Chapter 5 - The Council Gathering(Word Count: ~1,800 words)
The atmosphere inside the penthouse suite transformed instantly. The low hum of voices died down into complete, heavy silence.
Every captain around the table looked between me, Alina, and Lorenzo. They had all heard the rumors circulating through the grapevine over the past forty-eight hours—rumors planted by Lorenzo himself that I was divorcing my Rossi wife to prepare for an impending war with her family.
Seeing her standing at my side, radiant, dignified, and holding my arm with absolute confidence, smashed those rumors into dust before a single word was spoken.
“Dante,” Lorenzo said, quickly recovering his composure and setting his coffee cup down with a light click. He stood up, putting on his usual warm, charismatic smile. “We weren't expecting Mrs. Moretti to join us for a high-level security meeting. Is everything alright?”
“Everything is exceptional, Lorenzo,” I replied, my voice carrying effortlessly across the large room.
I walked Alina to the head of the table, pulled out the leather armchair directly to the right of my throne seat, and helped her sit down. She held her head high, her eyes locking onto Lorenzo with a calm, cold strength he had never seen from her before.
I took my seat at the head of the table. Dominic slid into position directly behind my chair, his hand resting casually inside his jacket.
“I called this emergency council meeting for two reasons,” I began, leaning forward and resting my elbows on the polished wood. “First, to clarify my marital status. There were whispers in this city that I was filing for divorce.”
Lorenzo shifted his weight slightly, his smile tightening around the edges. “Just idle gossip from the street lieutenants, Dante. Nobody believed it.”
“Good,” I said smoothly. “Because my wife is not going anywhere. She remains the First Lady of the Moretti empire, and any insult directed toward her, any threat made against her family, will be treated as an act of treason against me directly. Am I understood?”
A chorus of clear, affirmative nods echoed around the table. “Understood, Boss.”
“Now,” I continued, my gaze shifting slowly toward Lorenzo. “The second reason for this meeting is to address a financial discrepancy. Over the last thirty-six months, three million dollars have been routed from our logistics accounts into a private holding firm in Zurich.”
Lorenzo’s face didn't falter, but the veins on his neck bulged slightly. “Logistics handles hundreds of transactions a month, Dante. If there’s an accounting error, my team will audit it immediately.”
“It’s not an accounting error, Lorenzo,” Alina’s voice suddenly rang out, clear and sharp as shattered crystal.
Every head turned toward my wife.
Lorenzo blinked, surprised by her intervention. “Alina, with all due respect, corporate finance is a complex matter—”
“The Zurich account belongs to a shell corporation registered under the name Vanguard Operations,” Alina interrupted, pulling a thin tablet from her handbag and placing it flat on the table. “Registered three years ago, on the exact date of my wedding to Dante.”
Lorenzo’s eyes narrowed into slits. “Dante, are you letting your wife run financial audits now?”
“Let her speak, Lorenzo,” I commanded quietly, my voice dropping an octave.
Alina pressed a button on the tablet, casting a document onto the primary projector screen at the end of the room.
“Vanguard Operations was used to pay off two specific individuals,” Alina explained, looking straight at the gathered captains. “The first was Marco Rossi—my father’s former enforcer who was paid to execute Julian Moretti on our wedding night after Julian’s assassination attempt failed.”
Gasps erupted around the room. Two captains physically half-rose from their chairs.
“What madness is this?!” Lorenzo yelled, slamming his hand onto the table. “Julian was killed by rival hits! This is absurd!”
“And the second individual paid by Vanguard Operations,” Alina continued relentlessly, her voice unwavering, “was a security technician who disabled the western perimeter cameras of this estate three nights ago, allowing an unregistered frequency to transmit encrypted data out of our server room.”
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She looked directly at Lorenzo.
“You didn't just try to kill my husband three years ago, Lorenzo. You’ve been using my family as leverage to keep me quiet while you bled his company dry from the inside.”
