Chapter 2 - The Secret Beneath the GoldThe word key hung in the heavy, metal-scented air of the shop. I looked from Clara’s pale, earnest face down to the heavy gold band resting on the wood.
“Explain,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest.
Clara stepped closer, glancing nervously toward the front windows before speaking in a hurried whisper. “Ruggero Romano didn't give Alessandro that ring for your wedding just because it was an old family heirloom. It was forged in Naples thirty years ago by your father—Master Antonio Bellini.”
My breath hitched. My father had passed away three years before Alessandro and I were forced into our marriage by the elders of the Commission. He had been a master goldsmith, but he had never spoken of the Romano family except to curse the day he ever repaired a timepiece for their patriarch.
“My father never did work for Ruggero,” I protested, though a cold knot was already forming in my stomach.
“Not openly,” Clara corrected, pulling a folded, grease-stained architectural blueprint from her bag and spreading it across my workbench. “Your father designed the hidden vault system beneath the Romano shipping docks on the South Side. And when Ruggero tried to cheat him out of his payment, your father built a backup mechanism into the master key—a ring designed to override the digital encryption codes of the vault's primary safe.”
She pointed a trembling finger at the gold band.
“That ring has a micro-cavity sealed with laser-welded platinum, Adriana. Inside it is a microscopic titanium microchip containing the master override code to every hidden account, ledger, and weapon cache Ruggero has accumulated behind Alessandro’s back for the past decade.”
I stared at Clara, the pieces of the puzzle crashing together with terrifying velocity. Alessandro hadn't brought Clara to my birthday to humiliate me out of casual cruelty. He had brought her because she was Clara Rossi—the lead digital archivist for Callahan-Romano Shipping, and the only person outside of Ruggero’s inner circle who had downloaded the decrypted files before Ruggero tried to silence her.
Alessandro hadn’t betrayed me with a mistress. He had brought her into my home because my birthday dinner was the only place in Chicago heavily guarded enough that Ruggero’s hitmen couldn't murder her on sight.
And by handing the ring to Clara, I had just given her the key to unlock a war that would burn the entire city to ash.
“If Ruggero finds out you have the codes and I have the ring,” I whispered, horror dawning on me, “we are both dead men.”
“We’re already dead if we stay separate,” Clara said fiercely, her eyes locking onto mine. “Alessandro is hunting Ruggero’s loyalists as we speak. But Ruggero has hostages. He has my younger brother.”
Before I could answer, the front door’s brass bell jingled violently.
May you like
The door burst open, and Maso Greco stood there, chest heaving, his hand resting on the Sig Sauer beneath his heavy wool coat. His eyes swept the shop, landing instantly on Clara, then on me.
“Signora,” Maso panted, stepping inside and locking the deadbolt behind him. “You need to pack a bag right now. Don is coming.”
