Chapter 17 · I Read Numbers

"Find it in six hours or your brother's deal is dead by Monday." Luca dropped the ledger on the table so hard the coffee cups jumped.

I didn't touch it yet. "You said the grand jury doesn't move till Monday."

"The grand jury doesn't wait for us to be ready, Nora. It waits for a reason to indict. Give them one, and Danny goes back in a cell with a target on his back." He said my brother's name like it cost him nothing. It cost me everything.

Sal sat across the table with his arms crossed, looking bored, which was how I knew he wasn't. "Maybe the bookkeeper's out of her depth. This isn't spreadsheets for the diner, sweetheart. This is federal."

"Don't call me sweetheart." I pulled the ledger toward me and flipped it open. "And I've read federal filings since I was twenty-two. You want to test that?"

Sal smiled with his mouth only. Luca watched him the way you watch a dog that's bitten before.

I went column by column. Wire dates. Shell names.