Chapter 5 - THE DEAD MAN'S JOURNAL
Alessandro Valerio's journal was bound in dark green leather.
The pages smelled faintly of tobacco and old paper.
Dante had avoided reading it after his father's funeral. Their final months together had been marked by arguments about the family's future, and the journal felt like another conversation he wasn't ready to have.
Now he placed it in Selene's hands.
She opened to the marked page.
The entry was dated fourteen months earlier.
Harrow says the young professor has identified the second alphabet. Massimo insists she can be bought. He does not understand her. She refused access even when offered a fortune.
Selene's throat tightened.
She turned the page.
If Massimo discovers what the inscriptions reveal, he will destroy the girl. I must reach her first.
She looked up.
"Your father knew?"
Dante nodded slowly.
"Apparently."
"Then why didn't he contact me?"
"Keep reading."
Her hands trembled.
I have been told the professor was dismissed. Massimo claims she forged the documents. I no longer believe him. My own records have begun disappearing. I suspect the reserves are not merely being stolen. They are being used to finance something I never authorized.
Selene turned another page.
The handwriting grew increasingly uneven.
Dante must not receive the full records until he understands the cost of inheriting them. He believes strength means holding the family together. Massimo knows how to use that belief against him.
Dante looked away.
Selene continued.
The girl must be found. She is the only one who can read the final witness.
The final witness.
Selene stared at the words.
"What does that mean?"
Dante shook his head.
"I don't know."
But Selene was already examining the journal's binding.
The leather had been repaired near the spine.
She ran her fingertips along the stitching.
"Do you have a letter opener?"
Dante handed her one.
With his permission, she carefully loosened the damaged seam.
A folded strip of thin paper slid free.
On it was a single line in Oscan.
Selene translated aloud.
"'Where the lion drinks, the dead remember.'"
Dante frowned.
"The fountain."
Selene shook her head.
"Maybe. But the sentence has another meaning."
"What?"
She looked toward the library doors.
"In ancient funerary language, 'the dead remember' can refer to a place where records are preserved."
Dante considered.
"The family mausoleum."
Selene nodded.
Then the lights went out.
The mansion plunged into darkness.
A second later, the emergency alarm began screaming.
Luca's voice crackled through Dante's phone.
"Boss, we've got an intruder in the east wing."
Dante took Selene's hand.
"Stay behind me."
She pulled away.
"No."
He turned.
Selene's voice was steady.
"If your uncle is behind this, he knows your security procedures. We need another exit."
Dante stared at her.
Then nodded.
May you like
"You're right."
Together, they disappeared through the library's old service passage as footsteps thundered outside.
