Chapter 6 - The Fall of House Romano
Special Agent Raymond Callahan of the FBI’s Organized Crime Strike Force stepped forward, slamming three thick volumes of certified federal indictments onto the center of the table with a concussive thud.
"Under emergency judicial warrants issued by Chief District Judge Evelyn Montgomery at dawn," Agent Callahan announced, his voice echoing through the silent hall, "Vittorio Romano, Marco Romano, and Vivienne Romano are under federal arrest for Attempted Premeditated Murder, Interstate Terrorism, Conspiracy to Commit Assassination, and Racketeering under the RICO Act."
Agent Callahan connected his tablet to the salon’s seventy-foot digital display wall.
The massive screens illuminated instantly in four-K clarity:
First came the unedited security footage of Vivienne sliding the sedative into Bruno's bowl in the kitchen; next came Dr. Arthur Cole's sworn, tearful video confession detailing the planned euthanasia; and finally, the encrypted audio recordings recovered from Marco’s phone detailing the planned car bomb on the Long Island Expressway.
The salon erupted into deafening, chaotic outrage.
Senior caporegimes shoved their chairs back in open revulsion, shouting curses at Vittorio Romano, stepping away from the patriarch as if he were covered in a lethal plague.
Vittorio collapsed into his high-backed chair, hyperventilating, his aristocratic facade completely pulverized into dust. "This... this is an illegal federal setup! The Moretti family fabricated these records!"
Adrian walked slowly down the length of the long table, stopping two feet from where Vivienne stood trembling.
He reached into his pocket, pulled out the platinum engagement ring she had left on her dresser, and dropped the five-carat diamond onto the table.
"You stood in my hallway and called a three-year-old child a liar, Vivienne," Adrian whispered, his voice vibrating with lethal, absolute finality. "You tried to murder an innocent animal that had more honor in a single claw than your entire bloodline possesses. Your name is erased from this city forever."
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Four federal marshals stepped forward, clicking heavy steel transport chains around Vivienne’s wrists and ankles.
As the disgraced conspirators were dragged from the salon in chains, screaming in bitter, ruined terror, Adrian turned his back on the room, walking out into the crisp, clean morning sunlight with his family at his side.
