Chapter 9 - The Ledger of Blood Money
Marco Bellini pushed his way through his circle of bodyguards, his face twisted in a mask of suppressed fury as he intercepted us near the center fountain.
"Luca!" Marco growled in a low hiss, trying to keep up appearances for the surrounding dons. "What is the meaning of this? Where is my daughter? Who is this peasant girl on your arm?"
Luca stopped. He didn't blink. He towered over the older man, projecting an aura of sheer, crushing dominance.
"Your daughter is currently enjoying the hospitality of my estate's basement holding facility, Marco," Luca said smoothly, his voice carrying clearly to the surrounding syndicate leaders.
Gasping murmurs rippled through the elite crowd.
Marco stepped closer, his hand twitching toward his jacket. "You have broken the sacred peace of the Families, Moretti! You abduct my daughter, bring a common servant to the High Council Gala, and dare to insult my bloodline?"
"Your bloodline poisoned this city twelve years ago," Luca replied coldly.
Luca raised his left hand and snapped his fingers.
Instantly, the massive digital projection screens lining the walls of the grand ballroom—which were supposed to display the Bellini-Moretti wedding announcement—flickered and changed.
Across four giant screens, Antonio Moretti’s encrypted ledgers were broadcast for every mafia boss, banker, and politician in the room to see.
High-resolution scans of offshore bank transactions.
Signed assassination contracts with Marco Bellini’s private seal.
Audio recordings of Marco planning the ambush on Matteo Moretti twelve years ago.
The entire ballroom erupted into absolute chaos.
"Traitor!" shouted Don Falcone, the eldest member of the Syndicate Council, glaring at Marco with disgust. "You broke the code! You targeted an heir in secret!"
Marco drew a small chrome pistol from his coat, his eyes wild with desperate rage. "Kill him!" he screamed to his bodyguards.
Before Marco could even raise the barrel, Luca moved with blinding speed.
His hand clamped around Marco's wrist, twisting it downward with brutal force until the bone snapped with a sickening crack—the exact same injury Vanessa had inflicted on me.
Marco dropped to his knees with a scream of agony, his pistol clattering across the floor.
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Luca placed the polished toe of his dress shoe on Marco's chest, pressing the older man flat against the marble floor. He drew his own gun, leveling it straight between Marco's terrified eyes.
"That was for my brother," Luca whispered, loud enough for the entire council to hear. "And this is for threatening the woman who saved my family."
