Chapter 7 - the tribunal at the regency
By 8:00 PM, the grand ballroom of the Grand Regency Hotel in downtown Chicago was thick with tension.
Crystal chandeliers illuminated the long mahogany table where twenty senior Mafia bosses, regional captains, and syndicate elders were gathered in formal dark suits.
Sitting at the head of the table was Lorenzo Duca, wearing a pristine black suit, his posture regal, dark, and imposing. Sitting to his right was Dr. Mara Quinn, holding a leather folder containing certified forensic laboratory reports.
Sitting across the table, flanked by four broad-shouldered guards, was Marcus Vance—a arrogant, fifty-five-year-old mobster dressed in an expensive dark pinstriped suit, holding a silver walking cane.
Don Carmine, the eighty-five-year-old senior patriarch of the council, tapped his wooden gavel against the table.
"Don Lorenzo Duca has summoned this emergency tribunal," Carmine announced, his raspy voice echoing through the silent hall. "State your charge, Don Lorenzo."
Lorenzo stood up slowly. His towering broad frame, dark tattoos, and terrifyingly calm presence instantly silenced the entire room.
He reached into his jacket, pulling out the black leather notebook recovered from Vivian's wall safe, alongside the certified medical report signed by Dr. Mara Quinn. He tossed the documents into the center of the mahogany table.
"For thirty-six months, my six-year-old son, Lucas, was systematically poisoned using military-grade Paraneurin-42," Lorenzo announced, his deep voice carrying a lethal thunder that chilled the air in the room. "The poison was administered by house manager Vivian Chen... who was paid twenty thousand dollars a month by Marcus Vance."
Gasps of absolute shock erupted from the gathered elder bosses!
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Marcus Vance jumped out of his chair, his face turning beet-red with rage. "This is a lie! Lorenzo is making up stories to seize my shipping docks!"
Dr. Mara Quinn stood up smoothly, her voice clear and authoritative. "The financial wire transfers from Vance’s offshore accounts in Montreal directly match the serial numbers on the poison bottles recovered from the Duca estate safe. The forensic evidence is absolute."
