Chapter 11 - THE WOMAN IN THE LEDGER
Nobody moved.
Daniel Hale stood in the rain holding the folder.
Dante's hand remained close to his weapon.
Emma stood beside him.
Isabella whispered:
“Hale.”
Daniel smiled.
“Mrs. Rossi.”
Isabella's face hardened.
“You should have stayed away.”
“I tried.”
Daniel looked at Emma.
“But your daughter made that impossible.”
Emma stepped forward.
“What do you want?”
“You.”
Dante moved immediately.
“No.”
Daniel smiled.
“Exactly as your father predicted.”
Emma looked at him.
“My father knew you?”
“My father knew everyone.”
Daniel opened the folder.
Inside were photographs.
Thomas Morrison.
Isabella Rossi.
Antonio Moretti.
Victor Hale.
And one photograph of a much younger Daniel.
Emma stared.
“You were there.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“The night your father disappeared.”
Emma's stomach turned.
“What happened?”
Daniel looked at Isabella.
“She knows.”
Isabella shook her head.
“No.”
Daniel's voice became colder.
“Tell her.”
Isabella stepped forward.
“Your father discovered the ledger had been copied.”
Emma frowned.
“Copied?”
“Yes.”
“By whom?”
“Thomas.”
“Why?”
“To protect himself.”
Daniel nodded.
“And he gave the copy to someone.”
Emma looked at him.
“Who?”
Daniel smiled.
“You.”
Emma's breath stopped.
“What?”
“The original ledger disappeared.”
“Where?”
“Your father hid it.”
“And the copy?”
“Your mother took it.”
Emma looked at Isabella.
Isabella nodded slowly.
“I kept it.”
“Where?”
“I never had it.”
Daniel laughed.
“That's not true.”
Dante stepped forward.
“Enough.”
Daniel looked at him.
“You're protecting her.”
“Yes.”
“You don't understand what she possesses.”
“I understand exactly.”
“No.”
Daniel's gaze sharpened.
“You think she's your wife.”
Dante's expression changed.
“She is.”
Daniel laughed.
“She's the legal heir to the Rossi trust.”
“Yes.”
“She controls twenty-eight percent of Moretti Global.”
Dante said nothing.
“And if the trust is activated, she becomes the largest individual shareholder in your empire.”
Emma looked at Dante.
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“You knew the shares belonged to me.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
Dante's voice was low.
“Because I wanted you to have a choice.”
“Choice?”
“To walk away.”
Emma stared at him.
“You knew I'd become powerful.”
“Yes.”
“You knew everyone would come after me.”
“Yes.”
“And you still married me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Dante looked at her.
“Because if I didn't, someone else would.”
Her heartbeat changed.
“That isn't an answer.”
“It is the only one I had six months ago.”
“And now?”
Dante didn't look away.
“Now it isn't.”
Daniel watched them.
Then smiled.
“This is touching.”
Dante turned.
“Leave.”
Daniel raised the folder.
“You don't understand.”
He threw a photograph onto the ground.
Emma picked it up.
Her breath caught.
It showed her father standing beside Victor Hale.
Behind them was a warehouse.
A body lay on the floor.
Emma looked closer.
The face was blurred.
But the clothes—
She recognized them.
“My father?”
“No,” Daniel said.
“Your father's brother.”
Emma frowned.
“I don't have an uncle.”
Daniel smiled.
“That's what they wanted you to believe.”
Isabella stepped backward.
Emma turned toward her.
“Mom?”
Isabella looked devastated.
“I never told you because…”
“Because what?”
“Because your uncle was the first person to disappear.”
“Who was he?”
“Michael Rossi.”
Emma stared.
“Rossi?”
“Yes.”
“Why was he hidden?”
“Because he knew the truth about the ledger.”
“What truth?”
Isabella whispered:
“The ledger was never created to protect the families.”
Emma looked at her.
“It was created to control them.”
Daniel nodded.
“Exactly.”
He opened the folder.
“The Rossi trust wasn't merely an investment.”
“What was it?”
“A mechanism.”
“For what?”
“Control.”
Daniel showed her another document.
A trust agreement.
At the bottom was a clause.
Upon the death or incapacity of the primary heir, voting control shall transfer to the designated spouse.
Emma stared.
Her name.
Then Dante's.
She looked at him.
“What does this mean?”
Dante's face had gone still.
Daniel answered.
“It means your marriage isn't a coincidence.”
Emma's heart sank.
“What?”
“Your grandfather designed it.”
“No.”
“He predicted that the Moretti and Rossi bloodlines would eventually need to be reunited.”
Dante shook his head.
“My grandfather died before Emma was born.”
“Exactly.”
Daniel smiled.
“The contract was waiting.”
Emma's hands shook.
“Who drafted my marriage agreement?”
Dante looked at her.
“My family's attorney.”
“Who?”
“Richard Vale.”
Daniel laughed.
“Richard Vale was your grandfather's lawyer.”
Emma stared at Dante.
“You knew.”
“I knew the name.”
“But not this.”
Daniel interrupted.
“You're wasting time.”
He looked at Emma.
“Give me the copy.”
“I don't have it.”
“You do.”
“I don't.”
Daniel's expression hardened.
“Your mother gave it to you.”
Emma looked at Isabella.
Isabella began crying.
“I couldn't.”
“What?”
“I put it somewhere safe.”
“Where?”
“Inside something you have had since childhood.”
Emma's mind raced.
Her childhood.
Her belongings.
The silver locket.
Emma touched the necklace around her neck.
Isabella nodded.
“Yes.”
Dante stepped closer.
“Open it.”
Emma removed the locket.
There was a tiny seam she had never noticed.
Dante examined it.
Then pressed the edge.
The locket opened.
Inside the photograph was a thin folded strip of paper.
Emma pulled it out.
Daniel stepped forward.
Dante raised his weapon.
“Stay where you are.”
Emma unfolded the paper.
It wasn't a letter.
It was a series of numbers.
Coordinates.
A date.
And one name.
MORRISON.
Emma stared.
“What is this?”
Daniel smiled.
“The location of the original ledger.”
Dante's phone rang.
Marcus answered.
His face changed.
“What?”
He handed the phone to Dante.
Dante listened.
Then looked at Emma.
“Your apartment.”
“What?”
“Someone broke in.”
Emma's heart stopped.
“Who?”
“They found the hidden safe.”
“What was inside?”
“Nothing.”
Dante's eyes narrowed.
“Because whoever entered already knew where it was.”
Emma suddenly remembered.
The blue room.
The old photograph.
The key.
She looked at Dante.
“Someone has been inside my home before.”
Dante understood.
“Your father.”
“No.”
Emma's voice dropped.
“Someone who knew him.”
She looked at Daniel.
“You.”
Daniel smiled.
May you like
“I've been looking for you for twenty-nine years.”
Then gunfire erupted.
