Chapter 4 - The Ledger of Shadow
"I... I don't know what you mean," Cassian stammered, pulling at his silk tie. "I never brought her tea."
Alessandro reached into his jacket pocket and placed a small metal tea tin—retrieved from Sophia's room—directly on the desk between them.
Alongside it, he placed a clear plastic bag containing a fine grey powder analyzed by Dr. Bianchi an hour earlier: pure thallium sulfate.
"Emma saw you, Cassian," Alessandro whispered, leaning in close until Cassian could feel his cold breath. "She saw you put it in her mother's cup. A three-year-old girl who was terrified to tell anyone because you threatened her."
Cassian’s face drained of every drop of color. He reached instinctively toward his shoulder holster, but before his fingers could touch the leather, Alessandro snapped his wrist forward, slamming Cassian’s head onto the mahogany desk with bone-shattering force.
"DON'T MOVE!" Alessandro growled, pressing a heavy silver revolver against the back of Cassian’s neck.
Cassian groaned, blood dripping from his nose onto his expensive suit. "Alessandro... listen to me... you don't understand..."
"Why her?" Alessandro demanded, his voice trembling with unbridled fury. "She’s a maid! She sweeps your floors! Why poison an innocent woman?!"
"She... she found the offshore accounts!" Cassian gasped, crying out in pain as Alessandro pressed the gun harder. "Six months ago... she was dusting my private office while I was at lunch... she accidentally moved a hidden panel behind the bookshelf... she saw the physical ledger!"
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Alessandro’s eyes widened. "The ledger for the Romano family?"
"Yes!" Cassian confessed, sobbing with fear. "I've been siphoning your profits to Victor Romano for three years! If you found out, you’d kill me! I couldn't let her live... but if I killed her outright, an investigation would start! I had to make it look like a slow illness!"
