Chapter 5 - The Snake's Nest
Cameron didn't go to Matteo immediately. She knew how the Duca family operated—Matteo was a man of action, and if she gave him a name without absolute proof, the penthouse would turn into a slaughterhouse before the truth could be fully unraveled. She needed to know why.
The next morning, while Mrs. Gable was downstairs coordinating the catering for the Duca family’s annual winter gala, Cameron used her old maid’s master key to slip into the housekeeper's private quarters at the rear of the penthouse.
The room was pristine, smelling of lavender and old paper. Cameron moved quickly, checking the drawers, the closet, and the space beneath the mattress.
Inside a locked jewelry box in the wardrobe, which Cameron easily bypassed using a hairclip she had learned to manipulate during her years cleaning old brownstones, she found a ledger. It wasn't a household inventory. It was a record of monthly deposits from an offshore account in the Cayman Islands.
The name on the origin account was Julian Duca—Matteo’s younger brother.
Julian was the second-in-command of the Duca syndicate, a man who spent his time in the shadow of his older brother, waiting for a chance to take the crown. If Leo died, or if Leo was declared mentally incompetent and institutionalized due to his "uncontrollable aggression," Matteo would have no heir. The Duca legacy would automatically pass to Julian.
"Looking for something, Miss Jenkins?"
May you like
The voice was like ice cutting through the quiet room.
Cameron spun around. Mrs. Gable stood in the doorway, a heavy silver candlestick held loosely in her right hand, her eyes dead and cold.
