Chapter 16 - The Underground Vault
Before the sun could rise over Lake Michigan, Luca called an emergency conclave.
The Moretti syndicate was vast, governed by an inner council of five Capos who managed different territories across Chicago. For the past six months, Luca had been systematically cleaning house, removing the rot and disloyalty that had allowed his former fiancée and her corrupt allies to almost seize control.
But this threat was different. Marco Valenti was a ghost from a blood-feud that predated Luca’s reign.
By 8:00 AM, the five Capos sat around the massive oval table in the tower's high-security boardroom. Tension in the room was thick enough to choke on.
I sat directly to Luca's right, dressed in a sharp, tailored black blazer and trousers. Some of the older capos had sneered when I entered the room—a former housekeeper, an architect’s daughter, sitting at the head of the syndicate table.
Luca had silenced them with a single look. *“She is your Donna,”* he had declared before taking his seat. *“ disrespecting her is the same as pulling a gun on me.”*
"Capo Bellini," Luca began, turning his gaze toward an older, portly man with slicked-back gray hair who controlled the lucrative shipping docks. "I hear there has been movement at your terminals over the last forty-eight hours. Unregistered cargo coming in from Palermo."
Bellini blinked, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. "Just standard shipments, Don Luca. Wine, olive oil, machinery parts. Nothing syndicate-grade."
"Lie to me again, Bellini, and I’ll have Dominic throw you off the pier," Luca said smoothly, not raising his voice in the slightest.
Bellini’s face went pale. "Don Luca, I swear on my mother’s soul—"
"A freighter named *The Santa Maria* docked at Pier 14 at midnight," I spoke up, opening a folder containing port logistics blueprints my father had provided just an hour ago. Every eye turned to me. "That berth hasn't been rated for deep-draft cargo since the 2012 dredging project. The only reason a ship would dock there is because it sits directly above the decommissioned railway spur leading straight from the river meatpacking plant."
Bellini’s eyes widened in terror as I looked up from the papers, meeting his gaze evenly.
"Marco Valenti didn't escape on foot into the city," I continued. "He used the old freight tunnel to reach Pier 14. Your pier, Capo Bellini. And your men loaded him onto that vessel with my late mother-in-law's stolen archives."
The table erupted.
Two capos jumped to their feet, reaching inside their jackets. Dominic instantly raised his rifle, stepping between Luca and the council.
"Traitor!" Capo Rossi roared, pointing an accusatory finger at Bellini. "You brought a Valenti back onto our docks?!"
"I didn't have a choice!" Bellini screamed, raising his hands in frantic surrender. "He has men in my house! He has photos of my grandchildren! He told me if I didn't give him an exit corridor, he’d burn my entire family alive!"
Luca slowly stood up. The entire room went dead quiet.
He walked over to Bellini, leaning down until his lips were inches from the trembling man’s ear.
"Where is the ship heading, Bellini?" Luca asked, his voice deathly calm.
May you like
"It’s not going to sea," Bellini wept. "It’s anchored three miles offshore in international waters. Marco is broadcasting the digital files from a satellite uplink on the ship to every federal agency in the country at midnight tonight. He’s going to drown us all."
***
