Chapter 5 - The Fall of the Vances
"This... this is impossible," Julianna stammered, her voice high and erratic as she backed away from the table, her hands trembling violently. "You... you can't walk! The nerve damage—"
"The nerve damage was a lie, Julianna," Luca interrupted, his voice dropping into an octave that made the captains shudder. "Or rather, it was a biological prison built by you and your father, vial by vial, syringe by syringe, for four thousand three hundred and eighty days."
Gasps erupted across the room.
"What insolence is this?!" Don Vance roared, slamming his fist onto the table as he stood up, desperate to regain control of the room. "The man has lost his mind! He’s delusional! Guards, escort Mr. Costello back to his estate immediately!"
Not a single guard moved. Marcus’s men had already quietly disarmed the house security at the perimeter twenty minutes ago.
Luca reached inside his inner suit jacket. He pulled out a thick leather folder and tossed it heavily onto the center of the oak table. It slid across the wood, stopping right in front of Tommy Riggi.
"Read it, Tommy," Luca commanded quietly.
Tommy opened the folder. Inside were thirty pages of certified medical reports from Johns Hopkins, toxicological analysis from independent labs, wiretap transcripts recorded by Marcus’s team over the past forty-eight hours, and financial records showing millions of dollars flowing from Vance Capital to the private lab in Geneva.
As Tommy turned the pages, his face transformed from confusion to sheer, murderous outrage.
"You bastards..." Tommy growled, standing up and whipping out a silver revolver, pointing it straight at Don Vance’s chest. "You poisoned him! You poisoned our Boss for twelve years!"
The other three Costello captains drew their weapons instantly, training them on Don Vance and Julianna. The entire ballroom turned into a powder keg waiting for a spark.
"It's fake!" Don Vance shrieked, backing away toward the rear exit, his composure completely shattered. "It's a setup! He's trying to take over the entire Commission!"
"The Commission is already mine, Vance," Luca said calmly. He took two steps forward, closing the distance between himself and Julianna.
The elegant woman who had ruled the syndicate from the shadows fell to her knees, weeping hysterically, reaching out to clutch the hem of Luca’s trousers.
"Luca! Please!" she sobbed, looking up at him with desperate, pleading eyes. "I was forced! My father made me do it! He threatened me! I love you, Luca! Please, remember the last two years!"
Luca looked down at her with an expression of absolute emptiness.
"I remember every night, Julianna," he whispered, bending down so his face was inches from hers. "I remember the taste of your kisses after you injected poison into my veins. I remember how you smiled when you thought I couldn't feel my own legs."
He stood up tall, turning his back on her.
"Tommy," Luca said coldly.
"Yes, Boss?"
"Strip the Vance family of every asset, every property, and every territory in this city by midnight. Don Vance and his daughter are to be handed over to the federal prosecutor's office along with the toxicological evidence. Let them spend the rest of their natural lives in a maximum-security prison cell, staring at four walls, unable to leave."
May you like
Luca paused, looking over his shoulder at Julianna, whose cries turned into silent terror.
"A prison cell is much like a wheelchair, Julianna," Luca added softly. "You'll have plenty of time to get used to it."
