Chapter 9 - The Cleansing
Lorenzo looked at Sofia, then back down at his wife. The betrayal was a poison in his veins, but the cure was absolute authority. In his world, mercy was a luxury that always, invariably, got you killed.
"What do we do with her?" Sofia asked, her voice strictly professional, awaiting an order from her new employer.
"I cannot kill the woman I swore before God to love," Lorenzo said quietly. Isabella looked up, a desperate glimmer of hope sparking in her tear-filled eyes.
"Oh, thank you, Lorenzo, thank you! I swear, I will disappear. You will never see me again!"
"You are absolutely right," Lorenzo said, stepping past her and walking toward the front doors. "You will disappear."
He stopped at the threshold, looking out into the dark, expansive grounds of his estate. The rain had begun to fall, washing away the blood on the gravel outside.
"Sofia," Lorenzo said without turning around.
"Yes, Mr. Rossi."
"You are no longer a maid in this house. As of tonight, you are my Underboss. And your first official duty is to clean up this foyer."
Isabella screamed.
Lorenzo walked out into the cool night air, the heavy oak doors closing behind him with a definitive thud, cutting off the sound of Isabella's panicked shrieks and the single, sharp crack of a suppressed pistol.
The silence that followed was profound.
May you like
Lorenzo stood on the sprawling front porch, breathing in the scent of rain and wet earth. The empire he had built had tried to consume him, eating itself from the inside out. He had survived, but he was leaving this house a different man. The husband and the uncle were dead.
Only the Don remained.
