Chapter 8 - THE WAR ENDS
Matteo rose from behind the workbench, firing four rapid, precise shots that neutralized the remaining two guards.
Camille and Sofia backed away in terror, their guns shaking in their hands as Matteo stepped through the clearing smoke, looking like a demonic force of vengeance.
"Matteo, please!" Sofia screamed, dropping her gun onto the floor. "It was Camille's idea! She dragged me into this!"
"Liar!" Camille shrieked, backing toward the rear exit.
Before either of them could run, the rear exit doors were pushed open. Vittorio DeLuca stepped inside, flanked by twenty armed DeLuca enforcers. The garage was completely surrounded.
"Camille Laurent. Sofia Bellini," Vittorio said, his voice cold and absolute as he walked into the center of the room. "Your fathers have already been stripped of their territories. By sunset today, the Laurent and Bellini families will no longer exist in New York."
Camille collapsed to her knees, weeping hysterically, while Sofia stood frozen in shock as DeLuca guards escorted them out toward waiting security vans.
The garage fell completely quiet, save for the rhythmic sound of dripping water from the damaged ceiling.
Matteo turned back to Clara. He looked down at the steel toolbox lying open on the concrete floor.
Clara reached down, picked up her father's leather journal, and held it out to Matteo.
"Take it," she said quietly. "It's what everyone has been fighting for."
Matteo looked at the journal, then at Clara.
He took the book from her hands. But instead of opening it, he walked over to an open metal drum where gasoline had spilled from a crushed barrel.
Matteo pulled a silver lighter from his pocket, struck the flame, and dropped both the lighter and the leather journal straight into the metal drum.
Flames instantly erupted, consuming the pages of the Bennett ledger in seconds.
Clara gasped, watching the multi-million-dollar secrets burn into black ash. "Why did you do that? That was your family's ultimate weapon!"
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Matteo walked back to her, reaching out to gently take her hands in his. "My family built an empire on fear and secrets, Clara. I want to build something real. As long as that book existed, you would never be safe. People would always hunt you for what your father knew."
He looked deeply into her eyes, his thumb gently wiping away a tear from her cheek. "I don't need a ledger to rule New York. I just need you."
