Chapter 5 - My Daughter Exposed the Coup Before a Single Shot Was Fired, but Matteo Had Already Taken Control of Half My OrganizationThe room became a frozen photograph.
Guns.
Men.
Matteo.
My daughter.
Marcus.
I raised my hands.
“Everyone relax.”
Matteo laughed.
“Still trying to command them?”
I looked at the men.
Some had worked for me for ten years.
Some twenty.
I searched faces.
Loyalty was almost impossible to read.
Then Eva whispered:
“Third man.”
I looked.
The third man from the left.
He wasn't holding his weapon correctly.
Too nervous.
Not a soldier.
I knew him.
A financial courier.
I said:
“Shoot Matteo.”
He froze.
Matteo turned.
The man fired.
Chaos erupted.
My loyal men moved.
The room became gunfire and shouting.
I grabbed Eva.
Marcus grabbed Daniel's hand.
We ran.
Through the hidden passage.
Into the garage.
My trusted driver was waiting.
We escaped.
Matteo didn't.
At least, not immediately.
Three of his men were arrested.
But Matteo disappeared.
We had lost the house.
The organization was divided.
Some remained loyal.
Some went underground.
The city began hearing rumors.
The Moretti empire was at war with itself.
I took Eva and Marcus to a safe location.
Daniel came too.
For the first time, I had to confront something I'd avoided for years.
The organization was no longer mine.
It belonged to everyone who had helped build it.
And if I wanted to protect my daughter, I needed to dismantle it.
Not win it.
End it.
I called my remaining loyal leaders.
“We're shutting everything down.”
Silence.
One man asked:
“Boss, what about the assets?”
“Freeze them.”
“What about operations?”
“Close them.”
“The organization?”
“Finished.”
They stared.
One asked:
“Why?”
I looked at Eva.
May you like
“Because I have something more important to protect than the empire.”
No one argued.
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