Chapter 13 - The Sentence
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“Matteo, please!” Lorenzo shouted, dropping heavily to his knees on the marble floor. “I’ll give you back everything! I’ll leave the country! You’ll never see me again!”
Matteo looked at the pathetic man groveling on the floor. Killing Lorenzo here and now would be easy, but it would also be messy. More importantly, it wouldn't solve his biggest problem. The rival families smelled blood in the water. They knew Matteo was crippled. If he just killed his underboss, it would look like an emotional, chaotic reaction.
He needed to be strategic. He needed to be terrifyingly calculated.
“Stand up, Lorenzo,” Matteo commanded, his voice sharp and absolute.
Lorenzo slowly scrambled to his feet, trembling violently.
“You’re going to leave this house,” Matteo said, leaning back in his wheelchair. “You are going to go back to the streets, and you are going to tell every single capo, soldier, and associate that Matteo Rinaldi is back in charge. You are going to act as my mouthpiece. You will take my orders, and you will execute them perfectly.”
Lorenzo looked confused, wiping the sweat from his eyes. “You… you’re letting me live?”
“For now,” Matteo said, his eyes narrowing dangerously. “But know this, Lorenzo. You are a dead man walking. You breathe because I allow it. If you betray me again, if you so much as hesitate when I give an order, I won't just kill you. I will wipe your entire bloodline off the face of the earth. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Boss. Thank you, Boss,” Lorenzo stammered, bowing repeatedly.
“Get out of my sight,” Matteo barked.
Lorenzo practically sprinted out of the ballroom, disappearing into the foyer.
May you like
Matteo then turned his cold, dead gaze entirely onto Celeste, who was frozen in her chair.
“And as for you,” Matteo whispered softly. “You wanted my empire, Celeste. So, you can keep it. You are never leaving this mansion again. You are a prisoner in the kingdom you tried to steal.”
