Chapter 9 - THE LAST WAR
The Rossi estate became a fortress.
Every entrance was guarded.
Every employee screened.
Every vehicle checked.
But Carmine knew his grandfather wouldn't attack the house.
He would attack the people Carmine loved.
So Carmine moved Ivy and her mother to a safe location.
It didn't matter.
The attack came at dawn.
Cars surrounded the property.
Gunfire shattered the windows.
Carmine's men returned fire.
Ivy stayed underground with her mother.
Then the lights died.
Emergency alarms screamed.
Someone had breached the basement.
Ivy grabbed a flashlight.
A shadow appeared.
She raised it.
Carmine.
Blood covered his shirt.
“Carmine!”
“I'm fine.”
“You're bleeding.”
“Not mine.”
He grabbed her hand.
“We have to go.”
They reached the tunnel beneath the estate.
But someone was waiting.
Carmine's grandfather.
An old man in an immaculate black coat.
He held a gun.
“I knew you'd choose her.”
Carmine stepped forward.
“You're finished.”
His grandfather laughed.
“Am I?”
He looked at Ivy.
“She has your father's eyes.”
Carmine raised his weapon.
“Put it down.”
“Or what?”
“I'll shoot.”
“You won't.”
The old man smiled.
“You've spent your entire life pretending you're different from me.”
He pointed at Ivy.
“Kill me, and you'll prove I'm right.”
Carmine's hand tightened.
Ivy stepped beside him.
“No.”
He looked at her.
She took his hand.
“You don't have to become him.”
His grandfather laughed.
“You see?”
He looked delighted.
“She makes you weak.”
Ivy shook her head.
“No.”
She looked at Carmine.
“She makes you human.”
Carmine lowered his gun.
His grandfather smiled.
Then sirens erupted outside.
Federal agents stormed the tunnel.
Carmine looked confused.
His grandfather's face changed.
Ivy's mother smiled.
“I sent the evidence six months ago.”
Carmine stared.
“You knew?”
“I knew the truth had to survive.”
His grandfather was arrested.
The empire collapsed within weeks.
Carmine surrendered every illegal operation he could legally disclose.
He cooperated.
He testified.
And he walked away from the world that had created him.
May you like
But one mystery remained.
The original ledger was never found.
