Chapter 20
Dominic raised his hand, a slow, deliberate gesture.
From the shadows near the kitchens, Elias stepped forward. He wasn't holding a weapon; he was holding a heavy burlap sack. He walked to the center of the marble floor and upended the bag. Dozens of encrypted satellite phones clattered onto the pristine white marble.
"Your third team isn't waiting in Philadelphia, Carmine," Dominic stated seamlessly. "They tried to cross the bridge into Staten Island an hour ago. My men intercepted them. They are dead. All of them."
Carmine stared at the pile of phones, his breathing shallow and rapid. The Chicago syndicate had just lost its entire eastern offensive force in less than twenty-four hours. Dominic had dismantled an army without even breaking a sweat.
"You... you killed them all," Carmine whispered in absolute horror. "The bosses will never accept this. They will send the entire Chicago outfit. It will be a bloodbath."
"Let them," Dominic said, walking around the VIP table until he stood mere inches from the trembling underboss. "Go back to Chicago, Carmine. Tell your bosses that the ghost has returned. Tell them that the eastern seaboard is closed. If I see a single Chicago operative cross the state line, I will not stop at the borders. I will march my network into Illinois, and I will burn your entire syndicate to the ground."
Carmine swallowed hard, his eyes locked on the cold, unyielding granite of Dominic's expression. He slowly backed away, realizing that he was not speaking to a rival businessman. He was speaking to an apex predator who had absolute dominion over his world.
Without another word, Carmine and his bodyguards turned and fled the ballroom, their footsteps echoing frantically against the marble floor.
Dominic watched them leave, his face unreadable. Elias stepped up beside him.
"What about the woman, boss?" Elias asked, gesturing toward the back room where Vivienne Cross was being held.
May you like
"Turn her over to the federal prosecutors," Dominic ordered flatly. "Let her spend the rest of her life answering for her family's tax fraud. She wanted to play the game of kings. Now she will face the consequences."
Dominic buttoned his suit jacket and walked toward the private executive elevators at the back of the hall. The war was over. The throne was secured. The city elites, the rival syndicates, and the ambitious usurpers had all learned a brutal, permanent lesson. Dominic Valerio was the undisputed king of shadows, and he had come to reclaim his crown.
