Chapter 8 - The Council of Blood and Steel
At 2:00 PM, the 50th-floor executive boardroom of the Moretti Tower was packed with thirty senior family capos, port directors, and elder trustees.
At the head of the seventy-foot mahogany table sat Uncle Silvio and Uncle Carlo—the two surviving patriarchs who had built the empire alongside Dante’s late father.
Julian Moretti sat on the right side of the table, tapping his gold pen nervously, checking the clock every thirty seconds.
“Where is Dante?” Uncle Silvio grumbled, adjusting his glasses. “He called an emergency council assembly and hasn’t arrived.”
“Perhaps Dante is dealing with personal distractions, Uncle,” Julian spoke up smoothly, attempting to mask his panic. “Given the increasing pressure on our shipping lines, I propose that the council vote to grant my office executive operational control—”
BOOM.
The heavy double oak doors of the boardroom were thrown open with a resounding, concussive crash.
Every elder and director leaped to their feet.
Walking down the center aisle, dressed in an immaculate three-piece midnight-navy suit, radiating sovereign, terrifying power, was Dante Moretti.
Beside him walked Elena, looking breathtakingly elegant in a tailored dark emerald silk dress, her head held high with regal dignity.
And holding Dante’s hand was five-year-old Lily, dressed in a pretty white dress with a yellow ribbon in her hair, looking around the room with bright, curious eyes.
Julian’s pen snapped in half between his trembling fingers.
His eyes bugged out of his skull as he stared at Elena and the child standing alive and unblemished before the entire family.
“Elena…?” Uncle Silvio whispered in stunned disbelief. “You… you were gone for five years!”
“Elena didn’t leave by choice, Uncle Silvio,” Dante announced, his deep baritone commanding effortless, pin-drop silence across the room.
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Dante lifted Lily onto the center of the mahogany table, gently holding her hand as she smiled at the elders.
“Meet Lily Moretti,” Dante declared, his voice ringing like iron. “My daughter. And the sole heir to the Moretti dynasty.”
