Chapter 12 - THE LAST LOYAL MEN
Twenty years earlier, a threat like Matteo’s would have started a war.
Cars would burn.
Bodies would disappear.
Hospitals would quietly receive men with unexplained wounds.
Alessandro knew the process because he had inherited it.
This time he did something different.
He called every captain to the ballroom.
Seventeen came.
Ten remained absent.
Alessandro stood beneath the chandelier.
Marco beside him.
Sophia watched from the balcony despite being told not to attend.
Emma was upstairs.
Bruno with her.
Alessandro addressed the men.
“Matteo wants war.”
Nobody spoke.
“He expects me to give him one.”
A captain named Russo shifted.
“What else do we do?”
“Nothing.”
Confusion spread.
Another man laughed.
“You surrender?”
“No.”
Alessandro looked around the room.
“We stop.”
Silence.
“The Moretti organization as you know it ends today.”
That created noise.
Men stood.
Cursed.
Questioned.
Alessandro raised one hand.
Silence returned.
“Legal businesses continue under independent management.”
“What about everything else?” Russo demanded.
“Closed.”
“You’ve lost your mind.”
“Possibly.”
Russo stepped forward.
“My father died for your family.”
“And mine killed people for his.”
Alessandro’s voice remained calm.
“I’m not asking another generation to repeat it.”
“You think Matteo stops because you turn legitimate?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“I give investigators everything they need.”
Several men recoiled.
“You’re informing?”
“Yes.”
The word exploded through the room.
Marco’s hand moved near his coat.
Alessandro did not.
Russo stared at him.
“You’ll send your own men to prison.”
“Anyone who committed crimes answers for them.”
“You too?”
“Yes.”
That silenced them.
Sophia watched from above.
Alessandro continued.
“If you leave today, leave.”
He pointed toward the doors.
“No retaliation.”
A man near the back laughed.
“You expect us to believe that?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because if I wanted you dead, this conversation would be shorter.”
Nobody argued.
One man walked out.
Then another.
Five more followed.
Ten remained.
Russo looked around.
“You’re destroying everything your father built.”
Alessandro nodded.
“Yes.”
Russo shook his head.
Then walked away.
Marco waited.
“Did that go how you expected?”
“No.”
“Better or worse?”
“I expected more chairs thrown.”
Upstairs, Sophia smiled.
Then the lights went out.
The chandelier died.
Emergency lamps flashed red.
Marco immediately drew his weapon.
“Lockdown!”
Gunfire erupted outside.
Matteo had not waited.
Men attacked the north gate.
A truck crashed through the vehicle barrier.
Alessandro looked toward the balcony.
Sophia was already running.
“Emma.”
He followed.
The house became chaos.
Security doors lowered.
Alarms sounded.
Staff moved toward reinforced rooms.
Sophia reached Emma’s hallway.
Empty.
Her blood turned cold.
“Emma!”
No answer.
She ran into the bedroom.
Window closed.
Bed empty.
Bruno gone.
“EMMA!”
Alessandro arrived.
“What?”
“She’s gone.”
His face changed.
Then they heard barking.
Not outside.
Below.
They followed.
Down the servants’ stairs.
Through the kitchen.
Into the pantry.
Emma sat beneath a steel preparation table.
Bruno stood in front of her.
A security guard lay unconscious near the back door.
Another man stood over him wearing a Moretti uniform.
Not one of Alessandro’s.
He raised a gun.
Bruno lunged.
Alessandro fired.
The attacker dropped.
Sophia reached Emma.
“How did you get here?”
Emma cried.
“Man said Mommy call me.”
Sophia closed her eyes.
Another attempted abduction.
Bruno had followed.
Stopped it.
Alessandro looked at the dead man’s fake uniform.
Matteo had infiltrated the house during the external attack.
A distraction.
Again.
Marco’s voice came over the radio.
“North gate contained.”
“Any others inside?”
“Searching.”
Alessandro looked at Emma.
“No more.”
Sophia understood the tone.
“What are you going to do?”
“End it.”
“Legally?”
He looked at her.
“Yes.”
She wasn’t sure.
He called the federal prosecutor directly.
He gave her Matteo’s known safe houses.
Weapons locations.
Names.
Everything.
A coordinated operation began before sunrise.
Raids across the city.
Arrests.
Seizures.
Matteo lost properties by the hour.
But Matteo himself remained missing.
By afternoon, his organization had collapsed.
His money frozen.
Most men arrested or surrendered.
The empire he wanted was disappearing.
And somehow that made him more dangerous.
At 6:20 p.m., Marco entered the kitchen where Sophia was feeding Emma soup.
“He called.”
Alessandro looked up.
“What does he want?”
“You.”
“That is not new.”
Marco hesitated.
“And Elena.”
Alessandro’s expression sharpened.
His aunt was missing.
Her room empty.
Phone left behind.
A note on the pillow.
I started this. Let me help end it.
Sophia stood.
“She went to Matteo.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Alessandro already knew.
Guilt.
Elena had protected the family so long that she had helped destroy it.
Now she wanted to fix something.
His phone rang.
Video call.
Matteo.
Alessandro answered.
Elena sat tied to a chair inside an unknown building.
Blood marked her forehead.
Matteo stood behind her.
“Hello, cousin.”
“Let her go.”
“She lied to me.”
“That runs in the family.”
Matteo laughed.
“She told me she’d help me escape.”
Elena looked into the camera.
“I’m sorry.”
Alessandro said nothing.
Matteo leaned closer.
“Come alone.”
“No.”
A gun pressed against Elena’s head.
Matteo smiled.
“Still learning, cousin?”
Alessandro’s gaze hardened.
“You’re out of money.”
“Yes.”
“Your men are gone.”
“Most.”
“Your accounts are frozen.”
“Yes.”
“What do you think happens next?”
Matteo looked almost peaceful.
“You come.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want the empire anymore.”
His smile widened.
“I just want you to watch it die.”
The call ended.
Sophia looked at Alessandro.
“You’re going.”
“Yes.”
“Then you’re not going alone.”
“Sophia.”
“No.”
“This is not Emma.”
“No.”
She stepped closer.
“This is your family.”
Alessandro laughed bitterly.
“Exactly why you should stay away.”
Sophia shook her head.
May you like
“Maybe family needs someone who doesn’t think like a Moretti.”
For once, Alessandro had no argument.
