Chapter 9 - The Purge
The boardroom erupted into chaos.
Salvatore, the oldest boss, stood up, his face red with fury. “You poisoned Council blood, Marco?! You broke the cardinal code of the Five Families?!”
Marco panicked. He drew a snub-nosed revolver from his inner jacket, screaming, “He was weak! He was letting the business rot! I built this empire!”
He aimed the gun directly at Emma’s chest.
“If I go down, the coffee girl goes first!”
Adrian didn't even blink.
Before Marco could pull the trigger, Adrian drew a hidden blade from his sleeve and flicked it across the room. The steel pinned Marco’s hand to the mahogany wall behind him. Marco shrieked in agony, dropping the gun.
Adrian closed the distance in two steps. He grabbed Marco by the throat, lifted him off his feet, and shoved him violently against the floor-to-ceiling panoramic glass overlooking Chicago.
The glass creaked under the impact.
“You tried to poison me in my own home,” Adrian whispered into Marco’s ear, his voice freezing the blood of every man in the room. “You sent assassins after the woman I love. You broke every law of this family.”
“Adrian… please… we’re blood…” Marco choked out, tears of terror streaming down his face.
“Blood doesn't make you family,” Adrian replied. “Loyalty does.”
Adrian signaled Marcus. “Take him to the port. Strip him of every dollar, every property, every title. Let him spend the rest of his miserable life in a cell beneath the docks where he will never see the sun again.”
Marcus dragged the screaming, sobbing traitor out of the room.
Adrian adjusted his cufflinks and turned back to the remaining eleven crime lords.
“Does anyone else have an objection to my leadership?” Adrian asked quietly.
One by one, the twelve most feared men in Chicago lowered their heads in absolute submission.
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“Long live the Chairman,” Salvatore said.
***