CHAPTER 6 — The Recording That Ended a Dynasty
Rain hammered Chicago all afternoon.
Inside Moretti House...
Nobody spoke while the recording loaded.
Roman's voice filled the room.
Calm.
Cold.
Confident.
"Old Anthony Moretti figured out the accounts."
A pause.
"He would've destroyed everything."
Another voice asked,
"What did you do?"
Roman answered without emotion.
"The brakes failed exactly when I needed them to."
The recording ended.
No one breathed.
Anthony Moretti...
Evelyn's father...
Had never died in an accident.
He had been murdered.
Matteo slowly removed his glasses.
His eyes filled with tears.
"He was my best friend."
Evelyn didn't cry.
She simply closed the recorder.
"I finally know."
Meanwhile...
Roman packed cash, passports, and several fake identities into two black duffel bags.
A private jet waited outside Chicago.
He planned to disappear before midnight.
His convoy raced toward the airfield.
Halfway there...
The lead SUV suddenly stopped.
Roman exploded with anger.
"What now?"
His driver stared ahead.
"There are people blocking the road."
Roman stepped out.
More than one hundred black vehicles lined both sides of the highway.
Thousands of headlights illuminated the rain.
Every captain.
Every lieutenant.
Every driver.
Every soldier.
Not to protect him.
To witness his end.
The crowd slowly parted.
Evelyn walked through the rain wearing a long black coat.
No umbrella.
No body armor.
Only the sapphire ring on her finger.
Roman laughed bitterly.
"You came to kill me?"
She shook her head.
"No."
"You've already destroyed yourself."
Police sirens echoed in the distance.
Roman frowned.
Then froze.
Dozens of federal vehicles emerged behind the criminal convoy.
Helicopters circled overhead.
Searchlights flooded the highway.
Matteo stepped forward holding a sealed envelope.
"I've spent twenty-three years collecting evidence."
Evelyn looked at Roman one final time.
"You taught me something."
Roman smirked.
"And what's that?"
She answered quietly.
"The strongest prison..."
"...is the one built from your own lies."
As federal agents surrounded the convoy, Roman realized the impossible.
The empire he had sacrificed everything to control...
Had become the very evidence that would bury him forever.
And the woman he had tried to humiliate on her birthday...
May you like
Had never been seeking revenge.
She had been preparing justice.
