Chapter 8 - THE SHIFT OF POWERPaulie Vance stepped over an unconscious enforcer lying near the register and shined his flashlight directly onto Frankie Moretti’s terrified face.
“Paulie!” Frankie gasped, catching sight of his senior captain. “Paulie, thank God! Order your men to kill him! He’s a traitor to the family!”
Paulie didn't move. He looked down at Frankie with cold, weary disgust.
“The senior captains called an emergency meeting forty-five minutes ago, Frankie,” Paulie said plainly. “When we learned you took eight men to execute a retired lieutenant who just wanted to live in peace with his wife, we took a vote.”
Frankie’s eyes widened in horror. “A vote...?”
“You’re finished, Frankie,” Paulie announced. “You’ve been running the waterfront into the ground with cheap extortion, narcotics, and reckless violence for two years. The family is stripping you of your title tonight.”
Matteo released his grip on Frankie’s hair, dropping him onto the floorboards.
Frankie scrambled to his knees, clutching Paulie’s coat hem. “Paulie, please! I’m Moretti blood! My uncle built this family!”
“Your uncle died in prison because he was as stupid as you are, Frankie,” Paulie said, kicking Frankie’s hand away.
Paulie turned to Matteo, stepping back with a deep, respectful bow of his head.
“The captains want you back, Matteo,” Paulie said, his voice filled with genuine sincerity. “The waterfront needs a real leader. We’ll give you full control of the ports, the shipping lanes, and the legal distribution networks. No drugs. No cheap extortion. Just like the old days.”
Matteo stood in the dim light of the diner, looking around at the chrome counter, the pie display, the sugar jars he and Lena had refilled together a hundred times.
He pulled a clean handkerchief from his jacket pocket and wiped his hands.
“I am never coming back to the city, Paulie,” Matteo said firmly.
Paulie blinked, surprised. “Matteo... you have the entire East Coast handed to you on a silver platter tonight.”
“I don't want the East Coast, Paulie,” Matteo replied softly, looking Paulie straight in the eye. “I want my wife. I want my house in the woods. And I want to make sure no man from your world ever sets foot in this county again.”
Paulie stared at Matteo for a long, heavy minute. He saw the absolute, unbreakable resolve in his former leader’s eyes—a resolve that money, power, and empires could never buy.
Paulie let out a long breath, nodding slowly in understanding.
“Understood, Boss,” Paulie said quietly.
Paulie turned to his men standing in the doorway. “Pack up Frankie and his crew. Take them back to Newark. They are stripped of all family assets and banished from the state permanently.”
Two large soldiers stepped forward, dragging the weeping Frankie Moretti out into the rain.
Within five minutes, the parking lot was completely clear. The SUVs, the vans, and the men vanished into the dark rain, leaving the Route 17 Diner silent once more.
Matteo stood alone in the dark dining room.
He walked over to the main light switch near the kitchen door and flipped it up.
May you like
The warm, yellow neon glow flooded the diner once more, illuminating the polished counter, the clean booths, and the rain streaking down the glass windows.
Matteo picked up a broom from behind the counter and quietly began sweeping up the broken glass.
