Chapter 7 - THE COMMISSION’S WRATHBy noon the next day, news of the night’s chaos had shattered the political landscape of New York.
BRATVA BOSS VIKTOR VOLKOV ARRESTED IN SUBTERRANEAN LIBRARY RAID. REYES ENTERPRISE SHARES SURGE AMID RUMORS OF NEW MARRIAGE ALLIANCE.
Inside the gilded executive boardroom of the Manhattan Grand Hotel, the five remaining Dons of the Midwest and East Coast Commissions sat around a massive marble table.
At the head of the table sat Don Dominick Vanci—the eighty-year-old grandfather of the Commission, a ruthless tyrant who had ruled the mafia families for forty years.
The heavy mahogany doors opened.
Mateo Reyes walked into the room, wearing a tailored navy double-breasted suit, his hair slicked back, his dark eyes radiating absolute dominance.
Beside him walked Elise Caldwell.
She wore a striking emerald-green silk sheath dress, her dark hair pinned back with a diamond hairpiece, her hand held firmly in Mateo’s grip. On her finger shone a massive, twelve-carat emerald-cut diamond ring—the Reyes Crown Diamond.
"Mateo," Don Vanci rasped, leaning forward on his silver-headed cane. "You bring an outsider into the High Council chamber? This is sacred ground."
"She isn't an outsider, Dominick," Mateo said coldly, pulling out the head chair for Elise and letting her sit down beside him. "She is my wife. And she holds the title deeds to every single bank account this Council operates."
The four other Dons grumbled nervously, exchanging panicked glances.
Elise set a thick, bound red folder onto the center of the marble table.
"Inside this file," Elise spoke, her voice clear, confident, and sharp as a diamond blade, "are copies of the Seven Dusts ledger. My father archived every bribe, every wire transfer, and every land theft executed by this Commission since 1994."
Don Vanci’s face turned purple. "You dare threaten us, girl?! You're a maid! A glorified secretary!"
Mateo didn't even raise his voice. He simply reached into his jacket, pulled out a small black remote, and set it on the table.
"That remote connects to a encrypted cloud server," Mateo stated smoothly. "If my wife’s heart rate exceeds 120 beats per minute due to stress, or if she does not input her personal code every six hours... the entire ledger is automatically transmitted to the Department of Justice, the IRS, and the New York Times."
The room went completely, horrifyingly silent.
Don Vanci stared at the remote, then looked at Elise, whose pulse was calm, steady, and unbothered.
May you like
"You..." Vanci gasped, turning to Mateo. "You gave a woman total control over the Commission?!"
"I gave my Queen her throne," Mateo growled, leaning forward, pressing his hands flat against the table. "Effective immediately, the Reyes family withdraws from all illegal narcotics and human trafficking operations. You will pay a twenty percent tariff on all port shipping lines through our docks. And if anyone so much as looks at my wife the wrong way... I won't just kill you. She will erase your family from history."
