Chapter 5 - Sofia’s Ghost
Sofia Rossi had encrypted the Bluebird directory so heavily that Mateo’s best technician needed six hours to open it.
When the first file appeared, Leo felt as though his dead wife had reached through time and placed a hand around his throat.
It was a photograph of Sterling Kensington.
He was standing outside a private airfield with Gianni Morello.
The date was eleven days before Sofia’s death.
The second photograph showed them again.
The third showed a black sedan registered to one of Sterling’s shell companies entering a warehouse Leo had used for vehicle maintenance.
That warehouse had serviced the Mercedes that exploded.
Mateo stared at the screen.
“Gianni told us the rival family bribed a mechanic.”
Leo did not answer.
They had killed three men over that information.
One had begged until his final breath that he knew nothing about Sofia’s death.
Leo had not believed him.
Now shame entered the room like smoke.
Another file opened.
A spreadsheet.
Wire transfers.
Kensington accounts.
Security-company invoices.
Payments routed through Malta, Panama, and the Cayman Islands.
And one payment made four days after Sofia died.
Recipient: G. Morello Consulting.
Five million dollars.
Mateo whispered something in Spanish.
Leo remained completely silent.
The last file was an audio recording.
Sofia’s voice filled the room.
“If you are hearing this, then I waited too long.”
Leo gripped the desk.
Sofia sounded tired.
Afraid.
Alive.
“Sterling Kensington has been using Rossi shipping routes to move money without Leo’s knowledge.”
Mateo looked at Leo.
“I discovered it six months ago.”
Sofia continued.
“Gianni is helping him.”
Leo shut his eyes.
“I confronted Gianni yesterday.”
A pause.
“He told me I should think about Lily before making accusations I cannot survive.”
Leo’s hand curled into a fist.
“I am not telling Leo yet because I know what he will do.”
Sofia’s voice broke slightly.
“He will go to war.”
She knew him.
Even now, that hurt.
“I need proof Sterling cannot erase.”
Another pause.
“I hid the original ledger somewhere only Lily can lead Leo to.”
Mateo leaned closer.
Sofia continued.
“Bluebird was the name Lily gave the little blue key when she was three.”
Leo turned.
“The key.”
Mateo frowned.
“What key?”
Leo suddenly remembered.
Sofia had once kept a tiny blue-painted key on a ribbon around Lily’s stuffed rabbit.
A meaningless decoration.
At least that was what he had believed.
Leo ran from the security room.
He reached Lily’s bedroom less than a minute later.
The rabbit was still at the hospital.
But Lily owned dozens of old photographs.
Leo tore open the bedside drawer.
Nothing.
Then the closet.
Nothing.
Finally, he found a photograph taken on Lily’s third birthday.
Sofia held Lily beside the garden fountain.
The stuffed rabbit hung from Lily’s arm.
Around its neck was a blue ribbon.
Attached to that ribbon was a small blue key.
On the back of the photograph, Sofia had written four words.
Lily loves secret places.
Leo stared at the sentence.
Secret places.
The estate had been built in 1926.
Passageways.
Storage rooms.
A sealed servant corridor.
Wine tunnels beneath the cellar.
Then Leo understood why Victoria had locked Lily downstairs.
May you like
Lily had seen something there before.
Something Victoria wanted.
