Chapter 9 - THE LAST STAND AT SARANAC
The quiet moment was shattered by the sharp, deafening sound of an explosion near the front gate.
The wooden doors of the lodge shuddered as heavy caliber rounds began to tear through the front walls. Glass shattered, and dark smoke poured through the broken windows.
Paul Torrino stumbled into the room, blood pouring from a gash on his forehead. "Matteo! It’s Don Camillo himself! He brought twenty men! They’ve surrounded the entire perimeter!"
Matteo stood up immediately, stepping in front of Vivien, pulling his silver-plated semi-automatic pistol from his belt.
"Get her to the basement bunker, Paul!" Matteo ordered. "The door is reinforced steel. Take the black case and lock yourselves in!"
"No," Vivien said, standing up despite the pain in her arm. She picked up the black case from the table. "I’m not hiding in a basement while they kill you."
"Vivien, please!" Matteo begged, turning to her, his eyes wild with fear for her safety. "If Camillo takes this house, he’ll kill you just to get the book!"
"He won't get the chance," Vivien said softly.
She opened the combination lock on the black case with three quick turns of the dial. She reached inside, pulled out the forty-seven pages, and held them directly over the roaring fireplace.
"Matteo," she said, looking him dead in the eye. "Is this empire worth more to you than us?"
Matteo looked at the papers. He looked at the names that had taken him twenty years to secure. Then he looked at the woman standing before him—the only true, pure thing in his dark, violent life.
"Burn it," Matteo said without a second of hesitation.
Vivien dropped the entire forty-seven-page ledger into the roaring flames.
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The paper caught fire instantly. The secret offshore accounts, the bribed judges, the Newark dock map, and the Moretti murder details curled into black ash within seconds, rising up the chimney and disappearing into the freezing night sky.
Matteo turned back toward the front door, a cold, dangerous smile playing on his lips. He looked at Paul. "Tell Camillo the ledger is gone. Tell him there’s nothing left to steal. If he wants this house, he’s going to have to take it over my dead body."
