Chapter 9 - The Reckoning
An hour later, a private black helicopter hovered low over a sprawling estate in Long Island.
Down below, Don Carmine Moretti sat inside his lavish, firelit study, sipping scotch from a crystal glass. At seventy-two, Carmine was a wealthy, arrogant crime lord who believed he was untouchable. He held his phone against his ear, waiting for his strike commander to report that Lorenzo Duca and the maid were dead.
Instead, the heavy double glass doors of his terrace exploded inward.
Lorenzo Duca stepped into the room through the swirling smoke and rain, flanked by Marco and four elite security guards. Lorenzo wore his black tailored suit, though his jacket was unbuttoned, his dark eyes fixed on the old man behind the desk like an executioner.
Carmine dropped his scotch glass, the crystal shattering onto the Persian rug. He backed up against his leather armchair, his face turning as pale as ash.
"Lorenzo..." Carmine stammered, his voice shaking. "What... what is the meaning of this?"
Lorenzo walked slowly across the room, stopping right in front of the desk. He pulled his smartphone from his suit jacket and set it on the desk, pressing play on the audio file retrieved from the black-and-gold pendant.
His father’s voice, followed by Carmine’s cold command from fifteen years ago, filled the quiet study: "Execute protocol zero. Kill everyone in the house..."
Carmine’s knees gave out, and he collapsed back into his leather chair, staring at the phone in absolute horror.
"I gave you fifteen years of my life, Carmine," Lorenzo said, his voice a low, terrifying rumble. "I treated you like a second father. I bled for your territory."
"Lorenzo... please!" Carmine pleaded, raising his trembling hands. "It was business! Your father was going to ruin the Commission! I saved you! I let you live!"
"You didn't let me live," Lorenzo corrected, leaning down until his dark eyes were inches from the old man's face. "You kept me alive because you needed a Duca to hold the territory together. But today, the Duca line takes back everything you stole."
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Lorenzo stood up, gesturing to Marco and the federal agents who stepped through the shattered terrace doors behind him.
"You're not dying tonight, Carmine," Lorenzo declared coldly. "You're spending the rest of your miserable life in a maximum-security federal prison while I tear down every single brick of your empire."
