Chapter 5 - The Fall of the House of RomanoBy sunrise, the financial pages of every major newspaper in New York had rewritten their headlines.
ROMANO GLOBAL SHIPPING HALTED; FEDERAL INVESTIGATORS RAID HEADQUARTERS. MYSTERY ADVISORY FIRM 'DUCA STRATEGIC' ASSUMES CONTROL OF ASSETS.
In the penthouse living room of my family’s apartment, my mother and I stood by the floor-to-ceiling windows, watching the sun rise over the East River. The golden morning light washed over the Manhattan skyline, illuminating the towering glass buildings where corporate titans ruled and dynasties rose and fell on the whim of a signature.
My phone buzzed against the marble coffee table.
It was a video file from an anonymous source inside the Romano estate in the Hamptons.
I tapped play.
The screen showed Matteo standing on the sprawling front lawn of his family mansion in a crumpled shirt, surrounded by federal marshals loading boxes of documents into unmarked vans. Next to him stood Selena, her expensive ivory dress stained with mud from the damp morning grass, screaming furiously at a camera crew that had materialized outside the gates.
She was pointing wildly at Matteo, shouting that none of this was her fault, that he had promised her everything, that he was a fraud who had lost his empire in a single night.
Matteo didn't look at her. He just stared blankly at the ground, his hands cuffed loosely behind his back as an agent gently guided him toward the back of a black SUV.
I locked the phone screen and set it back on the table.
“Is it over?” my mother asked softly, resting a hand on my shoulder.
May you like
I looked out at the river, watching a massive cargo ship glide effortlessly beneath the bridge, its containers stamped with clean, unblemished seals.
“No, Mom,” I said, a faint, genuine smile touching my lips for the first time in months. “It’s just beginning.”
