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THE MAFIA BOSS RETURNED HOME WITH HIS LOYAL DOG—THEN FOUND HIS ABANDONED MOTHER FROZEN ON THE STREET / Chapter 6 / 8

Chapter 6 - THE RECKONING OF CARMINE MORETTI

Though Julian was in cuffs and Marcus Vance was six feet under, the head of the snake was still alive. Don Carmine Moretti was not a man to lie down and lose.

From his heavily fortified compound in the hills outside Chicago, Carmine had assembled fifty heavily armed mercenaries. He knew Cole was coming. He knew it was a war to the death.

"He's one man!" Carmine roared at his captains inside his surveillance-filled war room. "I don't care if he brought a dog or an army! Shoot anything that moves past those perimeter gates!"

Outside, a blinding blizzard raged. The temperature had dropped to sub-zero levels.

At the front gates of the Moretti estate, a single pair of headlights cut through the whiteout. A massive armored snowplow slammed directly through the iron gates at seventy miles per hour, crushing two guard towers instantly.

Behind the plow came Cole Ashworth’s fleet.

What followed was twenty minutes of pure, relentless underworld warfare. Cole’s men, equipped with night-vision gear and military tactics, swept through the estate with terrifying efficiency. Gunfire lit up the snow-covered courtyard in blinding flashes.

Cole walked through the chaos like a specter of death. Beside him, Moose was a blur of black shadow, tearing through mercenaries who tried to flank them in the dark corridors.

Cole kicked open the heavy steel doors of Carmine’s panic room.

Inside, the old Don stood alone, his hands shaking as he held a gold-plated revolver. He fired three wild shots. One bullet grazed Cole’s shoulder, tearing through his dark wool coat, but Cole didn't even flinch. He walked straight through the gunfire, grabbed Carmine by the throat, and slammed him back against his oak desk, disarming him with a single swipe.

"You took my mother's home," Cole growled, his hand tightening around Carmine's windpipe until the old man's face turned purple. "You turned her neighborhood into a graveyard."

"You... you can't... kill me..." Carmine choked out, his eyes bulging. "The... the commission... will destroy you..."

"The commission gave me their blessing an hour ago," Cole replied coldly. "They don't like business partners who let old women freeze in gutters. It's bad for reputation."

Cole threw Carmine onto the floor.

"I'm not going to shoot you, Carmine," Cole said, stepping back as Moose stepped forward, his massive jaws dripping with fury. "I'm going to leave you right here. In your house. Without heat. Without power. Without clothes. Just like you left my mother."

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Viktor stepped up and smashed the estate's central power grid and backup generators with a sledgehammer, plunging the massive mansion into darkness and sub-zero cold.

Cole walked out into the freezing night, shutting and locking the thick vault doors from the outside, leaving Carmine Moretti trapped in the icy tomb he had built for himself.

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