Half My Mafia Leaders Betrayed Me for My Consigliere—Then One Man Entered the Banquet and Wiped the Smile From His Face.

Dominic held Victor Moretti’s gold signet ring under the harsh overhead garage lights. The heavy gold was cold against his palm, stamped with the unmistakable coiled viper of the Moretti bloodline.

Footsteps echoed across the concrete floor behind him.

Leo walked into the garage, holding a bottle of water. He stopped dead when he saw Dominic standing over the open trunk of his SUV, holding the Moretti ring.

Leo’s face darkened instantly. "Dominic... what are you doing in my car?"

Dominic closed his fingers around the ring, turning around slowly. "I asked you in the study who financed your five years in London. You said you saved money. Then I found the Zurich transfers. And now I find this."

Dominic threw the gold ring onto the concrete floor between them. It clattered loudly, rolling to a stop at Leo's boots.

Leo looked down at the ring, then looked back up at Dominic, letting out a heavy, exhausted sigh.

"I met with Victor Moretti six months ago in Paris," Leo confessed, his voice steady and calm. "He offered me full financial backing to eliminate Marcus."

"You aligned yourself with the man who murdered our uncle?" Dominic demanded, his voice dropping to a terrifying register.

"I didn't align with him! I used him!" Leo yelled back, taking a step closer. "Moretti thought I was a bitter younger brother looking for revenge against you! So I let him believe it! He gave me that signet ring as a token of safe passage through his territory in Europe!"

Dominic didn't move. "And Marcus taking my seat tonight?"

"Marcus was working for Moretti!" Leo explained, his hands gesturing with intense emotion. "Moretti told Marcus to strike tonight during the anniversary party! I intercepted the message three days ago and came back to New York to stop it! Everything I've done was to protect this family, Dominic!"

The explanation fit every piece of physical evidence perfectly. It gave a logical answer for the Swiss transfers, the Paris meeting, and Leo’s sudden appearance at the party. It made Leo look like a master double-agent who had sacrificed everything to save Dominic's reign.

Dominic looked at his younger brother, feeling a brief, rare wave of relief. The threat from inside his bloodline seemed to be a false alarm—Leo was loyal after all.

"Take the ring," Dominic said softly. "We go after Moretti's docks tomorrow night."

Leo nodded, picking the gold ring off the floor. "Thank you for believing in me, brother."

Dominic turned and walked back toward his private quarters. As he reached the top of the stairs, he pulled Leo’s satellite phone from his jacket—a phone he had quietly lifted from the trunk while inspecting the ring box.

Dominic stepped into his study, connected the satellite phone to his secure terminal, and ran an encrypted call-history diagnostic.

The phone showed only three outgoing calls over the last forty-eight hours.

Dominic clicked on the primary dialed number.