Chapter 6 - Blood and Crown
The grand dining hall downstairs was packed with the most dangerous men in the city. The heads of the five major underworld factions sat around the long mahogany table, their expressions tense. At the head of the table sat Vivienne, looking disheveled but still arrogant, guarded by three of her personal mercenaries.
When Roman walked into the room, the temperature plummeted.
He didn’t bring a weapon. He didn’t need one. His presence alone was enough to silence the room. He walked to the head of the table, stood right behind his mother, and placed both hands on the back of her chair.
“I hear there’s a debate about my father’s will,” Roman said, his voice echoing in the vast room.
An older capo named Dominic cleared his throat. “Roman, we respect you. But the Kane family has been led by men for three generations. Your father’s will specifies a firstborn daughter takes the legal ownership of the trust, the shipping ports, and the central accounts. That’s billions of dollars. We can’t leave that kind of power in the hands of an infant... and a mother from the streets.”
Vivienne smirked. “You see, Roman? The council agrees with me. You ruined your reputation the day you married that girl. I did what had to be done to clean up your mess.”
Roman leaned down, his face inches from Vivienne’s ear. “Marcus, bring out the ledger.”
Marcus stepped forward and threw a heavy, half-burned leather book onto the center of the table. Several of the capos leaned in to look at it.
“That ledger,” Roman stated, “contains forty years of Vivienne’s private transactions. It proves she has been skimming from the union funds, selling out our smuggling routes to the Bratva, and planning to assassinate my father before he could change his will. She didn’t shave my wife’s head to protect the family. She did it to cause a miscarriage, because she knew that if that baby was born, her access to the Kane fortune would be permanently cut off.”
The room erupted into furious whispers. Dominic looked at Vivienne with pure disgust. “Is this true, Vivienne?”
Vivienne slammed her hands on the table, standing up. “It’s a lie! He forged it! He’s trying to usurp my position!”
“I don’t need to usurp anything,” Roman said calmly. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a golden signet ring—the ring of the High Don, which his father had passed to him on his deathbed. “The empire belongs to my daughter. As her father, I am the Regent. Anyone who questions her legitimacy questions me.”
He looked around the room, his eyes lingering on every single capo. “And anyone who stands with my mother stands against the entire Kane syndicate.”
One by one, the capos lowered their heads in submission. Dominic was the first to speak. “We loyal to the bloodline, Roman. The child is the heir.”
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Vivienne backed away, her eyes wide with realization. She looked around the room, but her allies were gone. They had abandoned her the moment they smelled her defeat.
“Take her,” Roman ordered his men. “Lock her in the wine cellar beneath the estate. No light. No phone. No visitors. She stays there until I decide how she dies.”
