Chapter 9 - The Bloodline Ledger
The silence in the room was absolute, broken only by the low, menacing growl rumbling deep in Orion’s chest.
Thomas Vance didn't flinch at the massive hound; instead, he leaned slightly on his silver cane, his cold blue eyes fixed entirely on Dante.
“You always were too sentimental, Dante,” Thomas remarked, shaking his head with mock disappointment. “Keeping my daughter’s dog. Playing protector to an orphan who has no idea what kind of war she walked into.”
“She’s family,” Dante growled, his hand still concealed inside his coat, gripping his weapon.
“Family?” Thomas let out a dry, chilling laugh. “In our world, family is just another word for leverage. And right now, Olivia is the only piece on the board that matters.”
I stepped out from behind Dante’s shoulder, my hands trembling, but my voice surprisingly steady. “If you’re my grandfather, why didn’t you ever come for me? Why let my father hide me in Brooklyn?”
Thomas turned his gaze toward me, studying my face with clinical detachment. “Your father—Arthur—was a weak man. A low-level clerk I paid to keep you safe from my enemies. But he failed. He let you walk into Moretti’s restaurant. He let you touch the dog.”
“It wasn't an accident,” Dante said quietly, his eyes narrowing. “You leaked the safety deposit box location. You forced the transfer from Zurich.”
“Of course I did,” Thomas smiled, tapping his cane against the hardwood. “I needed you both in the same room. With the ledger, the flash drive, and the bloodline present, the old vault in Switzerland unlocks automatically. A biometric security measure my brilliant daughter set up thirty years ago.”
“You’re using me to open the account,” I whispered, horror washing over me.
“Using you?” Thomas corrected smoothly. “No, my dear. I’m claiming my inheritance. And you’re going to help me, or your little restaurant friends in Manhattan will have a very unfortunate series of accidents.”
Dante moved with terrifying speed. Before Thomas could finish his sentence, Dante cleared the distance between them, grabbing Thomas by the lapels of his suit and slamming him against the wall. A hidden pistol fell from Thomas’s jacket, clattering harmlessly to the floor.
Leo raised his weapon, covering the doorway as three armed men rushed up the stairs—only to freeze when they saw their boss pinned against the wall with a gun pressed firmly under his chin.
“Tell your men to drop their weapons, Thomas,” Dante whispered, his voice dangerously low. “Or I will scatter your brains across this wall.”
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Thomas didn’t panic. He just smiled, a thin, bloody smirk.
“Go ahead, Dante,” Thomas wheezed, gasping slightly for air. “Pull the trigger. But when I die, the encryption key dies with me. And your precious Olivia will spend the rest of her life running from the men I hired to finish her mother.”
