Chapter 5 - The Shadow of the Lucchese
The main parlor of the Vale estate was designed to intimidate, but the men sitting across from Dominic Vale did not look like they were easily impressed.
Silvio Lucchese sat in the velvet armchair that June had occupied just days before. He was a small, wire-thin man with slicked-back gray hair, a permanent sneek on his lips, and eyes that held the cold calculation of a crocodile. Behind him stood four men in heavy overcoats, their hands buried deep in their pockets.
Dominic stood by the fireplace, his hand resting on the marble mantle, his expression completely blank.
"You're making a lot of noise in the city, Dominic," Silvio said, biting the end off an expensive cigar. "Cancelling shipments at the docks. Recalling your captains from Brooklyn. People are starting to think you're preparing for something."
"I am a man enjoying my retirement, Silvio," Dominic said, his voice level. "I don't need permission from you to change my schedule."
"Don't lie to an old friend," Silvio smiled, a sickening twist of his mouth that revealed gold-capped teeth. "We all hear the whispers. The Keenes came to see you last week to settle a sixty-thousand-dollar tab. They walked in with a girl... and they never walked out. And now, word is you've got a young woman living in the master suite who looks exactly like Isabella did before she took a permanent nap."
The room temperature dropped to near freezing. Dominic’s hand on the mantle tightened until his knuckles turned white, but he didn't move.
"She’s a distant relative from the old country, Silvio. Nothing for you to concern yourself with."
"Is that so?" Silvio leaned forward, blowing a cloud of blue smoke into the air between them. "Because twenty-four years ago, I made an investment in a couple of degenerate gamblers named Daniel and Marlene. I gave them a very specific assignment: keep the package safe, keep it quiet, and if Dominic ever starts getting too powerful, remind him of what he lost. But it seems Daniel got greedy. He thought he could use my investment to clear his own debt with you."
From the hidden doorway behind the tapestry, June stood frozen, watching the confrontation through the crack in the woodwork. Her breath caught in her throat as she realized the depth of the trap.
"If you touch her, Silvio," Dominic said, his voice dropping into that terrifying, subterranean register that made even the guards outside the room look uneasy, "I will not just kill you. I will dismantle everything your family has built since the day your grandfather got off the boat. I will turn Manhattan into a graveyard for anyone who carries your blood."
Silvio laughed—a dry, rattling sound. "You're old, Dominic. Your crews are soft. You spent twenty-four years crying over a ghost, and now you're ready to risk the whole operation for a girl who doesn't even know which fork to use at dinner? The commission won't back you on this. You bring a personal war into the territory, and the other families will execute you themselves."
He stood up, brushing a speck of ash from his lapel. "Deliver the girl to my office in Brooklyn by Friday, Dominic. We’ll do a DNA test. If she’s just a relative, you can have her back. If she’s June Rose... well, then we have a very expensive piece of property to negotiate over."
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As Silvio turned to leave, his eyes drifted toward the tapestry where June was hiding. For one horrible second, their eyes met through the crack in the wood. Silvio didn't say anything, but the dark, victorious smile that spread across his face told her everything she needed to know.
He knew she was there. And the hunt had officially begun.
