Chapter 5 - The Night the Costa Empire Burned
The safe house attack lasted eleven minutes.
It felt like eleven hours.
Vincent kept Mave behind an interior wall while Leo coordinated security.
The attackers were not random gunmen.
They knew entrances.
Blind spots.
Alarm delays.
Someone had given them security plans.
The second traitor was still inside.
“Basement exit,” Leo shouted.
Vincent grabbed Mave.
They moved downstairs.
At the emergency door, a man waited.
Vincent stopped.
Mave recognized him.
Daniel Russo.
Vincent’s head of security.
Someone trusted more than Salvatore.
Daniel raised his gun.
Leo froze.
“Danny?”
Daniel looked exhausted.
“Sorry.”
Vincent moved slightly in front of Mave.
“Why?”
“Your father promised me the organization.”
“Twenty years ago?”
“Yes.”
Vincent understood.
Enzo had planted succession conflicts before dying.
Salvatore believed the empire should be his.
Daniel believed the same.
Enzo had ensured his son would never be surrounded by loyalty.
Only competition.
Mave whispered:
“He wanted you isolated.”
Vincent looked at her.
Exactly.
His father had designed the organization so nobody could trust anyone.
Daniel raised the gun.
“You got soft.”
Vincent almost laughed.
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
“Because of her.”
Mave stepped out.
Vincent grabbed her wrist.
“Mave.”
She ignored him.
“You’re wrong.”
Daniel looked at her.
“You think he’s weak because he cares about someone.”
“Correct.”
“No. You’re weak because you spent twenty years waiting for a dead man’s permission to become important.”
Daniel’s face tightened.
“Careful.”
“You built nothing.”
“Mave.”
Vincent’s warning came too late.
Daniel pointed the gun toward her.
Vincent moved.
Leo moved.
A shot exploded.
Daniel fell.
His weapon slid across the floor.
Mave screamed.
Leo stood frozen, gun raised.
Daniel was alive.
Shoulder wound.
Vincent kicked the weapon away.
“Call an ambulance.”
Leo looked surprised.
“Seriously?”
“Yes.”
Vincent looked at Mave.
She understood.
This was not mercy because Daniel deserved it.
It was Vincent refusing to become Enzo.
Police eventually arrived.
Daniel survived.
The shadow organization collapsed.
Salvatore and Daniel faced prosecution.
Records recovered from Mayflower exposed old crimes.
And Vincent made a decision nobody expected.
He dismantled the Costa Syndicate.
Not overnight.
Not magically.
He separated legitimate businesses.
Closed criminal operations.
Turned evidence over through attorneys.
Accepted that doing so could expose him too.
Mave stood in his office the day he signed the final restructuring documents.
Same mahogany desk.
Same Persian rug.
Different man.
“What happens now?” she asked.
Vincent signed.
“I find out who Vincent Costa is when nobody fears the last name.”
“That sounds terrifying.”
“It is.”
She smiled.
“And me?”
His pen stopped.
“What about you?”
“My employment status.”
“You’re fired.”
Mave stared.
“What?”
“You cannot be my secretary anymore.”
“Excuse me?”
Vincent stood.
“I’m in love with you.”
Her anger disappeared.
Mostly.
“That is not an acceptable HR termination procedure.”
“I’ll provide severance.”
“I hate you.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Arrogant.”
“Yes.”
He stepped closer.
“I want you somewhere you can choose me without wondering whether your paycheck depends on it.”
That silenced her.
He handed her an envelope.
She narrowed her eyes.
“What is this?”
“Not money.”
She opened it.
Articles of incorporation.
COLLINS LOGISTICS CONSULTING.
Owner:
Mave Collins.
Her eyes widened.
“I didn’t ask for a company.”
“I didn’t buy you one.”
She checked.
No assets.
No money.
Just registration fees already paid.
“You registered a name?”
“Yes.”
“That’s it?”
“Yes.”
She laughed.
“You’re learning.”
“I have an excellent teacher.”
Mave looked around the office.
Three years earlier, she entered this room believing she was invisible.
Now the empire around it was ending.
May you like
And strangely, she felt no sadness.
Only relief.
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