Chapter 13 - THE FINAL SENTENCE
|
At six o'clock on Christmas morning, the storm finally subsided, leaving the sprawling estate blanketed in pristine white snow.
Inside the grand banquet hall, Luca sat behind the head table, where the broken glass and spilled wine had been entirely cleared away.
Seated along the walls were the most influential lieutenants and business partners of the Moretti syndicate.
They had been summoned by emergency messenger at dawn, their faces pale with anxiety and anticipation.
Matteo and two armed guards escorted Silvio and Vanessa into the center of the hall.
Silvio was bruised, shivering violently from the cold cellar, and stripped of all his former dignity and pride.
Vanessa wore a plain grey coat, her eyes swollen and red, her hands trembling uncontrollably inside her empty pockets.
Luca looked at the assembly of men who had ruled Chicago’s underworld for generations.
"Eighteen years ago, my mother was murdered on the orders of the two people standing before you," Luca proclaimed, his voice ringing like iron against stone.
"Silvio Moretti sought to usurp my father's legacy, and Vanessa Russo sought to finish what her bloodline started."
A low, angry murmur spread through the assembled capos, many of whom had revered Donna Isabella.
"Under the ancient laws of this family, treachery against the boss carries only one penalty," Luca continued, his gaze sweeping across the room.
Silvio closed his eyes, bracing himself for the sound of cocking pistols.
Vanessa fell to her knees once more, sobbing into the cold floorboards.
"However," Luca said, raising his hand to silence the murmurs.
"My mother died trying to bring this family out of the darkness and into the light."
"She wanted an end to the endless bloodshed that has destroyed so many mothers and children across this city."
Luca pointed toward the heavy leather binder and the cassette player resting on the table before him.
"I will not stain my mother’s memory by executing her killers in a dark basement like animals."
"Outside this mansion, federal agents from the Department of Justice are waiting at the front gates."
A collective gasp of utter shock rippled through the hardened syndicate veterans.
Turning over family members to federal authorities was an unthinkable violation of their traditional code.
"Every offshore ledger, every murder confession, and every wire transfer from the Russo accounts has been turned over to the United States Attorney," Luca stated with absolute authority.
"Silvio Moretti and Vanessa Russo will spend the remainder of their natural lives inside maximum-security federal penitentiaries."
"They will not be martyrs in our graveyard; they will be forgotten convicts in sterile concrete cells."
Silvio’s eyes snapped open in pure horror, realizing that life without parole in federal custody was far more terrifying than a quick bullet.
"Luca, no!" Silvio screamed, struggling violently against Matteo’s iron grip.
"You can't do this to your own name!"
"You are handing our family's secrets to the government!"
"No, Uncle," Luca replied with icy calm.
"I am handing your crimes to the law, while my family begins a new chapter."
The grand doors opened, and half a dozen federal agents in windbreakers entered the hall with arrest warrants in hand.
Cold steel handcuffs snapped around Silvio’s and Vanessa’s wrists with sharp, definitive clicks.
May you like
Vanessa wailed as she was led past the massive Christmas tree, but Luca didn't even look in her direction.
The front doors closed behind them, banishing the traitors into the freezing morning light forever.
