Chapter 10 - The Syndicate Summit
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The Grand Council Hall of the Chicago Outfit was buried deep beneath an unassuming industrial warehouse near the shipyards.
It was sacred ground for the city's underworld, a place where weapons were strictly forbidden and disputes were settled under ancient law.
Heavy mahogany paneling lined the walls, lit by dim iron sconces that cast long, dramatic shadows across the polished floor.
At the center of the chamber sat a massive oval table surrounded by twelve carved leather chairs.
The heads of the Five Families of Chicago were already seated when Luca walked through the double iron doors.
I walked three paces behind him, dressed not in a maid uniform, but in a tailored black suit that Luca had provided.
Beside me walked Matteo, carrying a locked steel briefcase chained securely to his wrist.
At the far end of the table sat Don Salvatore Bellini, a heavyset man in his sixties with slicked-back silver hair and cold, predatory eyes.
Beside him sat his daughter Vanessa, looking disheveled despite her expensive designer clothes, her eyes blazing with hatred as she saw me enter.
“What is the meaning of this, Moretti?” Don Bellini roared, slamming his heavy fist against the council table.
“You call an emergency summit of the Five Families at midnight, and you drag a common cleaning woman into our sanctuary?”
Luca did not flinch; he took his seat at the head of the table, resting his hands flat on the polished mahogany.
“This cleaning woman is the widow of David Hayes, Salvatore.”
The name fell like a lead weight into the center of the room.
Don Bellini’s eyes narrowed slightly, a flicker of guarded panic flashing across his weathered face before he masked it with contempt.
“I don’t care if she’s the Queen of England!” Bellini barked, turning to the other dons.
“Luca Moretti broke his sacred engagement to my daughter Vanessa without just cause!”
“He humiliated my bloodline in front of thirty witnesses and had his thugs dump two of my top lieutenants on my lawn!”
“By the laws of this council, the Moretti family owes us compensation—forty percent of their shipping docks, or there will be blood on the streets!”
The older dons whispered among themselves, nodding slowly at the gravity of Bellini’s demand.
An unprovoked breach of an engagement between major families was grounds for total war in their world.
Vanessa smiled smugly from her seat, believing her father’s power was about to crush us once and for all.
Luca leaned back in his chair, a cold, mocking smile touching his lips.
“You talk about honor, Salvatore?” Luca asked, his voice echoing with absolute authority.
“You talk about the sacred laws of the Chicago Outfit?”
Luca raised his hand, signaling Matteo.
Matteo stepped forward, placed the steel briefcase on the table, and unlocked the heavy latches with a crisp click.
“For eight years, Salvatore, you and your daughter have been running a cancer beneath our feet,” Luca declared.
“You murdered a state investigator to hide your Medicare theft.”
“Then, you placed your thieving daughter in charge of my family’s charitable foundation.”
Luca stood up, his towering frame casting a massive shadow across the council table.
“You stole twelve million dollars from the Moretti Children’s Fund to pay off your gambling debts in Atlantic City.”
“And when this woman’s daughter qualified for an honest education, Vanessa threatened to ruin the child unless she helped conceal your crimes.”
Don Bellini jumped to his feet, his face turning an alarming shade of purple.
“These are lies! Fabrications created by a man looking for an excuse to break an oath!”
“Is that so?” Luca asked smoothly.
He opened the briefcase, pulling out a thick stack of certified bank records and David’s vintage silver watch.
May you like
“I have the original hard drive, Salvatore.”
“And more importantly, I have a recording that the entire council needs to hear.”
