Chapter 5 - The Snake in the Garden
The council meeting at the Grand Regency Hotel was a bloodbath of high-stakes political tension.
Luchiano sat at the head of a long mahogany table, surrounded by the heads of the four rival syndicate families. Standing behind Don Falco—an old, greedy mobster with silver hair—was a woman dressed in a sleek red designer dress.
Luchiano’s eyes narrowed into slits of pure ice as he recognized her.
Victoria Moretti. His ex-wife.
"Well, well, Luchiano," Victoria purred, stepping forward with a glass of champagne in her manicured hand. "Did you miss me?"
"You have five seconds to explain why you're breathing the same air as me, Victoria," Luchiano said, his tone dropping so low the crystal glasses on the table vibrated.
"Victoria came back with valuable information, Luchiano," Don Falco sneered. "She claims you've grown soft. She says you've spent the last two months playing house with a cheap waitress while your empire crumbles."
The rival bosses murmured in agreement, their eyes filled with predatory ambition.
"I leaked your Brooklyn routes, Luchiano," Victoria laughed mockingly. "And I'm taking my fifty percent share of the Moretti holdings. You're distracted. You're weak. You're obsessing over a motherless bastard baby and a girl who serves soup!"
Luchiano didn't raise his voice. He slowly stood up, placing both palms flat on the table.
"You took my money, Victoria. I let you live because you were the biological mother of my son," Luchiano said, his dark eyes burning with an apocalyptic wrath that made even Don Falco flinch. "But if you ever bring my son or Amelia into your pathetic games again, I won't just take your money back. I will erase your name from history."
Victoria’s confident smirk faltered slightly at the absolute steel in his voice.
Luchiano turned to the other bosses. "The Brooklyn shipment was insured. The traitor who sold the routes to federal agents wasn't me—it was Falco’s chief lieutenant. I have the wiretaps."
He tossed a flash drive onto the mahogany table.
"Clean your own houses before you try to come for mine," Luchiano growled, turning on his heel and sweeping out of the room, flanked by his men.
However, as Luchiano drove back toward Westchester, his phone vibrated violently. It was a private security alert from his estate's internal cameras.
On his dashboard screen, a live feed showed a black SUV breaching the rear perimeter gates of the estate. Three armed men in dark tactical gear were moving quietly toward the kitchen doors.
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Luchiano’s blood ran cold. Victoria hadn't just come to take his money—she had sent a hit squad to eliminate Amelia and kidnap Mateo to use as permanent leverage against him.
"Dominic! Drive!" Luchiano roared, slamming his foot down on the accelerator. "Faster!"
