Chapter 3 - THE INTERROGATIONThe sound of water dripping echoed in the subterranean concrete basement beneath the Starks manor.
Susan Starks was tied to a heavy oak chair in the center of the room. She was wearing an expensive silk dress, her blonde hair pristine, but her face was pale with rage and terror.
"Rory! Are you insane?!" Susan screamed as her brother paced in front of her in the dim light. "I am your sister! You drag me down here like a dog because of some ridiculous accusation from a domestic worker?!"
Rory didn't answer. He sat on a metal stool opposite her, tossing the gutted black cylinder from hand to hand. Beside him stood Veronica and Dominic.
"Susan," Rory said softly, his calm tone far more terrifying than his rage. "Six months ago, our brother Frankie was executed in Queens. Two months ago, you brought my daughters a plush bear from Europe. And for eight weeks, my six-year-old girls have been screaming until their blood vessels popped."
"I bought it at a boutique in Paris!" Susan yelled, tears streaming down her face. "I didn't open it up! How could I know what was inside?!"
Veronica stepped closer to the chair. "The battery housing inside the bear was stamped with a local serial number from an electronics distributor in Brooklyn," she said plainly. "Purchased three months ago with cash. Paris had nothing to do with it."
Susan’s tirade froze mid-sentence. Her jaw quivered.
Rory leaned in until his nose was inches from his sister's face. "Who bought it for you, Susan? Who paid you to hurt my daughters?"
"Nobody! I swear on Mom's grave!" Susan sobbed. "I didn't know it was meant to hurt them! He told me... he told me it was just a wiretap!"
Rory froze. "He? Who is he?"
Susan swallowed hard, looking at the concrete floor. "Dante Moretti."
A collective gasp went through the room. Dante Moretti was the leader of the Moretti crime family—the Starks' primary rival in the battle for New York's docks.
"Dante came to me after Frankie died," Susan stammered, her voice shaking violently. "He said you were losing your grip, Rory. He said you were going to bring down the whole family empire with your paranoia. He said if I helped him plant a tap in the nursery so he could monitor your private home calls, he would leave you alive when he took over the docks! He swore to me it was just a microphone! He didn't tell me about... about the noise!"
Rory slowly stood up. He looked at his sister not with anger, but with absolute disgust.
"You traded my daughters' sanity for a seat at Dante's table," Rory whispered.
"Rory, please! We're blood!" Susan begged, thrashing against her ropes. "I'm your sister!"
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"Blood doesn't mean anything if you poison the well," Rory said coldly. He turned his back on her and looked at Dominic. "Keep her here. Keep her quiet."
Rory walked toward the stairs, then stopped and glanced at Veronica. "You're coming with me, maid. You know technology. I need to know what else Dante has inside my house."
