Chapter 5 - The Ledger of Shadows
Dominic slammed the leather ledger down on the table right in front of Isabella and Charles.
“Look at this,” Dominic snarled, his face twisted in rage. “Property transfers. Offshore accounts in the Caymans. And look at the signature on the third page—transferring ownership of the East Gate property to a shell corporation managed by Isabella’s brother.”
Isabella stepped back, her ivory dress whispering against the floor. “I don't know anything about that! Vincent, he’s lying! This is a setup!”
“Shut up, Isabella,” Vincent said softly. It was not a shout. It was a sentence.
He stood up, towering over Charles Bellamy, who was still pinned against the table by Dominic’s grip. Vincent reached out, took the ledger from his cousin, and flipped to the back pages. There, pressed between two blank sheets of paper, was a folded document bearing a notary stamp dated December 14th—three years ago.
The night Sofia disappeared.
It was a voluntary relinquishment of assets, signed under duress, backed by a threat against Sofia’s younger brother, who had run up heavy gambling debts in Atlantic City—debts that Charles Bellamy had secretly bought out.
“You didn't walk out of here because you hated me, did you, Sofia?” Vincent whispered to the empty air, his hands tightening around the leather book until his knuckles turned white.
“She didn't walk out at all,” Dominic said grimly, reading a passage from the ledger. “Look at this entry: ‘Subject secured at the boathouse annex, transport pending transfer to northern safehouse.’ Charlie, you son of a bitch.”
Charles tried to smile, but his lips were cracked and dry. “Vince... we were protecting the family’s legal exposure. Sofia was digging into the municipal construction contracts. If she exposed the kickbacks, half the council would have gone down, and the federal RICO investigations would have targeted—”
“My wife,” Vincent interrupted, his voice dropping into a lethal, quiet register. “You touched my wife.”
“She’s alive!” Charles blurted out, panic finally breaking his defenses. “She’s alive! We didn't kill her! We kept her up north at the logging cabin near Lake George because she wouldn't sign the asset transfers! She’s still there!”
The ballroom went dead silent.
Isabella let out a sharp gasp and turned toward the doors, but two of Vincent’s guards were already standing in the threshold, blocking her path.
May you like
“Dominic,” Vincent said, handing the ledger to his cousin. “Take twenty men. Go to Lake George. Bring my wife home.”
“Consider it done,” Dominic said, tossing Charles onto the floor like a sack of garbage. He pulled his phone from his pocket as he strode toward the exit. “Get the trucks ready. We’re going hunting.”
