Chapter 6 - The Secret in the Cellar
By the end of her first week at the estate, Sophia had completely transformed the atmosphere around Elena.
The elderly woman was eating three meals a day, walking through the gardens, and laughing freely in the evenings.
Sophia spent hours in the massive industrial kitchen, preparing traditional Sicilian dishes that brought Elena back to life.
Yet every night, when the house fell silent, the dark reality of the Moretti empire slammed back into focus.
Heavy black cars arrived at midnight; men with shadowed faces gathered in the subterranean study below the garage.
Dante was rarely seen during the daytime, spending his hours conducting high-stakes negotiations across the city.
One late evening, around 2:00 AM, Sophia walked down to the basement kitchen to fetch a glass of warm milk for Elena.
As she passed through the stone corridor, she heard low, heated voices arguing behind a heavy reinforced door.
"The Commission is pushing hard, Dante," Enzo’s voice echoed through the thick wood.
"They know old man Rossi left a secondary ledger before he died thirty years ago."
"If that ledger surfaces, it connects our entire freight operation directly to the federal dock indictments."
Sophia froze in the dark hallway, her breath catching in her throat at the sound of her own family name.
Old man Rossi?
Her grandfather, Matteo Rossi, had died before she was born, allegedly working as a simple dockworker in Brooklyn.
"Search every archive in Bensonhurst," Dante’s deep voice commanded, cold and unyielding as steel.
"If Rosa Rossi kept that ledger after Matteo died, it’s hidden somewhere in their family property."
"Find it before the Lucchese family realizes what we are looking for."
Sophia pressed her back against the cold stone wall, her heart hammering wildly against her ribs.
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Her grandmother hadn't just been a simple home cook from Castelbuono.
Her family was tied directly to the founding secrets of the entire New York underworld.
