I had only $43 left when a champagne glass came flying toward a terrified little boy.

Julian panicked. He reached into his coat pocket, pulling a snub-nosed revolver and grabbing his nearest captain as a shield.

"Stay back!" Julian shrieked, his polished facade completely shattering into pathetic cowardice. "The syndicate is mine! I built North Star! I took the money! Luca doesn't deserve this empire!"

"You killed my wife, Julian," Luca said coldly, stepping forward slowly, completely ignoring the gun pointed at his chest. "You tried to destroy my son."

"She was going to expose me!" Julian screamed, his hand trembling on the trigger. "Just like that worthless bookkeeper six years ago!"

Evelyn’s eyes flared with sudden, sharp anger. "My mother wasn't worthless!"

Before Julian could process her words, Dante stepped out from the side corridor, firing two precise non-lethal shots from a suppressed pistol.

The heavy bullets struck Julian’s right wrist and knee simultaneously. Julian shrieked in pain, dropping his weapon as he collapsed onto his knees, blood pooling on the polished floor.

Two Moretti enforcers instantly tackled him, pinning his arms behind his back and securing him in heavy steel cuffs.

Luca walked over, standing towering over his defeated brother. He reached down, picking up the fallen revolver and pocketing it calmly.

"Take him to the federal prosecutor's office," Luca commanded Dante coldly. "Give them the North Star ledgers, the security tapes, and the murder evidence. Let him spend the rest of his pathetic life inside a six-by-eight concrete cell."

"Luca! Please! We're blood!" Julian sobbed as the guards dragged him toward the service elevator. "Don't do this to your own brother!"

Luca didn't even look back. He turned toward the remaining board members, his dark eyes sweeping over the pale, trembling captains.