Chapter 9 - The Fall of Moretti
The battle for Hale Manor lasted forty minutes.
By the time the rain cleared at 5:00 AM, the courtyard was a graveyard of broken glass, twisted steel, and Moretti’s defeated mercenaries. My loyal enforcers held the perimeter, securing the estate while emergency medical teams tended to the wounded.
Vincent Moretti had believed that striking my home would catch me unprepared. He had forgotten why the city called me the Boss.
By 7:00 AM, I was standing inside the top-floor penthouse of the Moretti Tower downtown.
The glass doors had been blown inward. Vincent Moretti—a fat, gray-haired tyrant of sixty—was cowering behind his massive mahogany desk, his hands bleeding from glass shards, looking up at me as I strode into his office surrounded by twenty armed men.
"Julian..." Vincent gasped, his voice trembling like a child's. "Listen... we can talk! We can share the shipping lines! Fifty-fifty! Whatever you want!"
I walked up to his desk, setting my empty revolver down on the wood.
"Two years ago," I said softly, staring into his pale blue eyes, "you ordered a fire in a baby's room."
"It was business!" Vincent wept, shrinking back into his leather chair. "It was just business, Hale! Dante told me you were vulnerable!"
"Children aren't business, Vincent," I said.
I didn't waste another word. I turned my back and walked toward the elevator.
Behind me, Viktor stepped forward, raising his weapon. A single, quiet gunshot echoed through the penthouse, bringing an end to twenty years of the Moretti reign over the city.
By noon, every warehouse, every shell company, and every asset belonging to the Moretti family had been seized or dismantled by my organization. The threat that had forced my daughter to live in the shadows for two years was wiped clean from the earth.
I stood on the helipad of the tower, the morning sun finally breaking through the heavy grey clouds, watching the city below.
Viktor walked up beside me, handing me a satellite phone.
"The line is clear, Boss," Viktor said quietly. "The Maine safehouse."
My hands shook slightly as I brought the phone to my ear.
"Julian?" Grace's voice came through the speaker, breathless, anxious, and beautiful.
"It's over, Grace," I said, a deep wave of relief washing over my soul. "You're safe. My daughter is safe. I'm coming to bring you both home."
On the other end of the line, I heard Grace let out a soft, weeping laugh, followed by the sweet, clear voice of my little girl in the background.
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"Daddy’s coming home, Mommy!" Lily cheered.
Tears pricked my eyes as I looked up into the clear blue sky. "Yeah, baby. Daddy’s coming home."
