Chapter 5 - THE SPIDER’S WEB
Downstairs in the security holding suite, Marcus Vance was pacing like a caged panther.
Marcus—tall, impeccably groomed in a custom Italian suit, wearing a gold Rolex that gleamed under the harsh fluorescent lights—slapped his hand against the reinforced glass of the holding room.
"Open this door right now, you idiots!" Marcus roared at the two armed guards standing outside. "Do you know who I am? I am the acting chairman of the board! My sister is Mr. Costello's fiancée! When he finds out you locked me in here, he'll have every single one of you skinned alive!"
The guard on the left, a scarred veteran named Miller who had served under Luca for fifteen years, didn't even blink.
"Mr. Costello already knows you're here, Mr. Vance," Miller said calmly, resting his hand on his holster. "In fact, he's been waiting for you to finish sweating through your shirt."
The heavy steel door at the end of the hall swung open.
The sound of slow, heavy footsteps echoed down the concrete corridor.
Thud... thud... thud...
It wasn't the smooth, silent glide of rubber wheelchair tires against polished concrete. It was the heavy, deliberate tread of boot leather hitting the floor.
Marcus stopped pacing. He spun around, staring down the dark hallway with a frown of utter confusion.
Out of the shadows stepped Luca Costello.
He wasn't sitting. He was walking.
His shoulders were squared, his posture commanding, towering over six feet of pure, unadulterated menace. His eyes were cold, fixed entirely on Marcus’s face.
Marcus stumbled backward, his back hitting the glass wall of the holding cell. His face drained of all color, his jaw dropping so low it looked unhinged.
"No... no, that's impossible," Marcus stammered, pointing a shaking finger at Luca’s legs. "You're... you're paralyzed! The medical charts said—!"
"The medical charts were written by your sister and your corrupt doctors," Luca said, his voice deep, calm, and carrying the icy weight of an executioner. He stopped three feet away from Marcus, looking down at him with quiet disgust. "Twelve years, Marcus. Twelve years of sitting across from you at board meetings while you smiled, shook my hand, and plotted to slice up my empire."
Marcus swallowed hard, desperately trying to regain his corporate bravado. He puffed out his chest, though his knees were visibly trembling.
"All right! You caught us!" Marcus snapped, his voice cracking slightly. "So what?! If you kill me, the board triggers the emergency asset freeze! Our foreign partners in Palermo will pull their capital out of your shipping lanes within twenty-four hours! You'll be king of a bankrupt ruin!"
Luca didn't flinch. He didn't raise his voice.
"You think I built this empire on bank loans and foreign capital?" Luca asked softly. "I built it on blood, loyalty, and absolute control."
He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a heavy, leather-bound ledger—the original shipping manifest Tommy had decrypted from the estate server.
"This is every wire transfer you and Valerie sent to the offshore accounts in the Cayman Islands," Luca said, tossing the ledger onto the metal desk between them. "And this is the confession your sister signed an hour ago in the medical suite after she realized you weren't coming to save her."
Marcus stared at the ledger, his eyes wide with horror. The game was over. The web he and his sister had spun over twelve years had finally collapsed around their necks.
"Miller," Luca said without turning around.
May you like
"Boss?"
"Take Mr. Vance to the eastern docks. Put him in the cargo hold of the midnight freighter heading to South America." Luca’s eyes hardened into polished flint. "And let him know that if he ever sets foot in Chicago again, I won't use poison. I'll use lead."
