CHAPTER 6 – THE TRUTH ABOUT THE LEDGER
CHAPTER 6 – THE TRUTH ABOUT THE LEDGER
Gunfire erupted throughout Black Harbor.
The element of surprise had vanished.
Sirens echoed through every corridor.
Emergency steel doors slammed shut.
Red warning lights flashed across the prison.
The rescue mission had become a war.
Vincent fought his way toward Cell Block C.
Every hallway became another battlefield.
One guard.
Two guards.
Five guards.
None survived.
The Wolf moved with terrifying precision.
Years of violence returned as though they had never left him.
Tony's voice crackled through the radio.
"Boss!"
"I found Cell 17!"
"But it's empty!"
Vincent stopped cold.
"What?"
"The chains are still warm."
"They moved her."
A cold realization struck Vincent.
"It was a trap."
High above the prison...
Matteo stood inside the surveillance room.
Dozens of monitors showed every corridor.
He watched Vincent fighting through his men.
Then he noticed something else.
A tiny figure crawling through an air duct.
He smiled.
"Perfect."
He pressed a button.
Steel shutters slammed shut across the ventilation system.
Isabella gasped.
The duct locked from both ends.
She was trapped.
A speaker crackled above her.
"Hello, Isabella."
Her heart nearly stopped.
"You know my name..."
Matteo's voice echoed through the metal shaft.
"I've known your name since the day you were born."
"You ruined everything."
The little girl gripped the flashlight tighter.
"You're lying."
"You hurt my mama."
Matteo chuckled.
"No."
"I protected her."
"You should ask your father what really happened twenty-three years ago."
Meanwhile...
Vincent reached the central control room.
He kicked the reinforced door open.
Empty.
Only one object waited on the desk.
An old leather journal.
The Romano ledger.
The very ledger Matteo had spent decades hunting.
Tony arrived moments later.
"What is it?"
Vincent slowly opened the first page.
His face turned pale.
Inside...
Every transaction.
Every secret alliance.
Every assassination.
Every politician paid.
Every police chief bribed.
Every judge corrupted.
Not only Castano.
Not only Romano.
The ledger exposed nearly every major criminal family in America.
Tony whispered,
"My God..."
Then Vincent reached the final page.
A handwritten letter.
Addressed to him.
His hands trembled as he unfolded it.
It was Elena's handwriting.
Vincent,
If you're reading this... I failed to keep us all safe.
There is something I never told you.
Rafael didn't die because of you.
He chose to stay behind because someone betrayed all three of us.
That traitor was never Marco Castano.
The real traitor...
Vincent's breathing stopped.
The page had been ripped in half.
The name was missing.
Only burned edges remained.
Someone had destroyed the most important line.
Tony looked horrified.
"Who tore it out?"
Before Vincent could answer...
The prison lights suddenly went dark.
Complete darkness swallowed the fortress.
Then...
A familiar little voice echoed through the emergency speakers.
"Papa..."
Vincent froze.
"Papa..."
"I'm scared."
It was Isabella.
Her voice trembled.
But something felt wrong.
Too controlled.
Too calm.
Tony looked toward the ceiling.
"They have her."
A second voice replaced hers.
Matteo.
"If you want your daughter alive..."
"Come to the execution yard."
"Come alone."
"And bring the ledger."
The transmission ended.
Vincent slowly closed Elena's unfinished letter.
His jaw tightened.
Tony grabbed his arm.
"It's a trap."
Vincent looked into the darkness.
"I know."
"Then don't go."
Vincent loaded both pistols.
Click.
Click.
Then he looked directly toward the prison courtyard.
"They've taken my daughter."
"They already crossed the only line that mattered."
He slipped Elena's letter inside his coat.
Picked up the ledger.
May you like
And walked alone into the darkness...
Where Matteo Castano was waiting.
