Chapter 9 - Shadows of the Falcone Cartel
For over a decade, Antonio Falcone had been a thorn in my side—a ruthless, old-school mob boss operating out of the Port of Savannah and the industrial freight yards of Atlanta. He dealt in human trafficking, untraceable narcotics, and extortion. I had spent years boxing his operations out of the city, forcing his syndicates into financial desperation.
Now I knew why he had orchestrated this elaborate scheme.
He couldn't beat Vincent Moretti in a street war. So he used Elena Vance—a former high-class grifter whose real name was Elena Falcone, Antonio’s estranged niece—to infiltrate my home, poison my daughter, and siphon my empire’s wealth from the inside.
At 4:30 PM, Elena walked into the mansion’s private kitchen.
On our surveillance monitors, we watched her pull five small glass vials of the deadly Tabun-X neurotoxin from her designer purse. With steady, unhurried hands, she snapped the glass tops and emptied the clear, lethal liquid into a bowl of chocolate pudding.
“Time for your special treat, Lila,” Elena murmured to herself with a sickening grin.
She placed the bowl onto a silver tray, picked it up, and began walking up the grand staircase toward Lila’s nursery.
Inside the surveillance van parked half a mile down the road, I grabbed my radio.
“Strike Team Alpha, breach the perimeter silently,” I ordered. “Disable all estate communications. No one leaves that house alive except my daughter.”
May you like
“Moving in now, Boss,” the team leader responded.
I slipped out of the van, flanked by Marco and Julian. The time for pretending was over.
