Chapter 10
The relief on Gavin's face shattered instantly, replaced by a fresh, blinding wave of horror.
"Wait! What are you doing?" Gavin screamed as two capos grabbed him by the arms, dragging his dead weight across the concrete floor. "You said I could live! You promised I could disappear!"
"I said you could live, Gavin," Alessandra replied calmly, watching impassively as her men hauled her husband toward the dark, recessed loading docks at the far end of the garage. "I never said you would walk away. You are going to disappear, exactly as you promised. To a private, secure medical facility I own in upstate New York. You will have a very comfortable, very small room. You will be fed. You will be clothed. But you will never see the sun again."
"No! No, Alessandra, please!" Gavin shrieked, kicking his polished leather shoes uselessly against the concrete as he was dragged into the shadows. His cries echoed horribly through the subterranean cavern. "You can't do this! I'm your husband!"
"Not anymore," Alessandra murmured, though he was already too far away to hear her.
Sybil Ashford did not scream. As the capos grabbed her arms, the elderly matriarch simply stared at Alessandra with a look of pure, venomous hatred. She straightened her posture, attempting to maintain her aristocratic dignity even as her elegant gala gown dragged through the grease.
"You will fall, Alessandra," Sybil hissed, her voice echoing with bitter prophecy. "You think you have secured your throne, but you have only shown the other families that you are vulnerable. Blood calls for blood. This is not over."
"Take her," Alessandra ordered dismissively, not giving the old woman the satisfaction of a response.
As Sybil and Vanessa were dragged away into the darkness of the loading docks, their screams fading behind heavy steel fire doors, Alessandra was finally left alone in the center of the garage with Ethan Cole, who was still bleeding on the floor, and her lead capo.
The capo stepped forward, adjusting his suit jacket. "Boss. What do we do with the Cole enforcer?"
Alessandra looked down at Ethan. He was unconscious now, his chest rising and falling in shallow, ragged breaths.
"Call his father," Alessandra instructed, her voice crisp and entirely devoid of emotion. "Tell the Cole patriarch that his trash is ready for collection. If he wants his son back, he pays the transportation fee. Ten million dollars, wired to our offshore accounts by midnight. If the money isn't there, dump him in the harbor."
"Understood, Boss," the capo nodded, pulling a secure encrypted phone from his pocket.
Alessandra turned her back on the carnage. She smoothed the silk of her white blouse, adjusted the cuffs of her tailored suit, and walked slowly toward the private VIP elevator. Her polished heels clicked a steady, victorious rhythm against the concrete floor. She had crushed a rebellion, purged her family of traitors, and secured her son’s future in less than twenty minutes.
But as she reached the brushed steel doors of the elevator, her own encrypted smartphone vibrated heavily in the pocket of her blazer.
Alessandra paused. She pulled the device out and looked at the glowing screen. The caller ID displayed an international number—a highly restricted line belonging to the European syndicate that managed the Swiss boarding school. The school where she had just sent Vanessa's child.
She pressed the phone to her ear. "Speak."
"Mrs. Ashford," a panicked, heavily accented voice crackled through the secure line. "We have a situation at the airfield in Geneva. The jet landed safely, but… the boy is not on board."
Alessandra froze. The absolute, unshakeable control she had maintained for the past hour fractured. Her eyes narrowed into dark, dangerous slits as she looked back out over the empty, bloodstained parking garage.
May you like
Sybil’s parting words echoed mockingly in her mind. This is not over.
"Lock down the city," Alessandra whispered into the phone, the cold Mafia boss returning with terrifying, absolute vengeance. "This was only the first blood."
