Chapter 14 - The Shadow in the Docks
While Manhattan bowed to the new regime, the undercurrents of the criminal underworld were rarely quiet for long.
Two weeks after the gala, a midnight winter fog rolled off the Upper New York Bay, blanketing the Red Hook shipping terminals in a thick, icy veil.
Inside the private office of Pier 42, Enzo stood over a steel desk covered with confiscated shipping manifests and encrypted satellite hard drives.
Dominic walked into the container office, shaking the snow from his overcoat.
“What did you find?” Dominic asked, unbuttoning his gloves.
“Costa wasn't acting on his own ambition when he tried to snatch Clara’s mother from Vermont,” Enzo revealed, pulling up a digital communications log on his laptop. “Someone was funding his mercenary squads through an offshore corporate entity based in London.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed into slits of ice. “Who?”
“The Moretti Cartel,” Enzo said grimly. “Specifically, Julian Moretti—Costa’s nephew who fled to Europe five years ago after your father dismantled their counterfeit operations. Julian has returned to North America. He’s running an underground distribution line through the Canadian border, using Costa’s old supply lines.”
“Does he know about Helena’s relocation to the estate?”
“He knows,” Enzo replied. “We intercepted an encrypted message forty minutes ago. Julian has placed a five-million-dollar bounty on Clara’s head with a private military contracting firm out of Montreal. He thinks if he kills the Donna, the Rossi family fractures from within.”
Dominic walked over to the reinforced glass window, looking out over the dark, frozen waters of the harbor where massive container ships sat idling against the piers.
“Julian Moretti thinks he is fighting a mob boss,” Dominic said softly, his voice carrying the chilling finality of an execution order. “He doesn't understand that he is threatening a husband.”
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Dominic turned back to Enzo.
“Double the perimeter sentries at the estate. Deploy the tactical drone grid over the cove. And bring me Julian’s European financial ledger by morning.”
