Chapter 5 - The Purge of the Vance Dynasty
The violence was not loud; it was absolute.
Rocco raised his left hand, a single finger lifting in a quiet, sovereign gesture.
Enzo, his chief of security, moved with terrifying speed.
Before Bianca could take another step toward the terrace doors, Enzo’s iron grip clamped around her wrist, twisting the diamond engagement ring off her finger with cold efficiency. Two armed operatives flanked her, pinning her arms behind her cashmere wrap.
"Rocco, please!" Bianca shrieked, her aristocratic composure dissolving into raw, feral terror as tears ruined her mascara. "My father made me do it! The Cole family threatened our real estate holdings! Rocco, look at me! We were going to build an empire together!"
Rocco did not look at her.
He walked past her as if she were made of air, stopping directly in front of Marin.
"Where is he?" Rocco asked, his baritone thick with an emotion he had suppressed for thirty years.
"In my kitchen, sir," Marin replied softly. "He was still paralyzed when I left, but the poison has been neutralized. He needs clean fluids and professional veterinary monitoring."
Rocco turned to Enzo.
"Take Miss Vance to the subterranean holding suite beneath the North Pier," Rocco commanded, his voice cold as Arctic slate. "Notify her father that if every share of the Vance Logistics Group is not transferred to the Falcone Trust by midnight, the federal grand jury will receive the full, unredacted surveillance logs of their offshore arms pipeline."
"Yes, Don Rocco," Enzo said, dragging the weeping, thrashing heiress toward the private service elevator.
Rocco looked at the remaining twenty-three staff members standing along the wall, their heads bowed in terrified respect.
"Mrs. Gable," Rocco said.
"Yes, Mr. Falcone?" the head housekeeper stammered.
"Prepare the east guest wing on the third floor," Rocco instructed. "The master suite adjoining mine. Prepare it for Marin Hollis and her brother Jamie."
Marin’s head snapped up. "Mr. Falcone, no... I cannot stay here. I have my apartment, my brother is at the care facility—"
"Your apartment is no longer safe, Marin," Rocco interrupted, his slate-gray eyes holding hers with an intensity that stole the breath from her lungs. "The Vance family will have hit squads across the South Side within forty minutes. You saved my life today. You saved the only thing in this world that loved me without asking for an invoice."
May you like
He extended his arm, offering her his hand.
"Come, Marin," Rocco said softly. "Let’s go bring our boy home."
