Chapter 19 - The Preemptive Strike
By midnight, the Duca estate was once again operating as a fortress. The security lights illuminated the perimeter of the Lake Forest property, and heavily armed guards patrolled the brick paths, their eyes scanning the dark waters of Lake Michigan.
Inside the war room, Marco, Enzo, and Danny were huddled around a large digital map of the East Coast.
"The Syndicate of the North is led by a man named Victor Russo," Enzo explained, pointing to a highlighted estate in the Adirondack Mountains of New York. "He’s an old-school mobster who operates in the shadows. He doesn't have the firepower of the Duca syndicate, but he has deep political connections in New York and Albany. He thinks his state borders will protect him from us."
"They won't," Marco said coldly. "Danny, what is his financial vulnerability?"
Danny tapped a key on his laptop, bringing up a complex web of corporate transactions. "Russo’s entire operations are funded through a private, unregulated bank in Montreal. If we shut down that pipeline, his empire collapses in forty-eight hours. But to do that, we need the encryption keys from his personal server at his Adirondacks estate."
"Then we go to New York," Marco said, standing up.
"Marco, no," Lena’s voice came from the doorway. She walked into the room, wearing a dark sweater, her face serious and resolute. "You cannot keep running into the dark every time a ghost from the past appears. That’s what they want. They want to draw you back into the war."
Marco walked over to her, taking her hands in his. "Lena, they threatened the foundation. They threatened Danny. I won't let them touch what we've built."
"I’m not asking you to let them touch us, Marco," Lena said, looking into his eyes. "I’m asking you to fight smart. Don't go there with guns and mercenaries. Go there with the law. Use the evidence of their Montreal bank to have the federal authorities shut them down. We have federal judges in our pocket now—men who stood at our wedding. Let them do the work."
Marco stared at her, the struggle visible in his dark eyes. For his entire life, the only solution to a threat was violence. But as he looked at Lena, he saw a different path—a path where the light of the law could destroy the shadows of the underground.
"She’s right, Marco," Danny agreed. "I can package the encryption data and the Montreal bank records into an anonymous dossier for the FBI’s financial crimes division in New York. With the political pressure our judicial friends can bring, Russo will be in federal custody before he can even pack his bags."
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Marco slowly nodded, his grip on Lena’s hands relaxing. "Do it, Danny. Send the files. But Enzo... send a team to watch Russo’s estate anyway. Just in case."
"Understood, Don Marco," Enzo smiled, bowing his head.
