Chapter 10 - The Ultimatum
|
The proof she required was not something Luciano could simply buy.
The next morning, Serena called him into her office.
“If you want a partnership, Luciano, it comes with a price,” she stated plainly.
“Name it,” he replied, sitting across from her.
“The human trafficking ring operated by your underboss, Rossi,” she said, her eyes flashing with ice.
Luciano stiffened.
Rossi was highly insulated, generating massive profits, and taking him down meant internal war.
“That is a cornerstone of the old guard’s revenue,” Luciano explained slowly.
“It is filth,” Serena countered vehemently.
“Voss Strategic will not merge operations with an organization that trades in human lives.”
“You want me to cut off my own arm,” he realized, seeing the absolute finality in her expression.
“I want you to cut out a cancer,” she demanded.
“If you are truly a different man, prove it. Dismantle Rossi’s network, hand the victims over to my foundations for rehabilitation, and burn his operation to the ground.”
Luciano looked at the woman before him, the uncompromising moral compass she wielded like a weapon.
He realized she was not just testing his loyalty to her; she was testing his humanity.
“It will be bloody,” he warned her.
“Rebirth usually is,” she replied coldly.
He stood up, buttoning his jacket with a slow, deliberate movement.
“You will have Rossi’s ledgers by midnight tomorrow,” he promised.
“And Rossi?” she pressed.
“Rossi will no longer be a concern.”
As he walked out the door, Serena felt a tremor of fear, not for herself, but for him.
She had just ordered the head of the Moretti family into a civil war.
May you like
If he survived, he would be a king worthy of her time.
If he didn't, she would take over the syndicate herself.
