Chapter 6 - The Music Box Held a Secret Worth Killing ForThe storage facility was burning when they arrived.
Flames climbed from the second floor into the afternoon sky.
Firefighters moved between engines while black smoke rolled over the parking lot.
Rosalie stared through the SUV windshield.
“No.”
Alessandro caught her arm before she opened the door.
“Wait.”
“My things are in there.”
“There may be a secondary device.”
She looked at him.
“You think they bombed a storage facility?”
“I think someone killed your father, my father, and Thomas Bell over whatever is inside that building.”
Rosalie sat back.
The fire department eventually confirmed there had been no explosion.
Electrical fire.
Convenient.
Too convenient.
Her unit had been located in the section where the fire began.
Two hours later, a firefighter carried out a blackened plastic container.
Rosalie recognized it.
“My box.”
The contents were mostly destroyed.
Old textbooks.
Photographs.
Christmas decorations.
Her father’s jacket.
She picked it up.
Smoke and water had ruined the fabric.
For a moment, she pressed it against her chest.
Alessandro said nothing.
He simply stood beside her.
Then Leo approached.
“We found the music box.”
Rosalie turned.
It was badly burned but intact.
A heavy wooden object with a brass mechanism.
Her grandmother’s initials remained visible.
M.B.
Rosalie took it.
“It doesn’t open.”
“Lock?” Leo asked.
“No.”
She tried the lid.
Nothing.
Alessandro examined it.
“Heat warped the wood.”
Rosalie shook her head.
“No. It always opened easily.”
She turned it over.
The bottom was thicker than she remembered.
“Give me a knife.”
Alessandro raised an eyebrow.
“You complain about guns but request knives?”
“Medical hypocrisy.”
Leo handed her a multitool.
Rosalie worked the blade beneath the felt lining.
A false panel lifted.
Inside was a small metal capsule.
Waterproof.
Fire resistant.
Her hands trembled.
Alessandro took the capsule and examined it.
“No obvious trigger.”
“That is a sentence normal people never need to say.”
He almost smiled.
Inside the capsule was a flash drive.
And a key.
No label.
Leo stared.
“Boss.”
“I see it.”
They returned to the estate.
Rosalie insisted on opening the drive herself.
Alessandro insisted on using an isolated computer disconnected from the network.
For once, both agreed.
The flash drive contained encrypted files.
One folder was labeled R.
Rosalie entered every password she could remember.
Her birthday.
Her mother’s birthday.
Her parents’ anniversary.
Nothing.
Then she remembered something her father always said when she complained about medical school.
Do the next right thing.
She typed NEXT RIGHT THING.
The folder opened.
Rosalie stopped.
Hundreds of files appeared.
Financial records.
Audio recordings.
Photographs.
Scanned letters.
A video.
MICHAEL_FINAL.
Rosalie clicked it.
Her father appeared on the screen.
Alive.
She covered her mouth.
He sat in his home office.
Older than she remembered him before the accident.
More frightened.
“If you’re watching this, Rosie, then I failed.”
Her knees weakened.
Alessandro pulled a chair behind her.
She sat.
“I’m sorry.”
Her father looked directly into the camera.
“I told you my work was boring because boring was safer. I told you your mother’s treatment was covered because I didn’t want you carrying the price of her survival.”
Rosalie cried silently.
“I made choices.”
Michael swallowed.
“Some were wrong. I worked for Vittorio Rossi. He was not a good man, but he loved his son, and he understood loyalty.”
Alessandro stood behind Rosalie.
Motionless.
“I found money being moved through accounts connected to Alessandro Rossi. At first, I believed Alessandro was stealing from his father.”
Alessandro’s jaw tightened.
“I was wrong.”
Michael leaned closer.
“Someone was framing him.”
Rosalie glanced at Alessandro.
He did not move.
“The person responsible had access to Rossi accounts, Hayes shipping routes, city contracts, and law enforcement.”
Michael paused.
“Matteo Rossi.”
Alessandro closed his eyes.
There it was.
His uncle.
“But Matteo was not working alone.”
Rosalie leaned forward.
“His partner was Evelyn Hayes.”
Vanessa’s mother.
Rosalie’s breath caught.
“They built a shadow network together. Vittorio controlled the streets. Robert Hayes controlled shipping. Matteo and Evelyn intended to inherit both.”
Michael looked exhausted.
“I gave evidence to Vittorio. He confronted Matteo privately. Matteo disappeared. Vittorio believed the threat was over.”
Michael shook his head.
“It wasn’t.”
The video glitched.
Then continued.
“Rosie, if I die, do not trust appearances. Do not trust official reports. And do not blame Alessandro.”
Rosalie’s eyes filled again.
“He doesn’t know any of this.”
Alessandro turned away.
Michael continued.
“I met him once. He was arrogant.”
Rosalie laughed through her tears.
Alessandro looked offended.
