Chapter 1 Deadly Witness

Elena's POV

The numbers on my computer screen blurred together as I rubbed my tired eyes.

Three million dollars. Moved through six different fake companies in less than two days.

Someone was hiding money. And doing a bad job at it.

I leaned closer to my screen. All fake companies. All registered to addresses that didn't exist.

But they all ended at the same place. A warehouse in the industrial district. Owned by a shipping company that closed down five years ago.

Very suspicious.

I picked up my phone. Started to call my boss Detective Iris Chen. Then stopped.

Iris had been pushing me hard lately. Wanting faster results, better information.

If I called her now with just a guess, she'd tell me to check it out first. Get proof. Then report back.

So why waste time?

I grabbed my jacket and car keys. Headed out the door.

The drive to the industrial district took thirty minutes. The sun was going down. Sky turning orange and red.

I should wait until morning. Come back with help. Follow the rules.

But I'd been following rules for three years. And I was tired of being so careful all the time.

I parked three blocks away from the warehouse. Didn't want anyone to see my car.

The streets here were empty. Most businesses closed at five o'clock. It was almost eight now.

Just me and the shadows.

I walked fast. Staying close to the buildings. Keeping in the darker spots where people couldn't see me easily.

The warehouse was big. Old. Windows covered with boards. No lights inside.

I found a hiding spot in the alley across the street. Behind a dumpster.

It was not pretty a sight. But I could see the warehouse entrance clearly from here.

I pulled out my phone. Opened the camera. Ready to take pictures of anyone who showed up.

Then I waited.

My father always said I was good at waiting and good at watching.

He was a cop. Before the mafia killed him when I was twelve years old.

That's why I joined the FBI. To fight the same kind of people who killed him.

To make sure other little girls didn't lose their fathers to bullets.

My phone buzzed. A text from Iris.

Any updates on the De Santis case?

I looked at the message. The De Santis case. My main job for the last six months.

Find The Ledger. A famous book that supposedly had forty years of the De Santis family's secrets written in it.

Every bribe they paid. Every corrupt cop and politician they owned. Every illegal deal. Every person they killed for money.

The FBI had been looking for it for years and years. Now they wanted me to find it.

Because I was the best at following money. Because I could find hidden transactions anywhere.

And because they thought I hated the mafia enough to never give up.

I typed back a quick message.

I'm following a lead. Will tell you tomorrow.

Iris wrote back fast. 

Be careful. Don't do anything dangerous.

I was already doing something dangerous.

I put my phone away and kept watching the warehouse.

Minutes went by.

My legs hurt from squatting behind the dumpster. My back ached. But I didn't move.

Then I heard something. A car engine. Getting closer.

Headlights appeared at the end of the street. A black SUV. Expensive looking. Dark windows you couldn't see through.

It stopped right in front of the warehouse.

I lifted my phone. Started taking video.

The back doors opened. Two men got out.

Both were huge. Like giants. Wearing expensive dark suits even though it was hot outside.

Bodyguards. Obviously.

They reached back into the SUV. Pulled someone out.

A man. His hands tied behind his back. His face covered in blood. Could barely stand up.

The two big men held him between them. Keeping him from falling.

Then the front passenger door opened.

Another man stepped out.

Tall. Not as huge as the bodyguards but clearly the boss. Dark hair, expensive suit that probably cost thousands of dollars.

Even from across the street, I could see his face under the streetlight.

My stomach dropped.

I knew that face. Seen it in FBI meetings, in police photos and on the wanted list.

Luca De Santis. The boss of the De Santis crime family. The man people called The Blood King.

The most dangerous criminal on the whole East Coast.

And he was standing right there. Fifty feet away from me.

I should run, I should call Iris or call the police.

But I couldn't move. Couldn't stop watching.

The bodyguards dragged the tied man closer to the warehouse. To a spot under the streetlight where I could see everything.

They forced him down onto his knees. One bodyguard on each side. Holding him so he couldn't move.

The man was crying. I could hear him even from where I was hiding. Begging. Asking them to stop.

Luca walked over slowly. Calm. Like this was just another normal night for him.

He reached inside his jacket. Pulled something out.

A knife, long and sharp. The kind made for killing.

My heart started beating so fast it hurt.

This was real. This was actually happening.

I should look away. Should close my eyes. Should run and never come back.

But I couldn't.

Luca stood in front of the man on his knees. Looking down at him.

The man kept begging. His voice bouncing off the warehouse walls. Words running together, he sounded so scared.

Luca said something. Too quiet for me to hear from across the street.

Then his arm moved fast.

The knife went straight into the man's throat.

The begging stopped right away.

The man made a horrible sound.

Drowning in his own blood.

Then he fell forward. His face hitting the ground hard.

The bodyguards let him drop and stepped back. Let him crash onto the pavement.

He didn't move after that. Just lay there. Completely still.

He was dead.

I pressed my hand over my mouth hard. Stopping the sound trying to escape. The scream building in my chest.

I just saw someone get murdered. Saw a man get killed. Right in front of me.

Luca pulled out a white cloth from his pocket. Wiped the blood off his knife. Calm. Relaxed. Like he just finished something normal.

One of the bodyguards walked over to the body. Kicked it a little with his foot.

Then he bent down. Grabbed the dead man's shoulder. Rolled him over onto his back.

The body turned. The face caught the streetlight.

And everything inside me shattered.

I knew that face.

Knew it better than anything in the world.

Had looked at pictures of it every single day for three years. Had cried over it. Had mourned it. Had missed it so much it felt like dying.

Marco.

My brother.

My older brother who disappeared three years ago. Who I thought was dead. Who I had a funeral for. Who I visited at the cemetery every month.

Was lying on that dirty street with his throat cut open.

Really dead this time.

And I just watched it happen.

My eyes filled with tears so fast I couldn't see anymore. My chest felt like someone was squeezing it. I couldn't breathe. Couldn't think.

Marco. Oh God. Marco.

He was alive this whole time. Alive. And I never knew.

And now he was dead. Truly dead.

Killed by Luca De Santis right in front of my eyes.

The sound ripped out of my throat before I could stop it.

A sob, a gasp. A horrible broken noise of pain and shock.

It sounded really loud.

Loud enough that it echoed in the empty street.