Chapter 6 - The Ledger In The Blood
“Jack!” I screamed, scrambling across the glass-covered floor.
My son looked nothing like the boy who had left four years ago. His face was hardened, covered in dirt and a thin layer of sweat. His eyes, once warm, were now as dead as his father’s.
He lowered the rifle and stepped through the broken window.
Dominic was crouched behind the heavy mahogany sofa, his pistol raised. “Put it down, Jack,” Dominic commanded. “Or you don't walk out of this room.”
“I didn't come to walk out, old man,” Jack spat. He reached into his leather jacket and threw a heavy, leather-bound book onto the floor.
It landed in the pool of blood spreading from Sophia’s shoulder. The ledger.
“I tore the Rossi compound apart,” Jack said, his voice trembling with raw fury. “I found the accounts. I know you paid them to take Elena. I know you paid them to keep Leo. You sold my life to save your pride.”
I crawled to Sophia. She was gasping, clutching her shoulder. She was alive, but fading. I pressed my hands against her wound, my own hands staining red.
“Jack, please,” I cried. “Leo is here! He’s safe in the kitchen. Don't do this in front of him!”
Jack flinched at the sound of his son's name. For a second, the hardened killer cracked, and I saw my boy again. “Mom,” he choked out. “He killed her. He killed Elena.”
“I didn't kill her,” Dominic said coldly from behind the sofa. “She died in childbirth. The Rossis didn't tell you that part, did they? They let you believe she was murdered so you’d come after me.”
Jack froze.
The reversal was devastating. The vengeance that had fueled Jack for four years was based on a final lie from the enemies his father had paid.
“It doesn't matter,” Jack roared, raising the rifle again. “You gave her to them!”
“I gave her to them to protect our family!” Dominic yelled back.
“Stop it!” I screamed.
I looked down at the ledger lying in the blood. I noticed something sticking out of the pages. A string of wooden beads.
I pulled it out. It was a rosary. My grandmother’s rosary. The one I had given Jack on his confirmation day.
“Jack,” I whispered, holding the bloody beads up. “Why is this in the Rossi ledger?”
Jack looked at the rosary, his expression dropping into sheer horror.
Dominic slowly stood up from behind the sofa, keeping his gun leveled. He looked at the rosary, and a cruel, humorless smile touched his lips.
“Because, Rose,” Dominic said softly. “Jack didn't just steal that ledger from the Rossis tonight.”
Dominic took a step closer to our son.
“Tell her, Jack,” Dominic taunted. “Tell your mother how you knew exactly where the Rossi boss kept his private ledger. Tell her what you’ve been doing in Seattle for the last four years.”
Jack lowered the rifle, his hands shaking violently. He couldn't look at me.
“Jack?” I pleaded.
May you like
My son closed his eyes, tears finally breaking free. “I’m sorry, Mom.”
Dominic finished the sentence for him. “He didn't run away from the mob, Rose. He defected. Your son has been working as a hitman for the Rossi family for four years.”
