Chapter 7 - The Secret of the Caravaggio Ledger
With the immediate threat neutralized and Marcus securing the perimeter from the roof monitors, Callum and Sadie emerged from the panic room back into the dimly lit study. The smell of cordite and shattered drywall hung heavy in the air, but the fire in the hearth was still burning, casting a warm, flickering light across the bullet-scarred mahogany desk.
Callum pulled a heavy leather armchair closer to the fire for Sadie, then sat across from her with the Caravaggio portfolio opened flat between them.
“Let’s finish what we started at the Continental,” Callum said, pointing to the faded iron-gall ink codes along the bottom margin of the provenance report. “Aris Thorne didn't just hide routing numbers here. He left a map of Sterling’s entire financial laundering network.”
Sadie leaned forward, wincing slightly as her bandaged ankle shifted against the rug. Despite the pain, her professional instincts instantly took over. She squinted at the numbers, her brow furrowing in concentration as her brilliant, cataloging mind began cross-referencing the data with the museum's acquisition logs.
“These aren't random numbers,” Sadie said, her voice growing stronger as she traced the sequence with her fingertip. “Look at the intervals. They correspond to the cataloging numbers of four major European masterworks acquired by the Sterling Foundation over the last three years.”
“Stolen masterworks?” Callum asked, narrowing his eyes. “No—forged,” Sadie corrected, looking up at him with sudden clarity. “Sterling isn't just laundering cartel money through art auctions. He’s been buying genuine masterpieces, replacing them with high-end museum-quality forgeries supplied by an underground syndicate in Prague, and reselling the originals to private collectors in Zurich to fund an illegal arms pipeline.”
May you like
Callum let out a slow, sharp whistle. The pieces of the puzzle clicked into place with terrifying precision. Viktor Sterling wasn't just trying to muscle in on the Russo family's territory—he was building an entirely sovereign financial empire backed by stolen sovereign wealth, and Aris Thorne had stumbled onto the ledger before he could be silenced.
“If we take these documents to the federal authorities, Sterling is finished,” Sadie said, looking up at Callum with hopeful urgency. Callum let out a dry, humorless laugh, shaking his head. “The federal authorities in this city are on Sterling’s payroll, Sadie. If we walk into a precinct with this, we’ll be arrested on federal conspiracy charges before we reach the front desk,” Callum explained, standing up and walking over to the window to peer through a slat in the metal shutters. “The only way to deal with a parasite like Viktor Sterling is to cut off his head ourselves.”
