Chapter 15 - The Kingmaker
Julian did not release Emma’s waist, though his entire posture hardened back into the lethal boss of the syndicate. ""What is it, Marco?""
Marco walked forward, his footsteps echoing ominously in the vast penthouse. He laid the diplomatic pouch on the mahogany table beside the open ledger.
""It arrived via private courier from Rome ten minutes ago,"" Marco said, glancing nervously at Emma. ""From the Secretariat of State.""
Emma frowned, stepping back from Julian’s embrace, her fingers instinctively brushing against the cold gold of the signet ring on her hand. She broke the black wax seal with her thumb and slid out a thick, parchment dossier tied with a crimson silk ribbon.
Inside were three photographs and an official decree written in Latin and English.
The first photograph was old, taken in the early 1990s on a private yacht off the coast of Capri. It showed Cesare Rossi, Helena Donati... and a third man standing between them, a man wearing the dark robes and pectoral cross of an archbishop.
The second photograph was a birth certificate.
Emma felt the air leave her lungs in a sharp, cold rush as she read the names inscribed on the aged paper. Her hands began to shake violently.
""Emma..."" Julian stepped to her side, his hand coming down firmly on her shoulder. ""What does it say?""
Emma looked up from the documents, her hazel eyes wide with a terror that made the shootout in Saint Jude Cathedral seem trivial by comparison.
""The ledger wasn't just about the syndicates, Julian,"" she whispered, her voice barely a thread. ""The Vatican didn't hide it to protect our families. They hid it to protect themselves.""
She turned the third photograph around, sliding it across the polished mahogany table so Julian and Marco could see.
It was a modern surveillance photo taken three days ago inside the Vatican gardens. A tall, silver-haired man in white papal vestments sat in a wheelchair, looking directly into the camera lens with eyes that were identical to Emma’s.
""Cesare Rossi didn't steal me from Helena to secure the mafia council,"" Emma whispered, the realization crashing down upon her like a collapsing skyscraper. ""He stole me because my biological father isn't a Donati, and he isn't an accountant.""
She pointed to the decree signed with the papal seal.
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""The current Pope is stepping down next week,"" Emma said, looking straight into Julian’s frozen eyes. ""And the Vatican bank has just issued a global warrant for my arrest. Because under the secret concordat of 1929... I am the legal owner of the Holy See’s entire sovereign treasury.""
Outside, the first wail of federal sirens began to rise from the streets below, rapidly multiplying, surrounding the base of the tower in an unbreakable ring of steel."
