Chapter 5 - The UnravelingBefore Marcus could signal his guards, the projection screens flickered to life.
Instead of corporate presentation slides, high-definition security footage filled the screens. It showed Rosa swapping the modified feeding bottles in Nico’s nursery. Then, the audio feed played loud and clear across the ballroom speakers: Rosa’s frantic phone call to Marcus’s burner phone, explicitly naming him as the mastermind behind the systematic poisoning of an eight-month-old infant.
The ballroom erupted into sheer chaos. Shouts of outrage, disbelief, and fear bounced off the crystal walls. Syndicate bosses who had pledged allegiance to Marcus began backing away from him as if he carried a plague.
Marcus’s face turned an ugly, mottled purple. He reached frantically inside his tuxedo jacket, pulling out a concealed pistol, aiming it directly at Lorenzo.
"Traitor!" Marcus roared, his voice cracking with rage. "I built this syndicate! You took it all for granted!"
Before Marcus’s finger could squeeze the trigger, a sharp thud echoed through the room.
A micro-dart, fired with pinpoint accuracy from the doorway by one of Lorenzo’s elite guards, struck Marcus in the neck. His eyes rolled back, the gun slipped from his limp fingers, and he collapsed heavily against the podium before sliding unconscious to the floor.
Silence rushed back into the ballroom, heavier and more absolute than before.
Lorenzo didn't even flinch. He adjusted his cuffs, stepped up onto the stage, and looked out over the stunned crowd of syndicate leaders and politicians.
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"My family business is secure," Lorenzo announced, his voice carrying the weight of absolute dominion. "Anyone who forgets that will share my uncle’s floor."
Within minutes, federal marshals—tipped off earlier by our legal team with the full dossier compiled by Victoria and myself—swarmed the ballroom to take Marcus, Dr. Crane, and their remaining associates into custody. The coup had failed completely, dismantled in less than twenty-four hours.
