Chapter 6 – THE VERDICT OF THE COMMISSION

I stepped forward on trembling legs.

I handed the black leather ledger to Carmine.

The elderly boss opened it. The other four bosses crowded around him. For two agonizing minutes, the only sound in the room was Evelyn’s ragged breathing as she kept pressure on Thomas’s wound, and the slow, rhythmic turning of the ledger’s pages.

With every page flipped, the faces of the most powerful men in New York grew darker.

They read the names of their cousins. Their nephews. Their business partners.

Men they had been told were killed by rival gangs or police.

Men who had actually been assassinated on Dominick Vitelli’s orders to maintain his absolute control.

Carmine slowly closed the book.

He didn’t shout. He didn’t look angry.

He looked empty. Which, in their world, was far more terrifying.

Carmine walked slowly toward Dominick, who was clutching his chest on the floor.

“Fifty years, Dominick,” Carmine whispered. “We broke bread in each other’s homes. I called you my brother. And you slaughtered my eldest son for a shipping route.”

Dominick’s arrogant facade finally shattered. The color drained from his face.

“Carmine, listen to me,” Dominick begged, his voice trembling. “The ledger is forged. The boy is trying to usurp me!”

Carmine didn’t argue. He just looked at Dominick with dead eyes.

“You are stripped of your name,” Carmine decreed, the ancient rules of the syndicate falling like a gavel. “You are stripped of your wealth. Every property, every account, every man who swore loyalty to you now belongs to your grandson.”

Dominick opened his mouth, a pathetic cry escaping his lips.

“And,” Carmine added, his voice dropping to a whisper, “you are stripped of our protection. When you walk out of those gates tonight, Dominick, every family in this city will be waiting for you.”

It was a death sentence.

Cold, absolute, and entirely deserved.

Carmine’s men stepped forward, hauled Dominick to his feet, and dragged the screaming, broken old man out of the room.

The empire had fallen without a single bullet fired by Damian.

But Damian wasn’t looking at the door.

He dropped to his knees beside Evelyn and Thomas.

Thomas was pale, his breathing shallow, but he managed to open his eyes. He looked at Damian, a small, pained smile touching his lips.

“Did we win?” Thomas choked out.

“We won, Dad,” Damian cried, gripping his father’s hand. “Just hold on. The ambulance is coming. You have to hold on.”

“I’ve waited thirty years to hear you call me that,” Thomas whispered, a tear slipping down his temple. “I’m not going anywhere.”

I backed away, giving them space.

Celeste stood beside me. She looked at the blood on her designer dress, then at the family holding onto each other on the floor.

She turned to me.

“Anna,” Celeste said quietly.

I looked at her.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “For the pearls. For everything.”

She didn’t wait for my forgiveness. She turned and walked out of the room, leaving the mafia life behind forever.

The sirens wailed in the distance, growing louder.

The nightmare was over.

But as I looked at the ivory wedding veil lying torn on the floor, I knew that for Damian, Evelyn, and Thomas, their true story was just beginning.

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