthony stared at our joined hands.
“You were always connected to this.”
“I didn't know.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
His eyes lifted.
I remembered the surveillance order.
The investigation.
The locked gates.
“You watched me.”
“I was wrong.”
I almost laughed.
“Anthony Pellagrini admits mistakes?”
“Only catastrophic ones.”
He stepped closer.
“I thought controlling everything would keep Luca alive.”
“And now?”
“Now I know control nearly made me blind.”
His fingers touched my cheek.
The same way they had beside the pool.
But this time he waited.
He gave me space to move.
I didn't.
He kissed me.
Softly.
Almost carefully.
Then the vault alarm screamed.
Anthony pushed me behind him.
May you like
Gunfire erupted outside.
Salvatore had found us.
