Chapter 4 - The Rat in the Commission
The news hit the Chicago underworld like a sudden, silent earthquake seventy-two hours later.
Don Vance had called an emergency meeting of the Midwest Syndicate Commission at the historic Blackstone Hotel. The public reason was a vote to officially transfer the remaining voting rights of the Costello Syndicate to Julianna Vance, citing Luca’s "declining cognitive and physical state."
It was a bloodless coup. A final, legal execution of Luca’s authority.
Inside the grand ballroom, illuminated by massive crystal chandeliers, forty men in tailored suits sat around a long, horseshoe-shaped oak table. At the head of the table sat Don Vance—a broad-shouldered man in his late sixties with silver hair, sharp blue eyes, and a predatory smile. Beside him sat Julianna, elegant in a high-necked black velvet dress, playing the role of the grieving, devoted fiancée to perfection.
Sitting along the sides were Luca’s top four captains: Tommy 'The Hammer' Riggi, Frankie Vane, Jimmy 'Two-Times', and Sal Moretti.
Don Vance cleared his throat, tapping his signet ring against a heavy crystal glass. The chatter in the room died down instantly.
"Gentlemen," Don Vance began, his voice booming with smooth, rehearsed authority. "We are gathered here today on a somber note. For twelve years, our dear friend Luca Costello has led his family from a position of great personal tragedy. We have all respected his strength. But as his fiancée, my dear Julianna, can attest... his health has taken a tragic turn for the worse over the past week."
Julianna lowered her eyes, dabbing at the corner of her eye with a silk handkerchief. "It breaks my heart, gentlemen. He no longer recognizes the men he built this empire with. His mind is slipping into darkness. He needs rest. He needs peace."
Tommy Riggi, Luca’s oldest captain—a man with scarred knuckles and a lifelong loyalty to the Costello family—leaned forward, his brow furrowed. "With all due respect, Don Vance, Luca was sharp as a tack when I spoke to him last Tuesday. If we transfer his voting rights, the Costello family becomes a subsidiary of the Vance Syndicate. That wasn't the arrangement."
"The arrangement changes when the leader becomes an empty shell, Tommy!" Don Vance barked, his eyes flashing with ice. "Do you want a ghost leading the strongest territory in Illinois while the federal prosecutors build an indictment? Julianna has managed his affairs for two years. She is his legal power of attorney."
"I object," a calm, icy voice resonated from the back of the ballroom.
Every head in the room snapped around.
The heavy mahogany double doors at the entrance of the ballroom burst open.
Six heavy-set guards in black suits stepped through first, securing the flanks. Behind them walked Marcus.
And between them walked a man who made the oxygen vanish from the room.
Luca Costello stepped into the light.
He wasn't in a wheelchair. He was wearing a double-breasted, bespoke pinstripe suit that broad shoulders filled out with terrifying authority. He moved with a slow, deliberate, powerful gait, leaning lightly on an ivory-handled cane—not out of weakness, but like a king carrying a scepter.
His dark eyes swept across the room, cold, sharp, and deadly.
The entire ballroom went dead silent. Chairs scraped against the floor as men instinctively stood up in shock.
"L-Luca?!" Tommy Riggi gasped, his mouth agape.
Julianna’s face drained of every ounce of color. The silk handkerchief slipped from her fingers, fluttering uselessly to the floor. Her eyes widened in pure, unadulterated horror as she stared at the man she had injected with paralysis toxin seventy-two hours prior.
Don Vance froze, his glass hovering mid-air, his face turning an unhealthy shade of purple.
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Luca walked down the center aisle, the metallic tip of his cane clicking against the marble floor with a sound like a ticking bomb. He stopped right at the foot of the horseshoe table, looking directly at his fiancée.
"Good evening, my love," Luca said softly, his voice echoing off the high ceilings like thunder. "You look surprised to see me on my feet."
