Chapter 6 - THE SENATOR’S MOVE
By 3:00 AM, the mansion was quiet, save for the crackle of the fireplace in the third-floor master suite.
Clementine slept soundly under a thick down comforter on the massive bed, her small face peaceful, her thumb tucked into her mouth. Rebecca sat beside her, wrapped in a soft cashmere robe provided by the staff, watching her daughter breathe.
In the ground-floor study, dark mahogany wood and leather furniture were bathed in the dim light of a single desk lamp.
Adriano sat behind his massive oak desk. Across from him stood Dominic and three of his most trusted capos: Marco, Vincent, and Paul.
On the desk sat three encrypted satellite phones, ringing continuously.
“Senator Vance has called five times in the last hour, boss,” Marco reported, his voice low. “Word about the party spread fast. The guests who left are terrified. They know you shut down the house.”
“Has Vance realized Genevieve is locked in the basement quarters?” Adriano asked, sipping black coffee.
“Yes,” Dominic confirmed. “Genevieve’s personal maid tried to leak a message through the security gates twenty minutes ago. We intercepted her. Senator Vance knows his daughter is under house arrest.”
Adriano set his coffee cup down with a soft clink.
“What is the Senator’s current position?”
“He’s mobilized twelve men from the Moretti remnant group,” Vincent added, leaning over a map of the city. “They are staged at his private estate near the harbor. Vance knows that if you strip Genevieve of her status, his political shield vanishes. He’s going to strike before you can hit his dock warehouses.”
Adriano leaned back in his leather chair, steepling his long fingers. His dark eyes flickered with a cold, calculating brilliance.
“He thinks I’m acting out of anger because of a domestic dispute,” Adriano murmured. “He thinks I found out about his financial leaks.”
“Does he know about Rebecca and the child?” Dominic asked.
“Not yet,” Adriano replied. “Vance thinks Rebecca is just a maid who got pushed into a pool. He doesn't know she is Thomas Hail’s widow.”
Adriano stood up, walking to the large floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the dark front gates.
“Good,” Adriano said softly. “Let him come here.”
“Here, boss?” Marco looked surprised. “You want to bring the fight to the estate? With the girl and the child upstairs?”
“This estate is an iron fortress,” Adriano stated, his baritone voice dripping with lethal confidence. “Underneath this house is a reinforced concrete bunker designed to withstand an artillery strike. Dominic, at sunrise, move Rebecca and Clementine into the safe vault beneath the wine cellar.”
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He turned back to his men, his scarred jaw set like granite.
“Senator Vance spent three years trying to destroy me from the inside using his daughter,” Adriano declared. “Tonight, he comes to rescue her. And tonight, I wipe the Vance family and the Moretti syndicate off the map of New England forever.”
