Chapter 5 - The Fall of the House of Romano
At 11:30 PM, the luxury sixty-foot yacht The Imperial drifted slowly away from its slip at Navy Pier, its diesel engines humming softly as it prepared to enter the open waters of Lake Michigan.
In the upper glass-walled stateroom, Bernardo Romano—a sharp-featured, sixty-year-old man with slicked-back silver hair and an expensive silk robe—sat at a mahogany desk, rapidly transferring funds on an encrypted tablet.
Sitting across from him was Dr. Julian Vance, his hands shaking so violently he could barely hold his glass of scotch.
“Bernardo, this is madness!” Vance panicked, his voice rising in pitch. “Isabella said Alessandro knew! He named the color of her coat! If he has his sight back, he knows I poisoned him! He’ll kill us both!”
“Shut up, Julian,” Bernardo snapped, not looking up from his tablet. “Alessandro Moretti is a blind dog whose syndicate has been hollowed out from the inside. My men have already secured his maid and her brat. By tomorrow morning, I will hold fifty-one percent of the Moretti shipping shares through Isabella’s power of attorney. Alessandro has no proof, no allies, and no—”
BOOM!
The heavy glass doors of the upper deck exploded inward in a shower of glittering shards.
Dr. Vance screamed, dropping his glass of scotch as three flashbang grenades bounced across the polished teak floor, detonating with deafening, blinding force.
Bernardo tumbled backward out of his chair, coughing wildly in the thick gray smoke, his hand reaching frantically for the revolver hidden inside his desk drawer.
Before his fingers could touch the wood, a heavy leather boot slammed down onto his wrist with crushing force.
Bernardo let out a agonized shriek as his bone cracked beneath the weight.
The thick smoke parted.
Standing over him, backlit by the moonlight, was Alessandro Moretti. He held a silenced weapon in his right hand, his face carved from dark, unforgiving stone.
Dr. Vance scrambled backward into the corner, weeping hysterically. “Alessandro! Please! It was Bernardo! He forced me! He threatened my family!”
Alessandro didn't even look at the pathetic doctor. He looked down at Bernardo, his blue eyes gleaming with absolute, terrifying clarity.
“You look older, Bernardo,” Alessandro remarked softly, his voice echoing in the ruined room. “Five years of living off my blood has made you soft.”
Bernardo cradled his broken wrist, staring up at the man he had believed was broken forever. The sheer shock of seeing Alessandro’s brilliant, clear eyes focused entirely on him made Bernardo’s heart slam against his ribs in pure horror.
“Alessandro...” Bernardo gasped, blood dripping from his lip. “We... we can make a deal! Half the dock contracts—I’ll give them back to you! I’ll send Isabella away to Europe! You’ll never see her again!”
“Isabella is currently sitting in a holding cell in my basement,” Alessandro said, taking a slow step closer. “She has already given my legal team the master passcodes to your offshore accounts in the Cayman Islands in exchange for a slightly less painful death.”
Bernardo’s face drained of color. “You... you took everything?”
“No,” Alessandro corrected him softly, leaning down until his face was inches from Bernardo’s trembling ear. “I took back what was mine. You, Bernardo, are going to take a long swim in the lake.”
Four of Alessandro’s enforcers stepped forward, grabbing Bernardo and Dr. Vance by their collars and dragging them screaming toward the open deck.
Ten minutes later, the Imperial was consumed by a massive, silent fireball on the open water, erased from existence as if it had never been built.
Alessandro stood on the rear deck of his private speedboat, watching the flames reflect off the dark water, his blue eyes cool and unblinking.
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The past was burned. The traitors were gone.
Now, he had a promise to keep to the woman and child waiting for him at the lakeside estate.
