Chapter 9 - The Master Vault
Alessandro stared at the woman sitting at the mahogany desk, his hand instinctively dropping toward his holster.
"Camilla," Alessandro said, his voice laced with shock and a dangerous edge.
Emma stayed close to Thomas’s wheelchair, her heart hammering. "Who is she?" she whispered to Marco.
"His sister," Marco muttered grimly. "Camilla Carbone."
Camilla smiled, a cold, empty expression that didn't reach her eyes. She wore a tailored black suit that cost more than Emma would make in a year. She looked completely at home in the vault, surrounded by millions of dollars in cash, gold bars, and sensitive ledgers.
"How did you get in here?" Alessandro demanded, stepping into the room. "Only Dad and I had the access codes."
"Julian gave me his override key," Camilla said, leaning back in the leather chair. "He called me right before he went to the basement to kill you. He wanted me to secure the vault and prepare to transfer the assets to his offshore accounts."
Alessandro’s jaw clenched. "You were working with Julian? You helped him orchestrate the attack on our own home?"
"Oh, don't be so dramatic, little brother," Camilla sighed, examining her manicure. "Julian was a means to an end. He was getting sloppy. The fire at the estate was reckless, but it provided the perfect cover for me to take over."
She stood up and walked around the desk, her heels clicking sharply against the polished concrete floor. She looked past Alessandro and her eyes landed on Thomas in the wheelchair.
Her cold smile faltered for a fraction of a second. "Dad. You're looking remarkably well for a dead man."
Thomas didn't flinch. He stared at his daughter with a look of profound disappointment. He raised his trembling hand and rested his finger on the brass bell.
Ding.
One sharp, angry ring.
Camilla laughed softly. "Still trying to give orders, old man? Your empire is over. I've already initiated the transfers. By midnight, every dime the Carbone family owns will be untraceable, and Julian’s loyalists will answer to me."
"You killed our mother," Alessandro said, his voice vibrating with barely contained fury. "Julian confessed, but you were involved, weren't you?"
Camilla stopped walking. A flicker of genuine darkness crossed her face.
"Mother was weak," Camilla spat. "She wanted us to go legitimate. She wanted to turn our empire into a string of boring real estate holdings. I wasn't going to let her destroy what we built."
Emma gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. This elegant, composed woman had helped murder her own mother for money and power.
"You're a monster," Alessandro breathed, raising his gun and aiming it directly at his sister’s chest. "Cancel the transfers. Now."
Camilla didn't look afraid. She just smiled.
"If you shoot me, Alessandro, the transfers complete automatically," she said smoothly. "And you lose everything. Put the gun down."
Alessandro hesitated, his finger tight on the trigger. He was a ruthless Don, but shooting his own sister, even after her betrayal, was a line he had never crossed.
Suddenly, the heavy steel door of the vault began to groan.
Everyone turned.
The door was slowly swinging shut.
Camilla’s eyes widened in panic. "What are you doing?" she shrieked, looking at Marco.
But Marco wasn't near the door.
Emma looked down.
Thomas Carbone had used his one good hand to slowly, agonizingly roll his wheelchair backward, pressing his foot against the emergency lockdown button hidden beneath the vault's entrance panel.
The massive steel door slammed shut with a deafening, final boom, locking all of them inside.
The electronic keypad on the inside glowed red. LOCKDOWN INITIATED. EXTERNAL OVERRIDE REQUIRED.
"You old fool!" Camilla screamed, lunging toward her father.
Emma didn't think. She stepped in front of the wheelchair, placing herself squarely between Camilla and Thomas.
"Don't you touch him," Emma snarled, her voice fiercer than she had ever heard it.
Camilla stopped, looking at Emma with utter disdain. "Get out of my way, maid. You have no idea what you've just done. We're trapped in here. The air supply will run out in two hours if the external override isn't triggered!"
"Good," Alessandro said, his voice echoing coldly in the sealed vault.
Camilla spun around. Alessandro had lowered his gun, but his eyes were completely devoid of mercy.
"You want the empire, Camilla?" Alessandro said, walking toward the mahogany desk. "You can have it. Right here in this room. With us."
He picked up the laptop Camilla had been using to initiate the transfers. He didn't cancel them. He didn't try to hack the system.
He raised the laptop high above his head and smashed it violently against the edge of the desk.
The screen shattered, the motherboard snapping in half.
Camilla shrieked in horror. "No! The confirmation codes were on that hard drive!"
"The money is gone," Alessandro said calmly, kicking the broken pieces across the floor. "The transfers are halted, and the accounts are frozen. Julian’s loyalists won't follow you if you can't pay them."
He turned to his sister, his expression absolute zero. "It’s over, Camilla. You lost."
Camilla collapsed against the desk, her elegant facade completely shattered. She buried her face in her hands, weeping tears of pure, selfish frustration.
Emma turned back to Thomas. The old man was exhausted, his chest heaving, but he looked at Alessandro with profound pride.
"So, what do we do now?" Emma asked quietly, looking around the sealed steel room. "We can't stay in here forever."
Alessandro walked over to a small, red emergency phone mounted on the wall. He picked up the receiver.
"Marco," Alessandro said into the phone, speaking to his enforcer who had remained outside the vault. "The threat is neutralized. Initiate the external override and call the federal authorities. Tell them we have a confession for the murder of Isabella Carbone."
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He hung up the phone and looked at Emma.
"Now," Alessandro said softly, "we go home."
