Chapter 4 - The Dinner Table
Carlo Falcone waited in the mansion’s formal dining room.
The table had been set for three.
Damian entered first.
Martha followed.
Victor walked behind them with his gun.
Carlo rose.
“My nephew.”
Damian looked at the table.
“You set dinner.”
“I was raised properly.”
“You ordered a sniper to shoot me in the shower.”
Carlo smiled.
“No family is perfect.”
Martha stared at him.
“Did you kill Andrew?”
Carlo’s eyes moved toward her.
“You must be Martha.”
“Answer me.”
Carlo poured wine.
“Your brother was very stubborn.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“It is the only one you’re getting.”
Damian pulled out a chair.
“Sit, Martha.”
She looked at him as if he had lost his mind.
Damian sat.
Carlo smiled.
“That’s why I always liked you. You understand ceremony.”
“I understand delaying tactics.”
Victor’s expression changed.
Carlo stopped pouring.
Damian continued.
“You’re waiting for confirmation.”
“Of what?”
“That Ortiz never reaches the house.”
For the first time, Carlo looked concerned.
Damian smiled.
“You didn’t know I called her.”
Victor raised his weapon.
“Phone.”
Damian placed it on the table.
Victor checked it.
“No outgoing call.”
“Wrong phone.”
Victor struck Damian across the face.
Martha moved.
Damian stopped her with one glance.
Carlo sighed.
“Victor. Manners.”
Victor stepped back.
Carlo sat opposite Damian.
“You could have had everything.”
“I already had everything.”
“You spent years cleaning up your father’s empire.”
“I spent years making sure children didn’t inherit wars started by old men.”
Carlo’s smile disappeared.
“You made us weak.”
“No. I made us difficult to prosecute.”
“You closed businesses your grandfather built.”
“I closed businesses that destroyed neighborhoods.”
Carlo leaned forward.
“You forgot what your name means.”
Damian answered quietly.
“No. I decided what it would mean after me.”
Martha watched the two men.
This was not simply a fight for money.
It was a fight over what the Falcone name would become.
Carlo turned toward Martha.
“Your brother understood numbers. Unfortunately, he never understood power.”
“He understood you.”
Carlo smiled.
“Not soon enough.”
Martha’s jaw tightened.
“So you did kill him.”
Victor suddenly said, “Carlo.”
Too late.
Martha looked directly at Carlo.
“Thank you.”
Carlo frowned.
“For what?”
“For saying it.”
She opened her hand.
A tiny recorder rested in her palm.
Victor lunged.
Damian overturned the table.
Glasses shattered.
Martha dropped to the floor.
Damian drove his shoulder into Victor.
Victor’s gun skidded away.
Carlo shouted.
Armed men rushed toward the room.
Then alarms exploded throughout the mansion.
Red emergency lights flashed.
Victor froze.
Damian smiled.
“You should really learn your own security system.”
Teresa’s voice came through the house speakers.
“Boston Police. Front gate.”
Carlo stared at Damian.
“You brought police into my family’s home?”
“My home.”
Damian punched Victor.
Victor crashed into the wall.
Martha grabbed his gun.
“Don’t move.”
Victor looked at her.
“You won’t shoot.”
Martha pointed the weapon at his chest.
“You killed my brother.”
“No. Carlo ordered it.”
“And you arranged it.”
Victor smiled.
“You want revenge? Take it.”
Martha’s finger tightened.
Damian looked at her.
He did not tell her what to do.
That mattered.
Martha slowly lowered the weapon.
“No.”
Victor laughed.
“Weak.”
“No.”
She looked him directly in the eyes.
“Andrew wanted the truth exposed. He didn’t ask me to become you.”
Police sirens filled the courtyard.
Victor’s smile disappeared.
Then Carlo pulled a pistol from beneath the table.
He aimed at Martha.
Damian saw it first.
May you like
“Martha!”
The gun fired.
