CHAPTER 15 — The Boss in the Boardroom
Ten years have passed since we buried Vincent.
I am thirty-two now. I didn't stay at the corporate law firm. I didn't need to. I took the reins of Kane Holdings and transformed it into the most powerful, clean philanthropic and real estate conglomerate in the Midwest.
We build affordable housing in the neighborhoods the city forgot. We fund scholarships for kids who grew up hungry, just like I did. And behind the scenes, whenever a corrupt landlord tries to evict a struggling family, or a predatory lender tries to ruin a small business... they get a visit from a very polite, very large man with a scar on his face.
They are reminded, gently, that Chicago still has rules.
My mother is mostly retired, spending her days tending to her rooftop gardens and spoiling her grandchildren—my twin boys, who run around the bakery with flour on their noses and not a care in the world.
Sometimes, when the city is quiet and the snow falls softly against the glass windows of my penthouse office, I pull out a small, faded piece of paper from my desk drawer.
It is wrinkled, the edges yellowed with age. The blue ink of my mother's handwriting lists her shifts, and down the side, drawn with a wobbly, broken crayon, are the purple stars.
It reminds me of where I came from. It reminds me of the hunger, the desperation, and the day everything changed.
Yesterday, a young woman came into my office. She was a waitress at a high-end downtown restaurant. She was shaking, terrified, clutching a stack of unpaid wage claims against a powerful, politically connected restaurateur who thought he was untouchable.
"They told me to come to you," the young woman whispered, tears streaming down her face. "They said you help people when the law won't."
I looked at her, seeing the ghost of my mother in her tired eyes.
I reached across the desk, took her trembling hand, and offered her a smile that was both gentle and utterly terrifying.
May you like
"You came to the right place," I said softly, sliding a piece of paper toward her. "Tell me exactly how much he owes you."
Because I am Rory Carter. I was raised by a baker and a mobster. And in my city, nobody goes unpaid.
