Chapter 6 - The Night the Mafia Fell
They were taken to an abandoned shipping warehouse.
Dominic's hands were tied.
Sadi was locked in a small office.
Rosa was taken somewhere else.
Matteo believed he had won.
He had not.
Because Dominic had anticipated betrayal.
His security chief, Gabriel, had planted a tracking device in the lining of Sadi's coat.
Hours passed.
Sadi sat alone.
She was terrified.
But she refused to panic.
She studied the room.
A vent.
A broken chair.
A metal desk.
A window too high to reach.
Then she remembered something Dominic had once said.
“You survive by noticing what everyone else ignores.”
She looked at the sprinkler pipe above her.
A loose joint.
She began working at it with a broken pen.
Ten minutes.
Twenty.
The pipe shifted.
Water exploded into the room.
The alarm system activated.
Outside, men shouted.
Sadi crawled beneath the desk.
The door opened.
A guard entered.
She struck him with the metal chair.
He dropped.
Sadi ran.
She found Rosa.
The old woman was frightened but unhurt.
“Sadi!”
“Come on.”
They moved through the corridor.
Then they heard gunfire.
Dominic.
Sadi followed the sound.
He had managed to break free.
He fought three men at once.
Rosa screamed his name.
Dominic turned.
“Sadi!”
She ran to him.
For one second, they simply stared at each other.
Then Dominic crossed the room and pulled her into his arms.
“You're alive.”
“So are you.”
“I told you to stay hidden.”
“I tried.”
Despite everything, he laughed.
Then the warehouse doors exploded inward.
Gabriel and the Russo security team stormed the building.
Matteo fled.
Dominic chased him.
The confrontation ended on the loading dock.
Rain fell hard.
Matteo stood near the river.
“You would destroy your own family for her?”
Dominic approached slowly.
“I am not destroying my family.”
“You already did.”
“No.”
Dominic's voice was cold.
“You did.”
Matteo raised his gun.
Dominic disarmed him.
For a moment, violence seemed inevitable.
Then Dominic lowered his weapon.
“No more dead cousins.”
Matteo laughed.
“You think this ends with me?”
“No.”
Dominic looked toward the warehouse.
“It ends with the evidence.”
Police arrived minutes later.
Not all of them were clean.
But enough were.
The archive contained names and transactions dating back decades.
Federal investigators had been building a case against the Morettis for years.
The evidence changed everything.
Within weeks, arrests began.
Assets were frozen.
Businesses were seized.
The Moretti organization fractured.
Dominic's empire suffered too.
He understood that the old system could not survive forever.
For the first time, he considered another life.
A quieter one.
Sadi watched him from the mansion balcony.
He joined her.
“It's over.”
She looked at him.
“Is it?”
“The shooting war is.”
“And you?”
He smiled faintly.
“I don't know yet.”
Sadi touched his hand.
“You don't have to know tonight.”
Dominic turned toward her.
“I have something to ask you.”
“What?”
“The marriage.”
Her heart skipped.
“What about it?”
“The deal was survival.”
“Yes.”
“I don't want a deal anymore.”
Sadi stared.
“Dominic…”
“I want you to stay because you want me.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“You're asking me to marry you again.”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“I'm asking you to choose me for the first time.”
Sadi smiled.
“I already did.”
He kissed her.
And for the first time, it did not feel like protection.
It felt like love.
But somewhere downtown, a man opened a file stamped CONFIDENTIAL.
Inside was one last photograph.
Sadi as a child.
May you like
And beneath it:
SUBJECT MAY NOT BE ELENA'S ONLY SURVIVING CHILD.
