Chapter 4 - The Judas Conclave
Doors slammed in unison. A dozen men stepped out of the idling black sedans, all wearing heavy overcoats, their hands tucked into their pockets or resting near concealed holsters.
From the lead car emerged a man in his early forties, handsome in a predatory, sharp-featured way, wearing a tailored cashmere coat with a silk scarf around his neck. Damian Cassano.
"Alessandro," Damian called out, his voice echoing smoothly across the warehouse rafters. "Put the iron away, cousin. If I wanted you dead in this garage, I wouldn't have brought my personal escort. I would have brought RPGs."
Alex didn't lower the weapon by a millimeter. "You brought an extraction team to my corporate headquarters, Damian. Twelve floors of my people were exposed to automatic fire. Luca is dead."
Damian stopped ten paces away, raising his manicured hands in a mock gesture of peace. His eyes darted to Maya, who stood behind Alex's broad shoulder, her chin high, her hands clenched into fists.
"Luca was collateral damage," Damian said dismissively. "And that assault wasn't ordered by me. That was the Russian syndicate—the Vor. They intercepted the beacon frequency the second your little secretary triggered it."
"She didn't trigger it," Alex said, his voice deadly calm. "The watch triggered itself. Which means Salvatore is either dead, or someone broke into his bunker."
Damian's eyes flared with intense hunger. He took half a step forward. "So it's true. The legend of the Fifth Node. Uncle Salvatore didn't leave the key in a Swiss vault. He gave it to a nameless girl in Queens." Damian smiled, a cold, reptilian curving of his lips. "Hand her over, Alessandro."
The air in the warehouse instantly plummeted below freezing.
"What did you just say?" Alex asked softly.
"I said, give me the girl. And the watch," Damian insisted, his smooth facade cracking to reveal the manic ambition beneath. "The Syndicate Council has convened an emergency session at the Grand Plaza. The Five Families are on the brink of open war. The Russians are moving on our shipping docks in Jersey. If we don't present Salvatore's cipher tonight and seize the offshore accounts, our entire empire will be dismantled by dawn. She has the key. Let my technicians extract the chip from the device, interrogate her about where she treated Salvatore, and we win this war."
"She's an innocent civilian, Damian," Alex said.
"She ceased being a civilian the second she put syndicate hardware on her wrist!" Damian shouted, his voice bouncing off the corrugated walls. "You're risking the entire Vitali dynasty for an executive assistant? What is she to you, Alex? A pretty face who brings you black coffee at seven in the morning? Hand her over, or the Council will declare you an enemy of the bloodline!"
Behind Alex, Maya felt a chill run down her spine. She looked at the twelve armed men flanking Damian. She looked at Alex's bleeding ribs, the exhaustion carved into his features. One word from him, and he could save his life, his company, and his empire by simply stepping aside.
She touched his arm. "Alex..."
Alex didn't turn around. Without breaking eye contact with his cousin, his left hand reached back, his fingers intertwining with hers, squeezing tightly.
"She is not an assistant," Alex said, his voice ringing with absolute, terrifying authority. "She is under my personal protection. Anyone who touches a hair on her head will be hunted to the ends of the earth, flayed alive, and fed to the fish in the East River. That includes you, cousin."
Damian’s smile vanished completely. His eyes darkened into slits. "You're choosing her over the family?"
"I am the family," Alex roared, stepping forward, the sheer force of his presence causing Damian's frontline guards to instinctively shift their weight. "I built this empire from the ashes my father left behind! Tell the Council that Alessandro Vitali will attend the conclave tonight. But I will bring the cipher myself. And if anyone comes near Maya Collins again, I won't just kill the men you send—I will wipe the Cassano name from the registry forever."
Damian glared at him, his chest heaving. He knew Alex. He knew that Alessandro Vitali never bluffed. A direct shootout here would mean casualties on both sides, and Damian wasn't ready to gamble his own life against Alex's lethal marksmanship in close quarters.
"Midnight, Alex," Damian spat, stepping backward toward his sedan. "The Grand Plaza ballroom. Bring the master cipher, or the Council will sign your death warrant. And as for you, little nurse..." Damian's gaze flicked to Maya with venomous hatred. "...enjoy your remaining hours. In our world, secrets carry a tax paid in blood."
May you like
The sedans reversed, tires screeching against wet concrete, and vanished into the storm, leaving Alex and Maya standing alone in the shadows once more.
---
