Chapter 8 - The Ledger of GhostsThe book looked worthless.
Its leather cover was cracked.
The pages smelled of smoke.
Khloe placed it on the conference table at 1:00 a.m.
Dante stood beside her.
Miles and Carter remained across the room.
No one touched it.
On the first page, written in Eleanor Bishop’s handwriting, were three words.
FOR KHLOE SOMEDAY.
Khloe sat down.
Her hands trembled.
Dante placed one hand on the back of her chair.
She opened the ledger.
Numbers.
Dates.
Initials.
Companies.
Payments.
For nearly an hour, none of it made sense.
Then Khloe noticed the pattern.
“These are not accounts.”
Dante leaned closer.
“What are they?”
“Insurance.”
Her grandmother had documented everything.
Bribes.
Murders.
Political favors.
Police protection.
Judicial corruption.
Transactions between the Gallo and Blake organizations dating back twenty-five years.
Names appeared that now belonged to senators, judges, CEOs, and commissioners.
Carter whispered, “Jesus.”
Khloe turned another page.
Then stopped.
Vincent Gallo.
Beside his name was a payment.
Two hundred fifty thousand dollars.
Date: three days before Eleanor Bishop died.
Dante saw it.
The room became silent.
Khloe stared at the entry.
Dante stepped backward.
“No.”
She looked at him.
“My father paid someone.”
“We do not know what for.”
“Three days before she died.”
“Khloe.”
“You said Sebastian’s father killed her.”
“That is what Sebastian told you.”
“And now this says your father paid a quarter million dollars.”
Dante’s face hardened.
“To whom?”
Khloe followed the coded reference.
Account 7119.
She searched the ledger.
The recipient appeared twenty pages later.
Dr. Henri Beaumont.
The nonexistent doctor who signed Sebastian’s false death certificate.
Khloe felt physically ill.
Dante stared at the page.
“My father was involved.”
“We do not know how.”
“He paid the man.”
Dante stepped away from her.
The distance hurt more than anger would have.
Khloe closed the ledger.
“Dante.”
“My father murdered your grandmother.”
“We do not know that.”
“He paid the person connected to her death.”
Dante’s voice became empty.
Khloe recognized that tone.
It was how he sounded before violence.
Except there was no enemy in front of him.
Only himself.
“You are not your father.”
He laughed without humor.
“Aren’t I?”
“No.”
“I inherited his organization.”
“You changed it.”
“I inherited his money.”
“You rebuilt it.”
“I inherited his blood.”
Khloe stood.
“You do not inherit guilt.”
His eyes met hers.
“You said that to me.”
“That was before we discovered my family killed yours.”
“We discovered a payment.”
“Do not protect me from this.”
“I am not.”
Khloe approached.
“I am protecting us from making conclusions before we understand the evidence.”
Dante looked at the ledger.
“Then understand it.”
They worked until sunrise.
At 6:11 a.m., Khloe found the answer.
The payment had not originated from Vincent’s operating accounts.
It came from a private trust.
The transfer description contained two letters.
EB.
Eleanor Bishop.
Khloe frowned.
“She authorized it.”
Dante moved beside her.
“What?”
“My grandmother authorized the payment.”
The transaction had been routed through Vincent because Eleanor’s accounts were already being monitored by the Blakes.
Khloe continued tracing.
The money went to Beaumont.
But not for murder.
For disappearance.
A second document was folded into the back cover.
A letter.
Khloe unfolded it.
Her grandmother’s handwriting filled the page.
Khloe read silently.
Then tears blurred the words.
Dante waited.
“What does it say?”
She handed him the letter.
Eleanor had discovered that Sebastian Blake was planning to betray his father.
At thirty-six, Sebastian had already built a hidden network inside the organization.
He intended to seize the syndicate and kill anyone loyal to the old alliances.
Eleanor knew too much.
Vincent Gallo helped her arrange an escape.
The money paid Beaumont to create false medical documentation and a new identity.
But Eleanor never escaped.
Old man Blake discovered the plan first.
She was killed before she could leave.
Sebastian used the same doctor years later to fake his own death.
Dante lowered the letter.
“My father tried to save her.”
Khloe nodded.
“He failed.”
Dante’s eyes contained old grief.
“So did I.”
Khloe looked at him.
