Chapter 7 - The Alliance of Blood and Steel
Around the mahogany conference table in the center of the Pierce library, the atmosphere was thick with the smell of old paper and high-stakes strategy.
David Pierce dropped a heavy stack of encrypted financial ledgers and hard drives onto the wood in front of Dominic.
“What is this?” Dominic asked, gingerly taking a seat across from his brother-in-law, keeping his distance from Evelyn, who sat quietly near the fireplace with a cup of black coffee.
“This is the forensic accounting of the Camden Outfit’s infiltration into your father’s shipping lines,” David said briskly, tapping the edge of the files. “Viktor Sloane wasn't just working for the Jersey syndicate; he was laundering their narcotics profits through thirty-four shell companies registered under Caruso Development. Your father was too blind, and you were too distracted, to notice.”
Dominic looked over the documents, his face hardening as the executive instincts that had made him a formidable player in the logistics underworld clicked back into place.
“They used our port access to bring in five container loads of precursor chemicals last month,” Dominic muttered, tracing a line of suspicious transactions. “And I signed off on the secondary warehouse inspections without verifying the manifest.”
“Because Viktor forged your signature using your corporate digital key while you were busy entertaining Bianca Vale in New York,” Evelyn added smoothly, taking a slow sip of her coffee. “The federal task force has already been fed these files through our backchannels. By noon tomorrow, federal warrants will be issued for Viktor Sloane and every high-ranking member of the Camden Outfit.”
Dominic looked up from the papers, staring at his wife with a mixture of awe and renewed respect.
“You’ve already checkedmate them,” he said. “Before I even arrived.”
“I didn't checkmate them, Dominic—I declared total war,” Evelyn corrected him, setting her cup down with a sharp clink. “They came for my child. In my world, that is a capital offense with no statute of limitations. But the federal government is slow, and courts take months to deliver verdicts. We don't have months. The Camden Outfit still thinks they can leverage your father into a forced merger by holding your signature over his head.”
“What do you want me to do?” Dominic asked without a second hesitation.
“I want you to go back to South Philadelphia,” Evelyn said, her gray eyes locking onto his with absolute authority. “You’re going to walk into your father’s compound. You’re going to look him in the eye and tell him that the Caruso family is no longer hiding behind shell companies and political payoffs. You are going to offer yourself as bait.”
Dominic’s breath caught. “Bait?”
“Viktor Sloane thinks he won,” David explained, leaning forward. “He thinks you’re a fugitive running from both the feds and your own family. He’ll want to tie up loose ends. He’ll arrange a face-to-face meeting to secure your final signature on the complete asset transfer before the feds raid his warehouses at dawn.”
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“And when he shows up,” Dominic finished, a dark, dangerous smile slowly spreading across his face, “he won't find a broken man running from his mistakes. He’ll find the heir to the Caruso empire waiting to collect.”
“Exactly,” Evelyn said, standing up from her chair and walking over to the window to look out at the storm-swept lawns. “You go clean up, Dominic. Then you take David’s tactical team, go down to South Philadelphia, and take back what your father built. Because when you come back through these doors tomorrow morning, you won't be coming home as my husband. You’ll be coming home as a man trying to earn the right to even say his son’s name.”