“Accurate,” Leo muttered from the doorway.
Michael smiled faintly on screen.
“But he wasn’t corrupt.”
The smile vanished.
“If he becomes the man his father hopes he can become, he may be the only person powerful enough to finish this.”
The video ended.
Rosalie sat in silence.
Then another file appeared automatically.
A list.
Twenty-three names.
Some marked deceased.
Some active.
At the bottom:
MATTEO ROSSI — STATUS UNKNOWN.
EVELYN HAYES — ACTIVE.
Rosalie looked at Alessandro.
“Vanessa’s mother is alive.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Switzerland, officially.”
Leo shook his head.
“Not anymore.”
He held up his phone.
“Our people checked.”
Alessandro’s eyes hardened.
“She entered the United States three weeks ago.”
Rosalie’s stomach tightened.
“Before the attack.”
“Yes.”
“Vanessa knew?”
“Probably.”
Rosalie stood.
“What does the key open?”
No one knew.
Then Leo noticed a number etched into it.
A bank.
Private vault.
The next morning, they entered a secure financial institution downtown.
Box 417 required two keys.
The bank had one.
Rosalie had the other.
Inside was a single envelope.
And a photograph.
The photograph showed Vittorio Rossi.
Michael Bennett.
And a woman Rosalie recognized from society pages.
Evelyn Hayes.
On the back:
THREE PEOPLE KNOW.
ONLY TWO CAN BE TRUSTED.
The envelope contained a letter from Rosalie’s mother.
Rosie,
If you are reading this, your father and I are gone.
Rosalie stopped.
She could barely continue.
Alessandro stood beside her.
Close.
Not touching.
She read.
Your father wanted to expose everything immediately. I convinced him not to. We had a daughter to protect.
The evidence in this box is incomplete. The full ledger exists in three pieces.
Michael kept one.
Vittorio kept one.
I gave the third to someone neither family would suspect.
If Matteo or Evelyn survive, they will search for all three.
Do not give them yours.
Rosalie looked up.
“Three pieces.”
Alessandro’s expression darkened.
“My father had one.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
Leo spoke.
“Maybe Matteo killed him for it.”
Rosalie returned to the letter.
There was one final line.
Trust the person who remembers the song.
Rosalie frowned.
“What song?”
Alessandro looked equally confused.
Then the bank lights went out.
Complete darkness.
A second later, gunfire exploded in the corridor.
Alessandro pulled Rosalie down.
Leo drew his weapon.
Security alarms screamed.
“Back room!” Leo shouted.
Alessandro pushed Rosalie behind the vault counter.
A masked man appeared through the doorway.
Leo fired.
The man dropped.
A second attacker entered from the opposite side.
Alessandro tackled Rosalie as bullets tore through the wooden panel above them.
Glass shattered.
Rosalie hit the floor hard.
Alessandro covered her body.
“Stay down.”
“I am down!”
Leo fired twice.
Silence.
Then Rosalie felt warmth against her hand.
Blood.
She looked down.
Alessandro’s white shirt was turning red.
“No.”
“I’m fine.”
“You are bleeding.”
“Graze.”
She tore open his jacket.
The bullet had cut across his side.
Not deep.
But bloody.
“You got shot again.”
“Technically—”
“Do not technically me.”
Despite the chaos, Leo barked a laugh.
Rosalie pressed gauze against Alessandro’s side.
His face tightened.
Then his phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
A woman spoke.
Rosalie could hear her through the silence.
“Hello, Alessandro.”
His face became still.
“Evelyn.”
The woman laughed softly.
“You sound like your father.”
“What do you want?”
“What belongs to me.”
“The ledger?”
“No.”
A pause.
“You.”
Rosalie looked at Alessandro.
Evelyn continued.
“Vittorio stole my future when he refused to let Matteo take control. Michael Bennett stole twenty years from me when he discovered our accounts.”
Her voice sharpened.
“And now his daughter is wearing the ring that should have united my family with yours.”
Alessandro’s gaze moved to Rosalie’s bare hand.
The ring was still at the estate.
“You’re finished,” he said.
“No, darling.”
Evelyn sounded amused.
“I’m finally back.”
The call ended.
Rosalie kept pressure on his wound.
“Your family is exhausting.”
Alessandro looked down at her.
“You can still leave.”
She stared.
“Seriously?”
“I promised you a choice.”
Rosalie tightened the gauze deliberately.
He winced.
“There’s my choice.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means I’m angry with you, engaged to you, treating your fourth bullet wound, and apparently hunting the people who murdered our fathers.”
She leaned closer.
“You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”
Something fierce moved through Alessandro’s eyes.
“Our fathers,” he repeated.
Rosalie realized what she had said.
Our.
Not yours and mine.
Our.
She held his gaze.
“Yes.”
May you like
Then she looked at the blood soaking through the gauze.
“But if you get shot a fifth time, I’m marrying an accountant.”
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