Chapter 5 - The Council’s RetaliationPeace in the underworld, however, is never permanent. It is merely a pause between storms.
Three weeks after the raid on the Aldwych, Saurin was working late in his ground-floor security bunker beneath the Vance Tower while Cora and Ellie slept safely in the penthouse upstairs.
The secure terminal beeped sharply—a red, high-priority encryption alert.
Dante Moretti stepped into the room, his face grim, holding a heavy tactical tablet. "Boss, we have a breach on the perimeter. Not a physical one—a financial one. Julian Vance’s legal team just filed an emergency injunction through a corrupt federal judge in the Seventh Circuit. They’re trying to unseal the corporate asset freeze by claiming our acquisition of Aldwych Holdings was hostile and illegal under interstate commerce laws."
Saurin didn't look up from his screen, where he was reviewing shipping manifests. "Julian is in a federal holding cell. Who authorized the filing?"
"His brother, Marcus Vance," Dante said grimly. "Marcus operates out of the shipping yards down by the Calumet River. He’s got three unions in his pocket and a stockpile of unregistered imports. He thinks he can blackmail us into dropping the charges against Julian by putting pressure on our freight lines."
Saurin slowly closed the laptop lid. The sound was like a guillotine dropping.
He stood up, towering over Dante, his eyes flashing with cold, calculated fury. Marcus Vance wanted a war. He wanted to test whether the Quenched Steel of the South Loop had grown soft over dinner conversations and a rescued single mother.
"Call the teams," Saurin said, his voice dropping into that chilling, razor-sharp register. "By midnight, we shut down every dock, every warehouse, and every financial pipeline Marcus controls along the river. If he wants to play interstate commerce, we'll teach him how a real monopoly works."
"And the girl?" Dante asked cautiously. "Should we move her to the safehouse in Indiana?"
May you like
Saurin shook his head.
"No," he said firmly. "She stays here. In my house. Behind my walls. Nobody touches her."
