Chapter 15 - The Vault in Beacon Hill
Forty-eight hours later, the rain had followed them south into Massachusetts.
The private townhouse on Beacon Hill was shrouded in mist, its gas lamps flickering against red-brick facades. The property belonged to the late Don Moretti—Dante’s father—and had remained untouched for over a decade, completely detached from the family’s modern commercial assets.
In the master bedroom upstairs, Leo was finally asleep in a makeshift crib made of velvet cushions, while Elena sat at an antique mahogany desk, her laptop connected to an encrypted satellite uplink.
Dante sat on the edge of the bed, his torso wrapped tight in fresh white bandages that Elena had applied with stern, professional detachment.
"Cassidy’s campaign account received four separate wire transfers yesterday totaling twelve million dollars," Elena said, her fingers flying across the keys. The glow of the screen illuminated the sharp determination in her eyes. "All originating from an offshore trust in the Cayman Islands under the name 'Ariadne Holdings.' That was my mother’s maiden name."
Dante looked up, his jaw set hard. "He’s using your mother’s identity to liquidate the remaining assets before he announces his run for governor."
"He thinks I’m dead," Elena murmured. "Or at least, he thinks his Russian cleaners finished the job in Maine and the bodies were washed out to sea."
"That gives us an advantage," Dante said, standing up despite the pain shooting through his shoulder. He walked over to the desk, placing his hands on the back of her chair. For a second, the intimacy of the gesture hung heavy in the room, reminiscent of the early days of their arranged marriage before distrust had poisoned everything.
"We don't need to kill him, Dante," Elena said, turning slightly to meet his gaze. "A dead senator creates a federal manhunt. We ruin him. We drain Ariadne Holdings until he doesn't have a nickel left to pay his private army."
Dante smiled—a cold, genuine smirk that reminded her of the man she had fallen in love with before the blood and betrayal had torn them apart.
"That's my girl," he murmured. "How long do you need?"
"To initiate the transfer? Ten minutes," Elena replied, looking back at the code scrolling down the screen. "To bypass the multi-signature authorization code, I need a physical biometric key that Cassidy keeps on a hardware token in his private office at the state house."
Dante reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a keycard, tossing it casually onto the desk beside her computer.
Elena stared at it in disbelief. "How did you get this?"
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"I still have friends in the state police detail who owe me their lives," Dante said softly. "The question is, Elena, once we take his money and his leverage... what happens to us?"
***
