Chapter 4 - the shadow over the harbor
The rain had eased into a cold, clinging fog by dawn. Down at the private pier on the edge of Lake Michigan, the black hulls of Vittorio’s luxury yachts rocked gently against the wooden pilings.
Vittorio stood at the end of the dock, his black wool overcoat wrapped tight against the chill, his hands clasped behind his back. Beside him stood Leo, smoking a quiet cigarette, his eyes scanning the quiet water.
"You're sure about this, Vittorio?" Leo asked, blowing a thin plume of gray smoke into the fog. "If Bianca really has an encrypted drive with the prosecutor, pulling the trigger on her will bring the feds down on every business we own."
"She thinks she holds the leash, Leo," Vittorio said, his deep voice gravelly and smooth. "She thinks because I love my daughter, I will let her walk into this house as my wife and rule over Elena's memory."
"So what's the play?"
"We don't shoot her," Vittorio said softly, turning his head to look at his lieutenant. "We make her bleed through her ambition. She wants the Kane name? I'll give her the wedding of her dreams. But every gift she receives will be a brick in her own prison."
Leo nodded slowly. "And the notebook Maisy mentioned? In the conservatory?"
"I checked it at 4:00 AM," Vittorio said, reaching into his coat pocket and pulling out a small leather diary bound in black cord. "Maisy was right. Bianca has been cataloging every visitor to the estate for three years. But there’s a name in here that doesn't belong to any Chicago family."
Leo leaned in, his eyes narrowing. "Whose name?"
"Marcus Vance," Vittorio replied, his voice dropping into a chilling register. "The federal prosecutor handling my family's racketeering case."
Leo’s cigarette paused halfway to his lips. "She isn't just blackmailing you with the syndicate, Vittorio. She's working directly for the Justice Department."
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"She’s an informant," Vittorio spat, his jaw clenching tight. "She set up Elena eight years ago so Vance could break my network from the inside. When that failed, she seduced her way into my inner circle to finish the job."
Vittorio looked back toward the rising sun bleeding through the fog over Lake Shore Drive. "She wants to play chess with my family's legacy. She doesn't realize I built the board."
