Chapter 17 - The House Goes Dark
The smoke was not poisonous.
It was tactical.
Designed to blind cameras and force people into hallways.
Silvio recognized the strategy immediately.
“Stay low.”
He moved Ethan and Mia through the library’s hidden service door.
Lucinda followed.
Security teams spread through the estate.
The power failed again.
Emergency lights turned the corridors red.
Silvio led the children toward Arturo’s old study.
Its walls were reinforced.
Its door could lock mechanically.
Mia clung to his hand.
Ethan tried to look brave.
A gunshot echoed downstairs.
Then another.
Silvio pushed everyone into the study.
“Lock this after me.”
Lucinda grabbed his arm.
“Where are you going?”
“To finish it.”
“No.”
Silvio looked at her.
“Stay with them.”
Lucinda’s eyes changed.
For once, she did not argue.
Silvio stepped into the corridor.
His security radio crackled.
“East wing clear.”
“Kitchen clear.”
“Garage breach.”
Silvio moved toward the garage.
One guard was unconscious near the service stairs.
Alive.
A second lay beside the door with a head wound.
The garage stood open.
Rain blew inside.
Silvio saw muddy footprints leading toward the old ballroom.
He followed them.
The ballroom had once held weddings.
Galas.
Arturo’s birthday celebrations.
Tonight it was dark.
Rows of covered tables made long shadows.
Silvio heard a voice.
“You look like your father when you’re angry.”
Nico stepped from behind a pillar.
He was in his fifties.
Thin.
Calm.
A pistol hung at his side.
Silvio stopped.
“My father is dead.”
“So is my brother.”
“Your brother tried to kill him.”
“I know.”
Silvio frowned.
Nico smiled.
“You expected me to deny it?”
“Then what do you want?”
“I want you to lose something.”
“You already lost.”
“No.”
Nico’s voice remained quiet.
“I lost Carlo.”
“You kept living.”
Silvio stared at him.
Nico continued.
“Then Voss called.”
“He said you were destroying the people who kept you safe.”
“They never kept me safe.”
“They kept your family rich.”
Silvio stepped closer.
“You came here for money?”
“I came because Voss paid me.”
Nico smiled.
“And because I wanted to see if you still carried guilt.”
“I don’t.”
“You should.”
“For defending my father?”
“For choosing power afterward.”
Silvio’s expression changed.
Nico was right about one thing.
Silvio had left the Moretti empire but never exposed what he suspected about its methods.
He had preferred distance to responsibility.
Nico lifted the pistol.
“You could have burned this family down years ago.”
“Instead you walked away.”
“Mateo stayed.”
“And Mateo died.”
Silvio felt the words hit.
Nico saw it.
“There it is.”
“Guilt.”
Silvio looked at him.
“You don’t get to use my brother.”
“I don’t need to.”
Nico raised the gun.
“Your family already did.”
Then the ballroom lights snapped on.
Nico flinched.
Lucinda stood on the upper balcony.
She had activated the manual circuit.
“Silvio!”
Nico turned toward her.
Silvio rushed him.
The pistol fired.
The bullet struck the chandelier chain.
Crystal exploded onto the floor.
Silvio drove Nico into a table.
They struggled.
Nico reached for a knife.
Silvio caught his wrist.
Nico smiled through clenched teeth.
“You still think this ends with me?”
Silvio twisted the knife away.
“No.”
He slammed Nico to the floor.
“It ends with evidence.”
Police flooded the ballroom.
Nico was arrested alive.
And in his jacket, investigators found Voss’s final insurance policy.
A flash drive.
Names.
Payments.
Judges.
Bankers.
May you like
Politicians.
Every person Voss had paid for thirty years.
