Chapter 14 - The Midnight Visitor
Two nights after Julian’s execution, the Weston estate was wrapped in a heavy, rolling fog that drifted in from the harbor.
Dileia couldn't sleep. The adrenaline from the council meeting had left her nerves humming like taut piano wires. She slipped out of the master bed, leaving Adriano sleeping soundly beside her, and walked down the grand staircase into the dimly lit kitchen to pour a glass of ice water.
As she turned away from the refrigerator, she froze.
Standing on the back patio, visible through the wall-to-wall glass sliding doors, was a silhouette. A tall, broad-shouldered figure wearing a heavy trench coat, staring directly into the kitchen with unblinking eyes.
Dileia’s hand tightened around her glass. She didn't scream. She didn't run. She walked calmly to the kitchen island, opened the top drawer, and wrapped her fingers around the grip of the small firearm Adriano had insisted she keep there.
She stepped out onto the patio, sliding the glass door open just an inch.
"Show yourself," she called out, her voice cutting steadily through the damp night air.
The figure stepped out of the shadows of the weeping willow tree, the pale moonlight catching the sharp angles of a scarred face she had never seen before—and a silver lapel pin shaped like a double-headed eagle. The signature mark of the Verhoven syndicate.
"Dileia Falcone," the man spoke, his voice like grinding stones. "Hard to believe the clumsy little waitress from the Copley Plaza is now the brains behind the most dangerous syndicate boss in America."
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"You're trespassing," Dileia said, raising her weapon with absolute steadiness, her finger resting lightly on the trigger. "And you have about ten seconds before my husband wakes up and feeds you to the harbor sharks."
The man smiled, a cold, humorless slit of a mouth. "Let him wake up. We didn't come to fight, Mrs. Falcone. We came to offer a counter-offer. Adriano thinks he can rule Boston alone. But when he finds out who really authorized Julian’s offshore accounts... let's just say, family betrayal runs deeper than you think."
