Chapter 6 - THE DETROIT SHADOW
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Mia’s face twisted into an expression of absolute terror.
She looked at Vanessa, but Vanessa’s eyes were darting desperately toward the rain-swept windows.
“Speak,” Luca commanded, stepping closer to Mia.
“Or I leave you on this tarmac for the federal marshals to find with forged diplomatic passports and grand larceny charges.”
“Federal prison in Illinois isn't kind to amateur thieves.”
“She won't talk, Luca!” Vanessa spat, struggling against Marco’s grip.
“You think you own this city, but there are bigger players than the Moretti family!”
Luca didn't flinch.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the second document Rosa had produced at the wedding—the forged incompetency petition.
Beneath the forged signature of Claire Bennett, there was a tiny blue embossed seal from a private legal firm based out of Michigan.
I stepped forward and pointed at the bottom corner of the parchment.
“Mr. Moretti,” I said, remembering an encounter from three months ago.
“That seal belongs to the Falcone family legal group in Detroit.”
“A man carrying a briefcase with that exact crest visited Vanessa at the estate while you were in New York closing the shipping contract.”
Luca’s jaw clenched so hard a muscle twitched in his cheek.
“Don Carmine Falcone,” Luca murmured, naming the most ruthless syndicate boss in the Midwest.
Vanessa let out a manic, triumphant laugh.
“That’s right, Luca!” she sneered, raising her chin with defiant malice.
“Carmine Falcone has wanted Chicago’s northern shipping lanes for a decade!”
“He offered us twenty million dollars in cash and a penthouse in Miami if we drained your liquidity and left you vulnerable!”
“You think I actually loved you?”
“You’re an uncultured butcher who still eats dinner with his maid and his senile mother!”
“Carmine promised to wipe you out the second you landed in the Bahamas for our honeymoon!”
A cold dread washed over me as the full scope of the conspiracy became clear.
This was never just a greedy robbery.
It was an orchestrated coup designed to bankrupt Luca, humiliate his family, and assassinate him on foreign soil while his empire fell into chaos.
Luca stood entirely motionless, absorbing every word of his bride’s confession.
“And the private jet waiting for our honeymoon flight at O'Hare?” Luca asked quietly.
Mia broke down completely, sobbing uncontrollably.
“Carmine’s men... they bribed the maintenance crew!” Mia blurted out, desperate to save herself from Luca’s wrath.
“The left fuel line was rigged to seal shut after twenty minutes at cruising altitude!”
“It was supposed to look like an engine fire over Lake Michigan!”
“Nobody would ever find the wreckage in the deep water!”
I gasped, covering my mouth in horror.
If Rosa hadn't spoken up at the reception—if Vanessa hadn't tried to banish the elderly woman to her bedroom—Luca would have boarded that plane tonight with his new bride.
Vanessa would have feigned an emergency, stayed behind, and let Luca plunge to his death in the icy waters of the lake.
Rosa’s humble desire to watch her son cut his wedding cake had saved Luca’s life.
Luca looked out the window at the flashing blue lights of his security fleet.
“Marco,” he said, his voice terrifyingly calm.
“Get the pilot and the copilot out of this plane.”
“Put Vanessa and Mia in the back of the transport van.”
Vanessa’s eyes widened with renewed panic.
“Where are you taking us?” she screamed.
“You can’t touch us!”
“Carmine knows we’re here!”
“His men are already moving on your warehouse district!”
Luca turned slowly to face her.
“Carmine Falcone made a critical calculation error, Vanessa.”
“He assumed I was a businessman who worried about profit margins.”
“He forgot that before I was a boss, I was a son raised by a woman who taught me how to survive in the gutter.”
He stepped past her toward the exit stairs.
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“Take their phones,” Luca ordered Marco.
“We are going to let Carmine Falcone believe his plan is working perfectly until the very last second.”
