Chapter 8 - The Traitor
The news of Clara’s miraculous pregnancy spread through Chicago’s underworld like a wildfire.
To Dante’s loyal soldiers, it was a divine sign—proof that the Rosetti line was blessed and invincible. But to the ambitious capos who had spent seven years quietly planning for the day Dante died without an heir, the unborn child was a death sentence for their political ambitions.
Three weeks later.
Clara sat at the mahogany desk in Dante’s study, reviewing a stack of international logistics manifests. Despite her growing fatigue and mild morning sickness, she refused to stop working. She knew that keeping Dante’s financial supply lines clean was her greatest contribution to keeping them safe.
Suddenly, her sharp eyes caught a discrepancy on a three-million-dollar wire transfer routed through a local bank in Cicero.
"That's strange," Clara muttered to herself.
She pulled up the authorization logs. The transfer was flagged as an emergency shipment of security hardware for the Lake Forest estate. But the recipient account belonged to a logistics shell company registered under the name Apex Transport.
Clara’s mind raced. She remembered that name from an old file she had audited three months ago.
Apex Transport was owned by Uncle Vincenzo’s former right-hand man—Capo Dominic.
"Matteo!" Clara called out, her voice sharp and urgent.
The scarred underboss stepped into the study instantly. "Yes, Mrs. Rosetti?"
"Where is Dante?"
"He’s down at the South Side docks inspecting the new armory shipment," Matteo said. "He took twenty men with him."
Clara’s blood ran cold. She slid the screen toward Matteo. "Dominic just authorized three million dollars out of our reserve account ten minutes ago. He masked it as estate security, but the routing destination is an offshore account used by the Outfit’s hit squads in Detroit!"
Matteo’s face drained of color. "It’s a setup. The dock inspection... it was a trap to get Dante away from the estate!"
Before Matteo could draw his radio to warn Dante, the loud, jarring sound of automated alarm sirens erupted throughout the estate.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
The heavy bulletproof glass windows in the study rattled as heavy automatic gunfire erupted from the front gate of the property.
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"They're here," Matteo growled, drawing his twin pistols from beneath his jacket. "Mrs. Rosetti, stay behind me! We're moving to the safe room!"
Clara stood up, her hand instinctively resting over her lower stomach, her heart hammering wildly. "Dominic didn't just target Dante... he brought them here for the baby."
