Chapter 3 - The Purge of ChicagoBy 6:00 p.m. that evening, the news that Vincent Romano had dropped to his knees outside the NICU at Mount Sinai spread through the upper echelons of the New York underworld like wildfire.
Rival families in New Jersey and Brooklyn believed the Don was weak, distracted, and broken. They believed the time had come to challenge the Romano territory.
They were catastrophically wrong.
At 8:00 p.m., I walked into the private executive suite on the top floor of Romano Holdings in Midtown.
Sitting around the mahogany conference table were my four capos, along with my chief legal advisor, Frank. Standing near the window, flanked by two armed guards, was Vanessa Russo.
Vanessa wore a mink coat, her dark hair styled, her eyes wide with frantic, desperate fear as she looked at my cold, terrifying face.
"Vincent!" Vanessa cried out, rushing forward two steps before Frank extended his hand, blocking her path. "Vincent, please! Your men dragged me out of my apartment! They seized my car! What is happening?!"
I walked slowly across the carpet, stopping three feet from her.
I didn't raise my hand. I didn't yell. My storm-grey eyes were completely dead, stripped of every drop of humanity.
"The four-hundred-and-fifty-thousand-dollar diamond necklace, Vanessa," I spoke, my baritone smooth, low, and dropping into a freezing register that made the hair on her arms stand up. "Take it off."
Vanessa froze, her breath catching in her throat. "Vincent... it was my birthday gift—"
"Take it off," I repeated.
With trembling, frantic fingers, Vanessa unhooked the platinum clasp, dropping the heavy diamond necklace onto the mahogany table.
"The keys to the sports car," I commanded deadpan.
She reached into her designer bag, pulling out the velvet key fob, setting it beside the diamonds.
"Frank," I ordered, turning my back on her, walking toward the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city.
"Yes, Boss?" Frank responded cleanly.
"Liquidate the Chicago penthouse under Vanessa Russo's name," I commanded, every word dropped like an iron weight. "Cancel her family's transport contracts in Illinois. Ban her from every property, hotel, and establishment owned by the Romano Trust across six states. If she is seen within fifty miles of Manhattan after midnight... treat her as an enemy of the family."
Vanessa let out a high-pitched, choked shriek of pure terror, collapsing onto her knees flat on the carpet. "Vincent! Please! I loved you! You can't ruin my life over one weekend!"
I turned my head slowly, looking down at her with a look of chilling, absolute disdain.
"You didn't love me, Vanessa," I stated flatly. "You loved my money, my power, and the thrill of taking a man from his pregnant wife. And at 3:12 a.m. yesterday... you helped me destroy the only thing that ever mattered."
Two guards grabbed Vanessa by her arms, dragging her weeping, hysterical frame out through the heavy double doors into the hallway.
I turned back to my four capos sitting at the table.
"As of nine o'clock tonight," I announced, my voice booming through the high-ceilinged suite with dark, sovereign authority, "every secondary asset, every offshore dividend, and eighty percent of primary corporate revenue generated by Romano Holdings is permanently transferred into the Lily Grace Romano Medical & Educational Trust."
My senior capo, Sal, raised his head in shock. "Boss... eighty percent? The syndicate council will never agree to—"
BOOM!
May you like
My hand slammed flat against the mahogany table with thunderous force, making the glass water pitchers rattle violently.
"I am the syndicate council, Sal," I growled, leaning down until my face was inches from his. "And if anyone in this city has a problem with my daughter's trust... tell them to bring their weapons to my front door."
Related Stories
