Chapter 3 - The Broken Empire
By noon, the Moretti estate was in a state of total, ruthless war.
Cornelius sat behind his heavy mahogany desk in the private study, his wet clothes replaced by a crisp black suit, though his skin remained deathly pale. His dark eyes were bloodshot, staring intently at the giant digital map of the Eastern Seaboard projected on the wall.
Standing across from him were his four top lieutenants, including Marco, his head of security, and Victoria Langford, who sat on the leather sofa wearing an expensive silk dress, sipping brandy.
"We checked every marina from Cape May to Montauk," Marco reported, his voice tight with tension. "The boat that picked up Mrs. Moretti was an unregistered commercial fishing vessel. No registry, no GPS transponder. It vanished into international waters forty minutes after leaving the cove."
"Find it," Cornelius commanded, his voice dangerous, low, and laced with absolute venom. "Hire every private maritime tracker on the East Coast. Put a five-million-dollar bounty on the location of that vessel."
"Cornelius, darling, aren't you overreacting just a little bit?" Victoria spoke up smoothly, setting her glass down on the glass table. "Pearl is an emotional, pregnant woman. She took some cash, caught a ride with some local fisherman, and went to throw a tantrum at her family's old cabin upstate. She'll come crawling back once her money runs out."
Cornelius slowly turned his head toward Victoria. The look in his eyes was so cold, so brimming with lethal fury, that Victoria’s confident smile instantly withered away.
He stood up, walking slowly around the desk until he was standing directly over her.
"Pearl did not throw a tantrum," Cornelius said quietly, his voice like grinding stones. "She left her wedding ring. She packed her medical supplies. She planned this for weeks while I was busy sitting in your penthouse, letting your father manipulate me into a fake alliance."
Victoria flushed with embarrassment, standing up. "My father gave you the distribution network you needed to crush the Romano family! You needed us!"
"I needed nothing," Cornelius growled, stepping so close she had to tilt her head back to look at him. "Your father needed my enforcement to clear his debt with the cartel. And you... you were a distraction I allowed because I was arrogant enough to think my wife would always be waiting in the nursery."
He pointed a heavy finger toward the double doors. "Get out of my house, Victoria."
"Cornelius!" Victoria gasped, horrified. "You can't throw me out! The board meeting for the harbor deal is tomorrow morning—"
"Marco, escort Miss Langford off the property," Cornelius ordered without breaking eye contact with her. "If she sets foot on Moretti land again, shoot her."
Victoria gasped, turning on her red heels and marching out of the study, guarded heavily by two armed men.
Once the doors closed, Marco stepped closer to the desk. "Boss... we tapped Pearl’s sister’s phone in Boston, her old college roommate in Chicago, and her former medical clinic. Nothing. Pearl completely severed all digital footprints before she walked out."
Cornelius leaned over the desk, placing his heavy hands on the wood. He knew Pearl better than anyone. She wasn't just a timid doctor's daughter; she had worked in emergency medicine in the rough streets of South Boston before he met her. She knew how people vanished. She knew how systems worked.
"She didn't use credit cards," Cornelius reasoned aloud, his mind racing. "She didn't use an airport. She took her medical bag and cash."
He suddenly froze, remembering a quiet conversation they had shared by the fireplace eighteen months ago, back when they were still happy.
If I ever get tired of your loud city, Cornelius, she had laughed softly while resting her head on his chest, I'm going to buy a small house near an old lighthouse where no one knows my name, and open a small clinic for people who can't afford real doctors.
Cornelius looked up at Marco. "Search every small coastal town with a non-operational lighthouse between Maine and Nova Scotia. Focus on off-grid communities where people pay in cash and don't ask questions."
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"Boss, that’s thousands of miles of coastline," Marco warned. "It could take months."
"I don't care if it takes years," Cornelius vowed, his hand clenching into a white-knuckled fist. "I am going to find my wife, and I am going to bring my child home."
