Chapter 2 - THE CLAIM BEFORE THE CITY
The news of the interrupted assassination attempt at the Moretti estate spread through the city like a wildfire.
By midnight, thirty black luxury SUVs were parked bumper-to-bumper along the perimeter of the Plaza Hotel in Midtown Manhattan. Over two hundred armed Moretti enforcers lined the Fifth Avenue entrance, wearing dark suits with red brassards on their sleeves—the ancient signal that the Don was holding an emergency council.
Inside the grand ballroom of the Plaza, the heads of the four remaining crime families sat at a circular marble table beneath massive gilded mirrors.
Don Carmine Lucchesi, Don Victor Genovese, Don Mario Barzini, and Don Joseph Casserly sat surrounded by their chief lieutenants. The room was thick with cigar smoke, nervous whispers, and the heavy tension of imminent war.
"He's lost his mind," Don Casserly muttered, tapping his ringed fingers against his mahogany cane. "He cleared three hundred high-society guests out of his house, arrested his own uncle, and now he summons us to Midtown at midnight like we're his street soldiers?"
"His son was almost blown up, Joseph," Don Lucchesi grunted, taking a slow sip of brandy. "If someone put a bomb in Alessandro's house, none of us are safe. Whoever did it crossed the sacred line."
The grand double doors of the ballroom were thrown open.
Marco stepped into the room first, carrying a tactical submachine gun across his chest. He stood at attention beside the door, followed by eight elite guards.
Then walked Alessandro Moretti.
He had changed out of his tuxedo into an immaculate, custom dark charcoal three-piece suit. His dark eyes swept across the four Dons with lethal authority.
But it was not his presence alone that stunned the four crime bosses into absolute silence.
Walking beside him, her hand firmly held in his massive grip, was Sophia Reyes.
She no longer wore her housekeeper's uniform. Alessandro had ordered his personal stylists to dress her in a breathtaking emerald-green velvet gown. The dress was a masterpiece of Italian tailoring, expertly designed to accent her generous curves, her full hips, and her narrow waist. Around her neck sat a triple-strand necklace of Burmese emeralds and diamonds—an heirloom that had belonged to Alessandro’s late mother.
In her other arm, Sophia held little Lily, who wore a matching sweet white lace dress, clutching her one-eyed stuffed rabbit.
Behind them walked eight-year-old Master Matteo, looking proud and sharp as he held the hem of his father's coat.
The four Dons sat frozen in absolute, speechless astonishment.
"Alessandro..." Don Lucchesi stammered, standing up slowly from his leather chair. "What is the meaning of this? Who is this woman?"
Alessandro led Sophia to the head of the circular table, pulling out the grand leather master chair for her himself. Sophia hesitated for a fraction of a second, her hazel eyes wide, but the calm, reassuring pressure of Alessandro’s hand on her waist gave her the courage to sit down with elegant grace.
Alessandro stood beside her, resting one hand on the back of her chair and his other hand on the pommel of his concealed firearm.
"This is Sophia Reyes," Alessandro announced, his baritone voice echoing through the vast room with terrifying power. "And her daughter, Lily."
Don Casserly scoffed, leaning forward. "We came here to discuss the security breach in the city, Alessandro! We didn't come here to meet your new house staff or your mistress!"
CRACK!
In a fraction of a second, Alessandro drew his silver-plated Beretta and fired a single shot directly into the center of the mahogany table, shattering Casserly’s crystal glass into a thousand pieces.
Don Casserly jumped back with a shriek, his bodyguards instantly reaching for their holsters, but forty Moretti soldiers stepped forward, locking their sights onto the four Dons.
"Watch your mouth, Casserly," Alessandro whispered, his voice dropping into a register that made the blood run cold in every man present. "Sophia Reyes is not my mistress. She is not my staff."
He reached down, taking Sophia’s soft, curvy hand in his, raising it up for the entire room to see.
"She is my promised bride," Alessandro declared. "She is the future Queen of the Moretti Empire. And her child is now my daughter."
Sophia felt her heart jump into her throat. Though he had declared his protection earlier, hearing him announce her as his wife before the most dangerous men in New York made her body tingle with a fierce, unbelievable heat.
"You're marrying a domestic worker?!" Don Genovese yelled, standing up in outrage. "You reject political alliances with our daughters to marry a woman with no bloodline? Have you forgotten the commission charter?!"
"Her daughter saved my son’s life tonight, Genovese," Alessandro said coldly. "While my own blood uncle was taking bribes to let a bomb into my house, this woman and her child stood between my family and death."
He stepped closer to the table, leaning down until his shadow covered all four crime bosses.
"Effective immediately, any insult against Sophia or Lily is a declaration of war against the Moretti family," Alessandro warned. "And as for the traitor inside my house... I am going to hunt down every single man connected to him before the sun rises."
He turned to Sophia, his face softening completely as he reached out his hand to her.
"Come, my love," Alessandro murmured gently. "Let us go home while my men clean the city."
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Sophia looked at the terrifying men who ruled New York cowering under Alessandro’s authority, then looked up into the warm, fiercely protective eyes of the man holding her hand.
She smiled softly, holding Lily close, and placed her hand in his. "Lead the way, Alessandro."
