Chapter 9 - The Final BetrayalTwenty minutes later, the main study of the Moretti estate was bathed in the soft glow of a desk lamp.
Julian sat comfortably in a leather armchair, pouring himself a glass of scotch, acting as if he owned the room. When the heavy oak doors opened and Dominic walked in—flanked by Bruno and two armed guards—Julian didn't even flinch. He simply took a slow sip of his drink.
"I heard the raid on Pier 42 was a resounding success, Dominic," Julian said smoothly, adjusting his silver-rimmed glasses. "Always efficient."
"Julian," Dominic said, his voice terrifyingly calm. "Vincent Rossi just gave me a parting gift before he went to sleep."
Julian’s eyebrows arched slightly. "Ah. And I suppose the criminal scum blamed an innocent man to save his own skin?"
"He mentioned your offshore accounts in Zurich," Dominic replied, stepping closer to the desk. "So I had Marcus run a deep-dive trace on your personal holdings. Turns out, exactly five years ago, a ten-million-dollar wire transfer hit your Swiss account from a shell company registered to the Veritas Syndicate—the exact week Elena supposedly died."
Julian stared at Dominic for a long, silent moment. Then, slowly, the polite, grandfatherly facade melted away, replaced by a cold, calculating smile.
"You were always too observant for your own good, boy," Julian sighed, setting his glass down. "The Moretti syndicate is a dying dinosaur, Dominic. You run this family with archaic loyalty and street-level brutality. Veritas offered a global vision—clean, corporate, untouchable. Elena was simply... collateral damage in a necessary corporate restructuring."
Before Julian could reach for the small derringer hidden beneath the blotter, Bruno lunged forward, slamming Julian chest-first against the mahogany desk and wrenching his arms behind his back.
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Dominic looked down at the man who had betrayed his family for decades.
"You're not dying tonight, Julian," Dominic said coldly. "You're going to spend the rest of your natural life in a maximum-security federal black site, watching the empire you tried to destroy grow stronger every single day."
