Chapter 13 - Returning to the Ashes
By daybreak, a heavily armed five-car convoy was speeding down the New York State Thruway back toward Brooklyn.
Dante refused to leave Sophia behind, insisting that only she could navigate the hidden spaces of her childhood home.
They pulled up to the quiet residential street in Bensonhurst just as the morning sun was rising over the rooftops.
The small brick house where Sophia had grown up was completely ransacked, its front door hanging off its hinges.
Armed Moretti guards immediately secured the perimeter, taking up sniper positions on neighboring rooftops.
Dante walked beside Sophia as they stepped over broken furniture, shattered glass, and torn wall insulation inside.
Sophia’s eyes filled with tears as she saw her grandmother’s prized porcelain dishes smashed across the floor.
"I'm sorry, Sophia," Dante murmured, placing a heavy, comforting arm around her waist as they walked into the kitchen.
The kitchen was wrecked, the wooden cabinets pulled off the walls and smashed to splinters on the floor.
However, the old brick bread oven in the corner remained intact, its iron door rusted shut from decades of disuse.
Sophia walked over to the oven, kneeling down on the dusty floor, ignoring the dirt staining her jeans.
She reached her hand deep into the dark soot of the flue, her fingers searching for a small metal latch.
Click.
A small brick near the base of the chimney slid inward, revealing a heavy oilskin package wrapped in thick leather.
Sophia pulled the package out, blowing the gray dust off the surface, her heart pounding against her ribs.
Dante knelt beside her, his breath warm against her neck as she unknotted the leather strap.
Inside was a hand-bound leather notebook filled with dense, meticulously detailed handwriting and financial records.
It contained every offshore account, every hidden shipping route, and every political payoff made in New York since 1970.
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"You found it," Dante breathed, looking at the pages with profound, incredible awe.
Before Sophia could hand it to him, a loud gunshot echoed from the front porch.
