Chapter 7 - The Gathering of the Council
By 8:00 AM, the rising sun cast a pale gold light across the skyline of downtown Chicago.
The Moretti syndicate’s high-rise headquarters—a eighty-story glass tower overlooking Lake Michigan—was locked down tighter than a military fortress.
Inside the top-floor boardroom, thirty men in expensive suits sat around a massive oval mahogany table. These were the regional bosses, the men who controlled the multi-billion-dollar legitimate and illegitimate enterprises across the Midwest.
At the head of the table sat Alessandro Moretti.
Beside him, sitting on a plush velvet rug usually reserved for high-ranking foreign dignitaries, was Bruno. The dog’s shoulder was neatly bandaged, and his eyes were clear, restored by hours of rest and medical care.
And beside Bruno, sitting in a high-backed leather chair that swallowed her small frame, was three-year-old Emma Carter. She was wearing a new clean yellow sweater and sipping apple juice from a sippy cup, entirely unbothered by the heavy tension in the room.
Sophia stood directly behind her daughter, her posture straight, her chin held high.
"This is madness, Alessandro!" spat Lorenzo Falcone, the hot-tempered boss of the Detroit faction. "You brought us here in the middle of the night because Victor Vance launched a coup? And now you sit here with a child and a dying dog, claiming Victor murdered your brother sixteen years ago?!"
The room erupted into noisy arguments.
"Victor was the backbone of our financial infrastructure!" another boss yelled. "If he empties the offshore accounts in Zurich, half our payroll stops by noon!"
BANG!
Alessandro slammed a heavy leather-bound file onto the center of the mahogany table.
The room fell instant, dead silent.
"In that folder," Alessandro said, his voice echoing off the glass walls like a thunderclap, "are the original forensic reports from the Lake Villa fire sixteen years ago. Altered by Victor Vance. Beside them are the DNA records verifying that Emma Carter is the biological daughter of Julian Vance... and the grand-niece of my late brother, Anthony Moretti."
The bosses leaned forward, murmuring in shock.
"Sixteen years ago," Alessandro continued, his eyes scanning every face in the room, "Victor Vance burned my family alive so he could control the Moretti trust. He lied to all of us. He told us it was a rival family from New York. He used that lie to start a war that cost fifty of our men their lives."
Lorenzo Falcone picked up the DNA report, his eyes widening as he read the certified medical seal signed by Dr. Richard Hale and three independent laboratories.
"My God..." Lorenzo whispered, looking up at Emma. "She... she is Anthony's bloodline."
Emma looked at Lorenzo, blinked her big brown eyes, and held out a small animal cracker toward him. "Want a bear?"
Lorenzo, a man who had ordered dozens of executions in his forty-year career, froze. He slowly reached out, took the tiny cracker, and held it like it was made of solid gold. "Thank you, little princess."
Bruno let out a soft, low grunt from the floor—a gentle warning that he was watching.
"Victor is currently trapped inside the penthouse vault at the Federal Reserve building on Michigan Avenue," Alessandro declared, standing up. "He’s attempting to transfer two billion dollars out of the country before the banks open. He thinks he can buy his freedom."
Alessandro looked down at Bruno, then at Emma.
"I am not going to Michigan Avenue to take back the money," Alessandro said coldly. "I am going there to finish the war that started sixteen years ago. Who stands with the true bloodline of the Moretti family?"
One by one, thirty mob bosses stood up from the table.
Lorenzo Falcone was the first to draw his weapon, placing it flat on the mahogany table before Emma. "Detroit stands with the Princess."
"New York stands," another boss declared.
"St. Louis stands."
Alessandro looked down at Sophia, who offered him a soft, tearful nod of gratitude.
May you like
He reached down, gently touching Bruno’s head. The old dog stood up, his posture tall, his head held high, his amber eyes burning with renewed purpose.
"Let's go finish this," Alessandro said.
