Chapter 5 - The Reckoning
The heavy oak doors of the grand foyer splintered inward as the elder syndicate's strike team breached the mansion.
Vincent, standing near the central staircase with his gun pressed against Lorenzo’s temple, spun around in panic. "Hold your fire! This is an internal restructuring—"
"Drop the weapon, Vincent," a cold, booming voice commanded from the doorway.
Step by step, Don Salvatore, the head of the ruling council, walked into the hall, flanked by his personal guard. Behind him walked the family doctor, flanked by three of Lorenzo’s senior capos who had broken free from Vincent’s illegal detention units.
"You violated the sacred blood oath, Vincent," Don Salvatore said, his eyes narrowing. "You raised a hand against the head of the New York family."
"Lorenzo was weak! He was letting the territory bleed!" Vincent shrieked, tightening his grip on his pistol.
"I was never weak, Vincent," a gravelly, lethal voice spoke from right beside him.
Vincent gasped, turning his head.
Lorenzo Duca, though battered, bruised, and bleeding, had somehow used the distraction of the breach to slip his remaining bonds against the sharp iron stair banister. With a sudden, explosive movement, Lorenzo slammed his elbow backward into Vincent’s ribs, disarming him instantly.
As Vincent crumpled to the marble floor, gasping for air, Lorenzo calmly reached down, ripped the remaining buttons off Vincent’s shirt, and tossed them onto the bloodstained floor.
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"You lost more than just your position today, Vincent," Lorenzo said coldly, stepping on the rogue lieutenant's hand. "You lost your right to breathe in this city."
Within seconds, the elder council's enforcers swarmed Vincent, snapping heavy steel cuffs around his wrists and dragging him out into the night.
