Chapter 5 - The Gathering Storm
Across the city, in a dimly lit back room of an Italian social club on Taylor Street, Vincent Moretti slammed his fist onto a scarred wooden table.
"He's unstable," Moretti snarled, surrounded by three other senior council members who listened in grim silence. "The boy has lost his mind over a woman. He put his hands on me—on a founding member of the syndicate—over a bankrupt baker who doesn't even know he exists in his criminal world."
"If he's compromised, he's a liability," muttered Sal Romano, a heavy-set man with a scarred cheek who controlled the union docks. "We can't have a boss acting on emotion. If the other families find out Cain is vulnerable through a civilian woman, they'll exploit it before we can."
"Then we take the leverage away from him," Moretti said, his eyes gleaming with malicious intent. "Ethan wants to protect her? Let him try. But we don't go through him. We go directly to the source. Once the baker realizes what kind of monster her old high school boyfriend really is, she’ll run for the hills—or better yet, she’ll become the ultimate trap."
Back at the bakery, Valerie was wiping down the front counter when her phone buzzed on the shelf behind the cash register.
She picked it up, expecting another automated notification from her utility provider or a reminder from her wholesale flour supplier. Instead, it was an unknown number.
She swiped to answer.
"Hello?"
"Mrs. Bennett," a harsh, distorted voice crackled through the speaker. "If you want to keep your shop, your home, and your own life, listen very carefully. Stay away from Ethan Cain. The man you remember from your teenage years doesn't exist. The man you’re dealing with now destroys everything he touches. If you ever speak to him again, the next letter you receive won't be a debt clearance. It will be a death certificate."
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The line went dead with a sharp click.
Valerie dropped the phone onto the counter, her hands shaking as her eyes darted frantically around the empty, dimly lit bakery. The shadows in the corners suddenly felt heavy, suffocating, and terrifyingly real.
