Chapter 5 - The Purge
Tactical flashbangs detonated in the corridor outside, blinding light and concussive sound ripping through the room.
Through the smoke, Marco and Mateo stormed inside, backed by twenty heavily armed Moretti loyalists—men from the old guard who took their orders exclusively from me.
Daniel tried to raise his weapon, but Marco fired two precise rounds from his suppressed carbine. The bullets struck Daniel in the shoulder and knee, dropping the head of security to the floor in a screaming, bloody heap.
His two tactical guards immediately dropped their weapons, putting their hands in the air as my loyalists slammed them against the wall and zip-tied their wrists.
Vincent sat paralyzed in his chair, staring in horror at the armed men surrounding the table.
I stood up slowly, picking up Julian’s ledger from the table and tucking it safely back inside my coat. I walked down the length of the table, my leather shoes crunching over the broken glass and debris scattered across the floor.
I stopped right beside Vincent’s chair.
"Thirty years, Vincent," I said softly, looking down at the silver-haired man who had watched me grow up. "My father trusted you like a brother. I trusted you with my family's lives."
"Luca... please," Vincent whimpered, his smooth confidence completely dismantled. He reached out a trembling hand, clutching at the sleeve of my suit. "It was Daniel... Daniel pushed me! He wanted the power! I was just trying to protect the business!"
"You threatened a three-year-old girl," I whispered, leaning down so only he could hear my voice. "You let your dog bruise my brother's widow. You made her live in terror inside her own home."
I looked up at Marco. "Take Daniel to the basement sub-level. He stays alive long enough to answer every question the federal prosecutor has about their Panama accounts. Then he disappears."
"And Vincent, boss?" Marco asked, his weapon trained on the old man's chest.
"Vincent has spent thirty years loving money," I said coldly. "Strip him of every asset, every account, every piece of property bearing the Moretti name. Hand him over to the state authorities along with Julian’s financial evidence. Let him spend the rest of his pathetic life in a six-by-eight concrete cell, broke and forgotten."
"No! Luca, please! You can't do this to me!" Vincent shrieked as two guards dragged him out of his chair, pulling him backward out of the boardroom, his fingernails scraping uselessly against the mahogany table.
The remaining board members sat in absolute silence, staring at me with a mixture of profound awe and deep terror.
I looked around the table, sweeping my gaze over every capo in the room.
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"The Moretti family is under new management," I announced, my voice quiet, clear, and absolute. "The era of secrets, betrayal, and violence against our own blood ends tonight. Anyone who disagrees is free to leave this room right now."
Not a single man moved. Every capo bowed his head in complete submission.
