Chapter 3 - THE BASEMENT VAULT
The Bellaforte basement smelled of stale beer and old cardboard.
Dust motes danced in the beam of Luca's heavy-duty flashlight.
"Keep your head down," Luca muttered.
My taped shoe crunched on gravel.
Every shadow looked like a gunman.
Matteo walked ahead, his coat brushing the damp brick walls.
"Why are we down here?" I asked, my voice echoing.
"Because the kitchen was compromised," Matteo replied without turning.
"You own this restaurant?"
"I own the building. Bellaforte is just a front for my uncle's old operations."
"Great. I got fired from a mob front."
"You didn't get fired," Matteo corrected. "You resigned."
"With no severance package?"
Matteo actually let out a dry, humorless chuckle.
"If you survive tonight, I'll buy you the entire restaurant."
We reached a heavy steel door at the end of the corridor.
It looked like a walk-in freezer door, but there was no cooling unit.
Only a digital keypad and a biometric scanner.
Luca pressed his palm against the glass.
A green light flashed.
The heavy door swung open, revealing a hidden room no bigger than an office.
Screens lined the back wall.
Dovers of digital feeds blinked green and red.
"Welcome to my real office," Matteo said.
I stepped inside.
The air was cool and sterile.
On the central desk sat a battered leather briefcase.
It looked old.
Scratched and worn at the corners.
"Do you recognize that?" Matteo asked.
I walked closer.
Embossed in faded gold leaf on the leather were the initials: E.R.
"My mother's initials."
"Open it."
My fingers brushed the cracked leather.
The clasp popped open with a metallic click.
Inside wasn't money.
It wasn't diamonds.
It was a stack of handwritten journals and a heavy brass key.
I picked up the top journal.
The handwriting was unmistakably my mother's.
Neat, precise, academic cursive.
Date: October 14, 2011.
"Read the first page," Matteo instructed.
I scanned the lines.
Project Janus is compromised. If Victor Moretti finds out what I translated, he will kill us both. I have hidden the master ledger key inside...
I stopped.
My breath hitched.
"Victor Moretti," I whispered. "Your father."
"Yes," Matteo said quietly.
"Your father killed her?"
"My father died in a car crash ten years ago," Matteo said. "Or so everyone thought."
The screen in front of us suddenly flickered.
All thirty monitors flashed red.
A warning siren wailed silently through the control room.
Luca cursed loudly, slamming his hands onto the console.
"Boss! We've got movement in the alley."
Matteo stepped to the main monitor.
A figure in a black tactical hoodie stood directly outside our emergency exit.
He held something heavy in his right hand.
A sledgehammer.
"They found us," Luca growled, drawing a Glock from his shoulder holster.
Matteo looked at me.
His eyes were dead serious.
"Tessa. Do you trust me?"
"I don't even know you."
"Wrong answer."
May you like
The steel door behind us shuddered under a massive, violent blow.
THE END OF CHAPTER 3
