Chapter 6 - Cornered(Word Count: ~1,800 words)
The boardroom descended into absolute chaos.
Captains began shouting over one another, chairs scraped loudly against the hardwood floor, and several men instinctively reached inside their jackets toward their holstered firearms.
“Quiet!” I roared.
My voice hit the room like a thunderclap. The room froze instantly. Nobody moved. Nobody breathed.
Lorenzo stood at his place, his breath coming in shallow, jagged gasps. The suave, confident lieutenant was gone, replaced by a desperate, cornered animal.
“This is a setup!” Lorenzo spat, pointing a trembling finger at Alina. “She’s a Rossi! She’s trying to divide the Moretti family from within! She made up these documents to save her father’s failing syndicate!”
“The bank records were verified by the Swiss Federal Banking Authority two hours ago, Lorenzo,” Dominic chimed in from behind my chair, holding up a certified hard-copy folder. “Signed, stamped, and verified. The money came directly from your legal defense fund.”
Lorenzo looked around the table at the faces of his fellow captains. Where he expected to find support, he found only cold, hardened stares. The men sitting at this table were killers, but they operated under a strict code of loyalty. Traitors who targeted the family from within were handled with zero mercy.
“Dante... listen to me,” Lorenzo stammered, stepping back toward the window as he realized he had lost the room. “Julian came to me first! He told me you were going to soft-hand the Rossis! He said you were weak because of the girl! I only managed the money to protect our assets!”
“You put a gun to my wife’s head on her wedding day,” I said, standing up slowly from my chair. At six-foot-four, towering over the table, my presence filled the room. “You threatened her family for three years. You made her carry the burden of a secret that almost broke her heart.”
I walked around the long mahogany table, my footsteps heavy and deliberate. Lorenzo backed away until his spine hit the glass window overlooking the Chicago River.
“I was going to give her twenty million dollars and let her go yesterday,” I murmured, stopping three feet away from him. “Because I believed I was a curse in her life. I believed a monster like me didn't deserve a woman like her.”
Lorenzo reached frantically toward his waist, trying to pull a concealed pocket pistol from his coat lining.
Before his fingers could even touch the leather holster, my hand shot forward like a steel trap, grabbing him by the throat and slamming his head back against the thick glass window.
The glass cracked with a sharp, spiderwebbing sound.
Lorenzo let out a choked gasp, his eyes bulging as my grip tightened around his windpipe.
“You didn't just commit treason against the family, Lorenzo,” I whispered directly into his ear, my voice chillingly soft. “You made my wife cry.”
Alina stood up from her chair, her hands clasped tightly together, watching the scene unfold. There was no fear in her eyes now—only the quiet relief of a woman whose tormentor was finally brought to justice.
“Dante... please...” Lorenzo choked out, his hands clawing uselessly at my forearm.
“Dominic,” I commanded without taking my eyes off Lorenzo.
“Yes, Boss?”
“Take him down to the docks,” I ordered coldly. “Strip him of his titles, his accounts, and his name. Let the Rossis deal with the man who threatened their daughter.”
Two heavy-set security guards stepped forward, grabbed Lorenzo by his arms, and dragged him kicking and screaming out of the boardroom. His frantic cries faded down the long hallway until the heavy double doors slammed shut.
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I turned back to the remaining captains around the table. They all stood at attention, their heads bowed in respect.
“This meeting is adjourned,” I declared smoothly. “The Moretti family remains whole. And my wife’s authority is absolute.”
