Chapter 8 - The Confrontation in the Study
Victor didn't flinch. He set his glass of scotch down on the corner of the mahogany desk with a sharp clink.
"You always were too smart for your own good, Alessandro," Victor said, his voice losing all its subservient warmth, replaced by a bitter, venomous edge. "Twenty years. Twenty years I stood in your shadow, taking the risks, handling the blood, while you sat at the top taking all the glory. It was time for a change of management."
Alessandro slowly stood up from his chair, his tall frame imposing and lethal. "You think you can rob me and walk away?"
"I'm not walking away," Victor replied smoothly, sliding his hand inside his jacket. "I'm finishing what we started."
Before Alessandro could lunge across the desk, the heavy mahogany doors burst open. Two armed enforcers rushed into the room, guns drawn, but they weren't pointing them at Victor.
They were pointing them at Alessandro.
Alessandro stopped in his tracks, his eyes darting to the two guards. "Marcus. Liam. You two as well?"
Marcus, the head of the inner security detail, looked away, shame flickering across his face for a split second before hardening into resolve. "Business is business, boss. Victor offered a better retirement plan."
Victor chuckled softly, walking around the desk to stand directly in front of Alessandro. "Loyalty is a commodity, my friend, and yours was getting too expensive. Victoria understood that too. That's why she agreed to sign off on the asset transfers once we took care of you."
"Victoria?" Alessandro's voice dropped an octave, laced with dangerous disbelief.
"Of course," a smooth voice chimed from the doorway. Victoria stepped into the study, wearing a stunning evening gown, her expression completely devoid of remorse. "Did you really think I was going to marry a bankrupt mob boss? Victor promised me half the empire. Much better prospects."
Alessandro looked at the three of them—his most trusted advisor, his head of security, and the woman he was supposed to marry—all united in a coup d'état orchestrated in the shadows.
May you like
"You're fools," Alessandro said, his voice dangerously calm. "You think you control the syndicate now? The capos on the east side answer to me, not a pen-pusher like Victor."
"They won't answer to anyone once they hear you met with a tragic, accidental end here in your own study tonight," Victor smiled coldly, nodding to Marcus. "Tie him to the chair."
