The Famous Mafioso Hired Me to Hear Him, and the Man in the Cell Is Not Who They Convicted novel · Chapter 20 of 24
Chapter 20: The Ledger
The bakery was closed, and the lights were on.
I parked on Hertel Avenue at ten at night in front of the red brick storefront and sat with my hands on the wheel.
The sign over the door said BRANCATO & SONS in white letters.
Flour sacks stood stacked to the ceiling behind the glass, and a single bulb burned over the back booth.
Gianna sat in it in her apron with a cup of coffee and a plate under a cloth.
She waved at me through the window, the way you wave at a neighbor.
I got out, locked the car and walked in.
The bell rang over the door.
The room smelled of almonds, yeast and warm sugar, and it made me sick.
"Joanna."
She rose to take both my hands, as she had on the first day.
I did not give them.
I stood with my arms at my sides, and her smile did not change at all.
"Sit," she said.
"I'll stand," I said.
"As you like."
She sat and folded her hands.
On the table beside the covered plate lay a thick green-bound ledger with a cracked spine.
She laid her hand on it.
"Do you know what this is?" she asked.
I did not answer.
"Every dollar this family has moved in nineteen years.
"Every truck, every payroll, every envelope, every invoice that was not an invoice.
"A man did this with his hands."
She turned the cover.
The pages were covered edge to edge in a small, upright, perfect hand.
I saw a note in the margin that said ferry crew, final settlement, and a number with six digits.
I knew the handwriting.
I had seen it on a napkin held against the glass of a prison gate.
"Teodoro kept the books from the age of twenty-two," Gianna said.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of The Famous Mafioso Hired Me to Hear Him, and the Man in the Cell Is Not Who They Convicted are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
← Chapter 19 · All chapters · Chapter 21 →
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend