Chapter 7 - The Whisper Campaign
With Marcus weakened and Leo entirely broke, the alliance against Silas began to crack. Paranoia is a poison, and Silas knew exactly how to administer it.
He used his remaining loyal contacts to spread rumors through the city's underground. He leaked doctored bank records showing that Marcus had been embezzling money from Leo’s family for years. He planted a fake informant who told Leo that Marcus was planning to pin the entire failed coup on him to avoid Silas’s wrath.
By the end of the week, Silas didn't even have to fire a bullet.
Leo and Marcus turned on each other.
A shootout at a downtown nightclub between Leo's desperate, unpaid thugs and Marcus's remaining loyalists made the evening news. The syndicate was tearing itself apart from the inside.
"They are weak, Boss," Declan reported, standing in the Lake House study. "The remaining capos who stayed neutral are terrified. They want a sit-down. They want to pledge loyalty to you again."
"Of course they do," Silas sneered, petting a stray cat that Mila had somehow convinced Declan to rescue from the woods. "They want to back the winning horse. Set the meeting. Tomorrow night. At the Astor Grand."
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"Where it all started," Declan grinned.
"Exactly," Silas said. "I want to finish cutting my birthday cake."
