Chapter 17
Celeste sobbed openly, terrified by the cold, calculated promise in Valentina's voice. "Please, Valentina! I'll do anything! I'll leave the country! I'll sign everything over to you!"
"You already have," Valentina stated, pulling her encrypted smartphone from her pocket. "While the firefight was happening above, my legal team was busy. They executed the contingency protocols. Your trust funds, your offshore accounts, your properties... they have all been legally absorbed into the central Morello holding company due to your... sudden, unfortunate mental decline."
Victor gasped, struggling uselessly against the heavy zip-ties. "You can't do that! The commission will demand proof!"
"The commission respects power, Victor," Valentina reminded him, using his own words against him. "And tomorrow morning, when they learn that I single-handedly crushed a Chicago invasion and secured the ports, they will not question a single decision I make regarding internal family matters."
Valentina walked over to a heavy steel panel on the wall and flipped a switch. The ambient hum of the sub-basement's ventilation system died instantly, plunging the concrete room into an oppressive, suffocating silence.
"You will remain here," Valentina declared, her voice absolute and unyielding. "You will be provided with enough food and water to survive, but you will never see natural light again. You will live the rest of your miserable lives in the dark, remembering the day you tried to drown my son."
"Valentina, no! Please!" Celeste shrieked, thrashing wildly against the column.
May you like
Valentina turned her back on them, walking toward the metal stairs. She didn't look back. She didn't feel a single shred of pity. They had tried to murder her child; they had forfeited their humanity.
As she ascended the stairs, leaving the frantic, desperate screams of her uncle and cousin echoing in the dark bunker, Valentina felt a profound sense of closure. The rot inside her family had been permanently excised. The empire was secure.
