Chapter 22 - THE COUNCIL
Lorenzo had heard rumors.
Giovanni had denied them.
Now Giovanni admitted the truth.
The Moretti Council was older than Lorenzo.
Older than Giovanni’s leadership.
Five families had once governed major criminal operations together.
Not formally.
Quietly.
No single Don was supposed to dismantle the system.
Giovanni weakened it.
Lorenzo nearly destroyed it by taking the family legitimate.
The Council had tolerated both.
Until now.
“Why now?” Nora asked.
Giovanni looked at Lily.
Because Lily’s trust represented something dangerous.
A future Moretti heir raised completely outside organized crime.
Symbolically, Lorenzo had broken the chain.
The old families feared others would follow.
“This is ridiculous,” Nora said.
“They're threatening a child because her father doesn't commit crimes?”
Giovanni nodded grimly.
“Tradition is most dangerous when people stop remembering why it exists.”
Mrs. Gable revealed her part.
Years ago, before Nora arrived, she had been recruited to keep Giovanni weak.
Not only by Elias.
By Council intermediaries.
They feared Giovanni might recover and support Lorenzo’s reforms.
“So you abused him for money,” Nora said.
Mrs. Gable cried.
“Yes.”
Nora felt no sympathy.
But she also no longer needed revenge.
Mrs. Gable had spent years afraid of the people she served.
That was its own prison.
Brody had discovered Council accounts inside Elias’s records.
That was why he was taken.
The Council wanted the microfilm.
Lorenzo asked:
“Who leads them?”
Mrs. Gable answered:
“Victor Salerno.”
Giovanni closed his eyes.
An old name.
Victor had grown up beside Lorenzo.
For a period, almost like cousins.
Lorenzo looked shocked.
“Victor?”
Nora watched his reaction.
This was personal.
Victor Salerno had attended Lorenzo’s mother’s funeral.
He had celebrated Lorenzo’s wedding to Nora.
He had held baby Lily.
Nora felt sick.
“Where is he?”
“New York.”
Victor saved them the trouble.
He arrived at the estate the following day.
No weapons.
No bodyguards.
A bottle of wine.
Like an old friend.
Lorenzo met him alone in the study.
Nora listened through security.
Victor said:
“You knew this day would come.”
“No.”
“You dismantled everything our fathers built.”
“My father supports me.”
“Your father got sentimental.”
Lorenzo’s jaw tightened.
Victor continued:
“You think legitimate money makes you clean?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“It makes Lily free.”
Victor laughed.
“Free?”
“Yes.”
“You can't remove blood.”
“I’m not trying to.”
Lorenzo leaned forward.
“I’m removing obligation.”
That line defined the entire war.
Victor wanted Lily recognized as future symbolic head of the remaining families.
Not criminal leadership yet.
A promise.
A future arrangement.
Lorenzo refused.
Victor sighed.
“Then someone else will decide for her.”
Nora entered.
“No.”
Victor looked surprised.
“You were supposed to stay out.”
Nora smiled.
“Men have been saying that to me for years.”
Victor stood.
“This doesn't concern you.”
“My daughter concerns me.”
Victor’s expression cooled.
“You married into history you don't understand.”
“And you're threatening a seven-year-old because you're afraid history can change.”
His smile disappeared.
“You think kindness changed the Morettis.”
Nora thought of Giovanni’s blanket.
Lily’s incubator.
Lorenzo’s crown.
“Yes.”
Victor laughed.
“Then you're more dangerous than Lorenzo.”
Nora smiled faintly.
“I know.”
Victor left.
That night, the Council made its first move.
Not violence.
Finance.
Banks froze Moretti corporate lines.
Business partners withdrew.
Suppliers cancelled contracts.
Stock values fell.
Within forty-eight hours, Lorenzo lost nearly four hundred million dollars.
Nora found him staring at the numbers.
“Scared?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
He looked at her.
“Good?”
“Means you’re not stupid.”
He laughed softly.
“What do we do?”
For the first time, Lorenzo Moretti asked Nora that question before deciding.
She sat beside him.
“We let them take what they think makes us powerful.”
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“And then?”
“We find out what happens when they realize it wasn't the money.”
