Chapter 18 - The Shadow Commission
The words echoed in the cold concrete chamber like an explosion far louder than any bomb.
I froze, the gun in my hand suddenly weighing a thousand pounds.
I turned my head slowly, looking at Carlo.
Carlo didn't look at his uncle; he looked directly at me.
His face was pale, his eyes wide with a terror I had never seen in him—not when bullets were flying, not when he was bleeding to death on his own floor.
"Bianca..." Carlo whispered, his voice cracking into pieces.
"Is it true?" I asked, my voice terrifyingly calm, while inside, my entire world tore at the seams.
"It was a setup," Roberto hissed from his wheelchair, enjoying every second of our torment. "Salvatore sent the boy to run a courier off the road. He never told Carlo who was in the car. But the law doesn't care about ignorance, does it? Vehicular homicide. Conspiracy. First-degree murder."
Roberto tapped the screen with his knuckles.
"The dashcam footage and the original police files are already on their way to the Commission and the Department of Justice," Roberto declared. "You're finished, Carlo. You'll spend the rest of your life in ADX Florence, and your precious little wife will watch your empire get carved up like Sunday roast."
Carlo stepped forward, raising his gun, ready to end the old man’s life right then and there.
"Carlo, stop!" I barked with an authority that stopped his finger on the trigger.
I lowered my weapon, walking past Carlo until I was standing inches from Roberto's wheelchair.
"You really should have studied my resume before trying to blackmail me with legal threats, Roberto," I said quietly, leaning down until our faces were inches apart.
Roberto blinked, confused by my lack of hysteria.
"Before I married Carlo, I spent three years working as a clerk for the Illinois Supreme Court appellate division," I informed him, my voice devoid of emotion.
"The statute of limitations on vehicular homicide without pre-meditation expired six years ago," I said, pointing at the flashing console. "And as for the dashcam footage? The chain of custody was broken the moment you stored it on an unencrypted civilian server in Cook County."
I reached down, grabbed the master flash drive from the console port, and snapped it in half between my fingers, tossing the pieces into a cup of hot motor oil on the desk.
"Arthur Vance was my father," I continued, staring into the old man's terrified eyes. "And if the man who raised me taught me anything, it was that dead men don't testify, and fabricated files don't survive a federal grand jury."
I turned back to Carlo, whose eyes were filled with an agonizing mixture of gratitude, shock, and reverent awe.
"Call the clean-up crew, Carlo," I ordered smoothly. "And contact the New York Commission. Tell Don Moretti that the Donna of Chicago requests an immediate summit at Lake Geneva tomorrow at noon."
Roberto stared at me in disbelief. "You... you're protecting him? He killed your father!"
"My father died because of the greed of men like you and Salvatore," I said coldly, walking toward the exit without looking back. "Carlo spent seven years keeping me safe from that darkness. He is my husband, my sovereign, and my home. And you are just an old ghost waiting to be buried."
As we walked out into the misty dawn, Carlo caught my arm near the SUV.
He pulled me against him, his hands trembling as he touched my face.
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"Bianca... why didn't you let me kill him?" Carlo asked, his voice raw. "Why did you defend me after hearing that?"
"Because I saw your face, Carlo," I whispered, resting my forehead against his chest. "You didn't know. You were a boy manipulated by monsters. But today, you are the man who rules Chicago with me. And tomorrow, we take the fight to New York."
