A few hours after their wedding, Dante led Sofía to an old room in the castle. He asked her to remain silent and lifted a sheet covering a body dressed in his clothes / Chapter 7 / 10

Chapter 7 - THE INFORMANTWe spun around toward the vault door.

Standing in the doorway, holding a black 9mm pistol equipped with a suppressor, was Marcus—the chief of security.

Arthur immediately stepped in front of me, shielding my body with his own. "Marcus... what is this?"

Marcus smiled bitterly, the rain dripping from his leather jacket onto the vault floor. "It's the end of the line, Arthur. Or should I call you Dante? Or Arthur? It's so hard to keep track of the ghosts in this castle."

"You were the informant," I realized, my voice tight with rage. "You leaked the financial records to the board of directors!"

"Leaked them?" Marcus laughed softly. "I didn't leak them, Sofía. I sold them. For fifteen million dollars to the international banking cartel."

"My family trusted you for fifteen years, Marcus!" Arthur shouted, his body tense, preparing to leap at the armed man.

"Your family paid me to hide dead bodies, forge land deeds, and guard fake grandfathers!" Marcus snapped, his eyes flashing with greed. "I spent fifteen years covering up the crimes of the Vance and DeMarco elites while you all played dress-up in silk and diamonds!"

He raised the pistol, aiming it directly at Arthur's chest.

"Hand over the red ledgers, Arthur," Marcus commanded coldly. "The banking cartel wants the original signatures to finalize the asset seizure. Once I give them the books, I leave the country, and you two can take the fall for thirty years of fraud."

"And if we refuse?" Arthur challenged, taking a subtle half-step forward.

"Then I shoot you both, burn the vault myself, and tell the police you died in a tragic accident trying to destroy evidence," Marcus replied without a shred of hesitation.

I looked down at the table beneath my hands. The canister of lighter fluid was still open, its liquid soaking through the dry paper of the ledgers.

In my right pocket was the heavy brass lighter Arthur had given me down in the basement.

I looked at Arthur, catching his eye for a fraction of a second. He saw the subtle movement of my hand near my pocket and instantly understood my plan.

"All right, Marcus," Arthur said smoothly, holding his hands up in surrender, taking a step back toward the table. "You win. The ledgers are yours. Just let Sofía walk out of here."

"Nobody walks out of here until I have the books," Marcus spat, stepping closer into the narrow vault doorway.

Arthur reached down toward the table, picking up the heavy red ledgers. But instead of handing them to Marcus, he suddenly threw the heavy books straight at Marcus's face!

"NOW, SOFÍAL!" Arthur roared.

I pulled the brass lighter from my pocket, struck the flint, and tossed the flaming lighter straight onto the fluid-soaked table!