Chapter 4 - The Poisoned Treaty
Marco hung against the concrete wall, his face turning an agonizing shade of dark purple, his hands clawing uselessly at Adrian’s tattooed wrists.
"The... the port merger..." Marco gasped, his vocal cords straining beneath Adrian’s crushing grip. "My father... my father needed the deep-water leases at Red Hook..."
Adrian tightened his fingers by half an inch. "Explain."
Dr. Arthur Cole dropped to his knees on the floor, weeping in sniveling terror. "I’ll tell you, Mr. Moretti! Please don't let him kill me! Marco paid me fifty thousand dollars to euthanize the animal and cremate the remains without an autopsy!"
Dr. Cole scrambled to his desk, pulling a thick manila folder from the wall safe, thrusting it forward with trembling hands.
"Under the secret terms of the Romano-Moretti marriage covenant," Dr. Cole stammered, "the eighty-million-dollar maritime trust was scheduled to transfer to Vivienne upon the birth of your first child. But Bruno... Bruno was trained as an explosive and chemical detection animal. Last week, Bruno cornered Marco in the garage when Marco was planting an encrypted GPS transponder inside your convoy sedans!"
Adrian’s eyes narrowed to slivers of dark flint.
"Bruno tore Marco's suit jacket," Dr. Cole confessed. "Marco knew that as long as that dog was alive in the house, they couldn't execute the car bomb on the Long Island Expressway next week!"
The truth detonated in the cold room like a concussive shockwave.
Vivienne hadn't simply disliked the dog.
Bruno was the only security obstacle standing between the Romano family and the total assassination of Adrian Moretti.
Adrian released his grip. Marco collapsed onto the floor, gasping and clutching his bruised throat.
Adrian turned to Enzo.
"Secure Dr. Cole and Marco Romano," Adrian commanded, his baritone steady as an open grave. "Notify our transport team to bring the specialized mobile veterinary unit to Cold Spring immediately. Dr. Lin will supervise Bruno's detox protocol on the drive home."
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Adrian walked back to the kennel cage, lifting Bruno's heavy head into his lap, stroking the dog's wrinkled ears with infinite, sacred gentleness.
"We’re going home, boy," Adrian murmured softly. "And we are going to settle the account with House Romano."
