The bullets from outside were only a distraction... because the real assassin was already walking through the library doors.

The chapel sat at the far end of the estate, beyond the rose garden, built by Lorenzo’s grandfather out of white stone and guilt.

Mia did not want to go there.

Every instinct she had said the chapel was a trap.

Unfortunately, every secret in the Duca family seemed to be waiting inside it.

Matteo insisted on moving once Lorenzo’s wound was bandaged tightly enough to slow the bleeding. Bianca met them in the old corridor with two loyal guards and a medical kit. She took one look at Lorenzo and swore under her breath.

“You need a hospital,” she said.

“I need my son alive,” Lorenzo replied.

“You need both.”

Mia liked Bianca more every minute.

They moved through the service tunnel beneath the east wing. The air smelled of stone dust and old rain. Matteo walked beside Mia, silent.

Finally, she said, “Carlo said he would release everything. What is everything?”

Matteo’s jaw flexed.

“Mia—”

“No. I need to know what we’re walking into.”

Lorenzo answered from behind them, his voice rough. “Records.”

Mia glanced back.

“Of what?”

“Everything I built,” Lorenzo said. “Every deal, every debt, every favor, every judge, every politician, every man who thought my silence could be bought forever.”

Mia stopped walking. “You kept records?”

Lorenzo gave her a tired look. “Men like me keep records because trust is for children.”

“And Carlo has them?”

“No,” Matteo said. “Carlo has part of a key.”

Mia turned to him. “Part?”

“My mother created a failsafe before she died,” he said quietly. “She didn’t trust my father’s world. She made three encrypted drives. One stayed with Lorenzo. One was hidden in the chapel. One was given to Carlo because she believed he was family.”

Lorenzo’s face tightened with old pain.

Matteo continued. “If all three drives are combined, they unlock the Duca ledger.”

Mia understood at once.

The ledger was not just evidence.

It was leverage.

If Carlo gave it to the Ferrettis, they could destroy Lorenzo, blackmail half the city, and take over every legitimate and illegitimate business connected to the Duca name.

“That’s not an assassination attempt,” Mia said. “It’s a hostile takeover.”

“Exactly,” Bianca said.

Mia looked at Matteo. “And you were going to tell me when?”

“After breakfast?”

“Cute.”

“I thought so.”

“It was not.”

They reached a stone staircase leading up to the chapel sacristy. Mia motioned everyone to stop. She crouched and examined the dust on the steps.

Two sets of fresh footprints.

One heavy. One lighter.

Carlo was not alone.

Mia looked up at Matteo. “Stay behind me.”

He opened his mouth.

She raised a finger. “I swear, if you argue, I will knock you unconscious and drag you.”

His mouth closed.

Bianca smiled faintly. “I really like her.”

Mia climbed the stairs first.

At the top, the chapel was dark except for moonlight pouring through stained glass. Blue and red reflections spread across the pews like spilled secrets.

Carlo stood at the altar.

Beside him was Enzo, Lorenzo’s smiling cousin, holding a gun with shaking hands.

Mia was not surprised.

Men with too many teeth were always trouble.

Carlo looked past her to Matteo. “Come in, boy.”