Chapter 10 – THE FINAL NEGOTIATION
The meeting took place at noon in the private dining room of Valenti’s favorite downtown steakhouse.
The restaurant had been cleared out. Only Don Valenti and his two highest-ranking captains sat at the long wooden table.
Richard and I walked in together. No security. No weapons. Just the two of us.
Valenti was a brutal man in his late sixties, with cold, dead eyes and a cigar perpetually clamped between his teeth. He smiled when we walked in, but it was a predator’s smile.
“Richard,” Valenti chuckled, leaning back in his leather chair. “I heard you had a rough night. Marcus was ambitious. Stupid, but ambitious. I assume you’re here to ask for my help maintaining order now that your ranks are broken?”
Richard didn’t sit down. He stood at the head of the table, placing the black USB drive on the polished wood.
“I’m here to hand over the keys to the city, Sal,” Richard said flatly.
The room went dead silent. Valenti’s smile vanished.
“Excuse me?” Valenti asked.
“I’m stepping down,” Richard said. “As of this minute, the Moretti family is out of the life. The South Side ports, the unions, the casinos—they’re yours.”
Valenti’s captains exchanged confused, suspicious looks.
“You’re just giving it to me?” Valenti asked, narrowing his eyes. “Why?”
“Because I want out,” Richard said. “And I want a guarantee that my family will never be touched.”
Valenti picked up the USB drive, turning it over in his thick fingers. “And what is this? A parting gift?”
“That is your insurance policy,” I spoke up, stepping forward.
Valenti looked at me, surprised. He wasn’t used to wives speaking in his presence.
“That drive contains every encrypted financial record, payoff, and murder order Richard has collected over twenty years,” I said firmly, locking eyes with the mob boss. “It implicates everyone. Including you.”
Valenti’s face turned bright red. “You bring a wire into my house, Eleanor?”
“It’s not a wire, Sal,” Richard warned, his voice dangerously low. “It’s a dead man’s switch. The drive on the table is encrypted. Only I have the password. But a duplicate of that drive is sitting in a safety deposit box with my lawyer.”
I crossed my arms, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with my husband.
“If anyone in my family is harmed,” I continued, “if anyone even looks at my granddaughter the wrong way, the lawyer mails the unencrypted drive to the FBI. You get the city, Sal. But the cost of doing business is leaving us alone. Forever.”
Valenti stared at us. He was a ruthless man, but he was a pragmatic one. He wanted the territory without a war, and we had just handed it to him on a silver platter.
He slowly set the USB drive back down on the table.
“You’re really walking away from a billion-dollar empire to go plant tomatoes in the suburbs, Richard?” Valenti sneered.
“I’m walking away to keep my soul,” Richard said.
Valenti snorted, lighting his cigar. “Fine. You have my word. The Morettis are dead to us. Enjoy your retirement.”
Richard nodded once. He took my hand, and we turned to leave.
But as we reached the double doors, Valenti called out.
“Eleanor.”
I stopped and looked back.
Valenti reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a sealed, yellowed envelope. He tossed it onto the table.
“Your father-in-law left this with me twenty years ago,” Valenti said, his voice surprisingly quiet. “He told me to give it to Richard the day he finally grew a conscience. Looks like that day is today.”
Richard frowned, walking back to the table and picking up the envelope.
We walked out into the bright Chicago sunlight.
Richard opened the envelope. Inside was a single piece of handwritten paper.
I watched as Richard read his father’s words. Tears immediately welled in his eyes, spilling over onto the paper.
“What does it say?” I asked softly.
Richard looked at me, a brilliant, unburdened smile breaking across his face for the first time in decades.
“He said he was sorry he dragged me into this life. And that he prayed every day I would have the courage to walk away for the woman I loved.”
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