Chapter 9 - the truth in the marble hall
At 3:00 PM the following afternoon, the grand marble ballroom of the Duca compound was filled with twelve senior members of the Boston Syndicate. They sat around a long mahogany conference table, murmuring among themselves in tense anticipation.
At the head of the table sat Roman Duca in a tailored dark suit, his powerful hands folded calmly over his knee. Standing behind him were Dante and six heavily armed guards.
"Roman, what is the meaning of this emergency council?" senior elder Don Vito growled, adjusting his golden signet ring. "We were told there was a breach in security."
Roman stood up slowly, his towering presence immediately silencing the room.
"Twenty-three years ago," Roman began, his deep voice resonating off the high gilded ceilings, "a traitor inside this very council leaked our family's travel route to the Moretti family in New York, resulting in the car bombing that supposedly killed my mother."
The elders shifted uncomfortably, exchanging nervous glances.
"And five years ago," Roman continued, "that same traitor convinced my late father that keeping my mother locked in an underground bunker was the only way to keep Boston safe."
"Nonsense!" Don Vito shouted, standing up in outrage. "Sophia Duca died two decades ago!"
Roman motioned to Dante.
The double doors of the ballroom swung open.
Stepping into the room, dressed in an elegant black velvet gown, was Sophia Duca, accompanied by Grace Harper and little Mia.
The entire council gasped in collective horror and disbelief. Don Vito’s face turned completely ash-grey.
"She lives," Roman declared, his dark eyes locking onto Don Vito with lethal intent. "And Marco has already confessed everything in the basement. You were the one receiving monthly offshore payments from New York, Vito. You were the one who trapped my family in darkness."
Vito reached frantically for his jacket pocket, but Dante moved like lightning, disarming the elder and forcing him to his knees on the cold marble floor.
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"Take him away," Roman ordered flatly. "The Duca family cleans its own house."
As the guards dragged the screaming traitor out of the hall, the remaining council members stood up and bowed their heads in absolute submission to Roman, recognizing him as the undisputed, supreme leader of the Boston Mob.
