Chapter 17 - A Dangerous Retaliation
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While Norah took control of the corporate empire, a darker storm was brewing in the criminal underbelly of the city.
Richard Bennett was a desperate man. Over the past five years, to keep his failing company afloat, he hadn't just borrowed money from legitimate banks. He had taken massive, high-interest loans from the Romanov syndicate—a brutal Russian mafia faction that controlled the city's docks.
In a dark, smoke-filled warehouse on the South Side, Richard sat bruised and bleeding in a metal chair. Standing over him was Viktor Romanov.
“You owe us forty million dollars, Richard,” Viktor said, his thick accent dripping with menace. “And I hear you no longer have a company to pay us back with.”
“It wasn't my fault!” Richard sobbed, spitting blood onto the concrete. “My daughter... my youngest daughter, Norah. She had the bearer bonds. She stole the company from me! Adrien Moretti is backing her!”
Viktor paused, his cold blue eyes narrowing. The Romanovs and the Morettis had been in a cold war for a decade. A direct attack on Adrien was suicide. But a hit on his new vulnerability? That was leverage.
“This daughter,” Viktor mused, lighting a thick cigar. “Moretti loves her?”
“He’s obsessed with her,” Richard nodded eagerly, willing to sell his own child to save his life. “She still works at a historical conservation lab downtown. She has minimal security there. If you take her, Moretti will give you whatever you want. He’ll sign the company over to you.”
May you like
Viktor smiled, a terrifying stretch of scarred tissue. “Very well, Richard. We will collect the girl. But if you are lying, I will feed you to the dogs.”
Viktor signaled to his lieutenants. Heavily armed men in tactical gear loaded into three unmarked black vans, heading straight for the city center. The Bennett family’s greed was about to bring a full-scale mafia war to Norah’s doorstep.
