Chapter 5 - Shadows Over the EstateThree days passed like a funeral procession through the Duca mansion.
The staff moved through the halls in absolute silence, whispering only when necessary. Vivien Romano was gone—erased from the household as if she had never existed. Her room was stripped bare, her clothes burned in the courtyard incinerator, and her personal belongings tossed into the Chicago River under cover of darkness.
For the first time in a year, Alessandro sat in his private study without a glass of scotch in his hand.
Instead, he watched through the floor-to-ceiling glass window as little Lily played on the manicured lawn below. She was clutching her repaired teddy bear tightly against her chest, running barefoot across the grass alongside Emma, who was once again missing one sock.
The door behind him clicked open.
Matteo stepped inside, placing a thick manila folder on the mahogany desk.
“You were right, Boss,” Matteo said grimly. “Vivien wasn't working alone. The Cayman shell accounts were tied to an offshore holding corporation. I ran the corporate registry records through our contacts in Zurich.”
Alessandro didn't look up from the window. “And whose name is on the registry?”
“Viktor Vance,” Matteo replied.
Alessandro’s hand clenched around the arm of his leather chair until the leather groaned.
Viktor Vance. The head of the rival Russian Bratva syndicate operating out of the North Side docks. For five years, the Duca family and the Russian mob had maintained an uneasy, blood-stained truce. But if Vance had planted Vivien inside Alessandro’s home to spy, sabotage, and murder his wife, the truce was dead.
“Vance thinks he can infiltrate my home, murder the mother of my child, and walk away clean,” Alessandro whispered, his voice dangerously soft.
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“What are your orders?” Matteo asked, stepping closer. “Do we hit their primary shipping warehouse on Lake Michigan tonight? Or do we take out Vance’s inner circle first?”
“Neither,” Alessandro stood up, adjusting his cuffs. “Vance is hosting a charity gala at the Grand Meridian Hotel tomorrow night. Every major crime boss, politician, and high-society elite in Chicago will be there. That is where we send our message.”