“You were a teenager.”
“I knew my father was involved with something dangerous.”
“You could not have known.”
He touched the ledger.
“Our families were connected before us.”
“Yes.”
“Maybe that is why my father hired you.”
Khloe frowned.
“What?”
Dante remembered.
His father had died four months before Khloe interviewed for the secretary position.
Among the documents Dante inherited was a handwritten list of potential administrative hires.
Khloe Bishop had been first.
Dante had assumed an employment agency provided it.
Now he understood.
“Your interview was not accidental.”
Khloe stared.
“My father knew who you were.”
The realization settled between them.
Eleanor had once protected the Gallos with numbers.
Years later, Khloe had done the same.
History had repeated itself.
Except this time, they had the opportunity to change the ending.
Carter entered.
“Sebastian contacted me.”
“When?”
“Five minutes ago.”
He held up his telephone.
“He wants the ledger tonight.”
Khloe looked at the book.
“Good.”
Dante immediately understood.
“No.”
She smiled faintly.
“You do not even know my plan.”
“I know that expression.”
“What expression?”
“The one you have immediately before suggesting something that will shorten my life.”
Miles nodded.
“She does have one.”
Khloe ignored them.
“Sebastian believes the ledger gives him control.”
“It does.”
“No.”
She touched the cover.
“It gives us control.”
The ledger contained crimes committed by dozens of powerful people.
Sebastian expected to blackmail them.
Khloe intended something different.
She spent the day creating encrypted copies.
At 6:00 p.m., packages were delivered to six law firms.
At 7:00, another copy entered a secure cloud server.
At 8:00, letters reached twenty-seven people named inside the ledger.
Each contained the same message.
SEBASTIAN BLAKE IS ATTEMPTING TO ACQUIRE THIS INFORMATION.
IF KHLOE BISHOP OR DANTE GALLO DIES, THE COMPLETE LEDGER WILL BE RELEASED TO FEDERAL AUTHORITIES AND THE PRESS.
By 8:30, Sebastian’s allies began abandoning him.
A state senator canceled a meeting.
Two judges stopped answering calls.
A shipping executive left the country.
Three banks froze Sebastian-controlled accounts.
At 9:14, Sebastian called Khloe directly.
She answered.
“You found it.”
“Yes.”
“You read it.”
“Yes.”
His breathing changed.
“You have no idea what you possess.”
“I have a fairly precise idea.”
“You think threatening those people protects you?”
“I did not threaten them.”
Khloe looked across the office at Dante.
“I informed them that you were threatening them.”
Sebastian became silent.
“You turned them against me.”
“No.”
“They were never yours.”
Her voice hardened.
“You confused fear with loyalty.”
Dante’s eyes remained on her.
Sebastian said, “Bring me the ledger.”
“No.”
“I can kill Carter’s family.”
“They are no longer in the country.”
Silence.
“I can kill Donovan.”
“Moved.”
“Your sister.”
Khloe’s heart stopped.
Dante straightened.
Sebastian continued.
“Ohio is beautiful this time of year.”
Khloe’s voice became ice.
“If you touched her—”
“I have not.”
“Then do not.”
“You see?”
Sebastian sounded pleased.
“You still have weaknesses.”
Khloe looked at Dante.
“No.”
She answered quietly.
“I have people I love.”
“That is the definition.”
“No, Sebastian.”
Her eyes hardened.
“It is the reason I am stronger than you.”
She disconnected.
Dante was already moving.
“Get the plane.”
Miles nodded.
Khloe caught Dante.
“My sister has federal protection.”
He stopped.
“What?”
“I arranged it this morning.”
“How?”
“One of the names in the ledger owes me a favor now.”
Dante stared at her.
“You moved your sister without telling me?”
“Yes.”
A strange expression appeared.
Pride mixed with irritation.
“You are becoming impossible to protect.”
“That is the objective.”
He pulled her against him.
For one moment, strategy disappeared.
Khloe rested her face against his chest.
Dante whispered into her hair.
“This has to end.”
“It will.”
“When?”
“Tomorrow.”
He drew back.
“How do you know?”
Khloe looked at the ledger.
“Because Sebastian no longer wants the city.”
She closed the cover.
“He wants this.”
May you like
“And?”
“And tomorrow we give it to him.”
