Chapter 16 - Fractured Loyalties
By sunrise, the blizzard that had been predicted for days finally hit Manhattan.
Snow slammed horizontally against the floor-to-ceiling windows of the penthouse, burying the city below in an eerie, muffled white silence. Inside, the grand fireplace crackled with burning birch logs, but the warmth could not penetrate the cold strategy unfolding across the long glass table.
Matteo stood with his arm in a black sling, flanked by four of Lucien’s oldest lieutenants—men who had served his father before him. Their faces were carved from granite, their eyes locked on Evelyn with open distrust.
“She’s Cross’s daughter, Lucien,” growled Dominick, a scarred veteran who oversaw the family’s shipping operations in New Jersey. “Jonathan Cross hid three hundred million dollars of Commission money before he took a dive in Chicago. If Marco Valenti knows who she is, that means Valenti knows where that money is buried. Having her here paints a target on all our backs.”
“Dominick is right,” another lieutenant chimed in. “She’s a liability. We put her in a safe house upstate under guard until this war is settled.”
Evelyn sat in a high-backed leather chair beside the fire, nursing a mug of tea. She didn't flinch. She set the mug down on the saucer with deliberate calmness.
“If you put me in a safe house,” Evelyn said, her voice ringing clear over the crackling logs, “Marco Valenti will have that house surrounded within twelve hours. Because whoever leaked the rail yard location to Silvio is sitting in this room right now.”
The room erupted into furious shouts. Dominick slammed his good fist onto the glass table. “You insolent little—”
*BANG.*
Lucien fired a single round from his customized 1911 into the mahogany floorboard two inches from Dominick’s shoe.
The room went instantly, petrifyingly silent.
Lucien slowly lowered the gun, resting both hands on the table, leaning forward until his shadow swallowed the men before him.
“The next man who raises his voice in this room will not leave it alive,” Lucien said, his voice terrifyingly quiet. “Dominick. You have served this family for twenty-five years. But if you ever speak to Evelyn like she is an outsider again, I will personally throw you off this balcony into the snow.”
Dominick swallowed hard, bowing his head in submission. “Understood, Boss.”
“Now,” Lucien said, turning his cold eyes to Evelyn. “Tell them what you found.”
Evelyn slid a laptop toward the center of the table.
“When we audited Pendelton’s private server yesterday, we didn't just find his offshore accounts,” Evelyn explained, tapping the trackpad to display a series of encrypted communication logs. “We found an incoming transmission routed from an IP address inside the New Jersey Port Authority terminal. Dominick’s private office.”
Dominick’s eyes went wide with pure terror. “Boss, that’s impossible! I didn't send anything!”
“You didn't,” Evelyn said, standing up and walking toward the men. “Your chief of logistics did. A man named Carl Rossi. He’s been on Valenti’s payroll for three years. He’s the one who gave Silvio the rail yard coordinates. And right now, Rossi is preparing to load four shipping containers of unregistered arms at Berth 14 to supply Valenti’s assault on Manhattan tonight.”
The lieutenants looked between Evelyn and Lucien, stunned into silence.
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“You wanted to put me in a safe house,” Evelyn whispered, leaning over the table until she was face-to-face with Dominick. “While your own backyard was rotting from the inside. Start acting like generals, gentlemen. Because the storm outside isn't the only thing coming for us.”
***
