Chapter 3: The Family Civil War and the Betrayal Within
"Step aside, boy," Vincent sneered, tapping his silver cane impatiently against the marble floor. "That woman filed for divorce, which means she severed all ties to our estate. But the child she carries possesses Moretti blood. We are taking the baby to the secure North Shore nursery the moment it's born. You can find yourself another wife who knows her proper place." A heavy, terrifying silence settled over the room as my captains waited to see how I would respond. They knew that defying the Don meant civil war within the syndicate. But looking back at Isabel—who stood behind me with unwavering courage, her hand resting protectively over her stomach—my choice was already made. "You will never touch my wife, and you will never lay a finger on my child," I said, my voice dropping into a lethal, quiet register that made even my hardened father hesitate. "The Moretti dynasty you worship is dead, Father. I am the head of this family now, and the only thing leaving this room in chains is anyone who dares threaten my blood."
Before Vincent could signal his guards to open fire, Marcus made a lightning-fast move, slamming his fist down onto the master emergency lockdown button embedded in the floor beneath the table. Heavy steel security shutters slammed down over the floor-to-ceiling glass windows, plunging the penthouse into a dim, amber-lit fortress, while the internal alarms screeched a deafening warning. In the sudden chaos, Vincent’s lead bodyguard lunged forward, grabbing Isabel by the arm to pull her toward the private elevator. Enraged beyond human reason, I vaulted across the conference table, tackling the guard with brutal force and slamming him into the paneled wall until he went limp. But as I turned back to check on Isabel, I saw that two of Vincent’s remaining men had managed to pry open the service stairwell door, bundling my resisting wife into the concrete stairwell before my captains could gun them down. "No!" I screamed, sprinting toward the open door, only for a heavy barrage of suppressing fire from the stairwell to force me back into cover. My father had just kidnapped my pregnant wife, and the war for the soul of the Moretti empire had officially begun.
