Chapter 9 - The Unraveling Empire
Luca sat in his penthouse office on the thirty-fourth floor of the Ferraro Tower in downtown Boston.
The sun was setting behind the city skyline, casting bloody streaks of orange and crimson across the floor-to-ceiling glass windows.
The office was completely dark; he had not turned on a single lamp all afternoon.
On his vast glass desk sat a half-empty bottle of bourbon and a stack of signed legal documents.
The door to the executive suite swung open without a knock.
Nora walked in, wearing a sharp navy business suit with her hair tied back in a hurried ponytail.
She carried an armful of legal folders and threw them onto the sofa with a frustrated thud.
“The board just adjourned their emergency session,” Nora said, leaning her hands on the back of a leather armchair.
Luca didn't look up from his glass.
“Did they accept my terms?”
“They didn't have a choice, Luca!” Nora yelled, her voice trembling with stress.
“You gave them an ultimatum: either they approve the sale of our European port assets to the Danish conglomerate, or you pull your personal voting equity and force the company into immediate receivership!”
“Good,” Luca murmured, taking a slow sip of the amber liquor.
“It’s not good, Luca! Are you out of your mind?”
Nora rounded the desk, staring down at her older brother with wide, panicked eyes.
“Arthur Russo is suing us for breach of fiduciary duty in Delaware Chancery Court!”
“He claims you orchestrated the cancellation of the wedding and the port merger deliberately to devalue his family’s stock holdings!”
“Arthur can file whatever lawsuits he wants,” Luca said, his voice chillingly calm.
“He signed a non-binding letter of intent regarding the European merger.”
“My lawyers have already verified that the exclusivity clause expired at midnight on Sunday.”
Nora dropped into the chair across from him, pressing her palms against her temples.
“Mom is having a complete nervous breakdown in Watch Hill, Luca.”
“She has locked herself in her suite.”
“Three of the society boards in Newport have already quietly removed her name from their autumn gala committees.”
“The rumors are everywhere.”
“They’re saying Claire left you at the altar because she found out about you and Vivienne.”
Luca set his glass down on the desk with a heavy thud.
“What did you say?”
Nora looked up, her expression grim.
“Vivienne’s public relations firm leaked a blind item to the Boston Herald this morning.”
“It hints that the wedding was called off because of Claire’s ‘unstable mental state’ and claims that you and Vivienne have been privately reconciling behind the scenes for months.”
Luca’s dark eyes narrowed into slits of razor-sharp fury.
“Vivienne leaked that?”
“Her agency’s digital fingerprints are all over the press release metadata,” Nora said, pulling a printed document from her pocket.
“Marcus traced the originating IP address back to Russo Maritime’s corporate communications server in Manhattan.”
“She is trying to box you into a corner, Luca.”
“She wants the world to believe that you belong to her, even if she has to drag Claire’s name through the gutter to do it.”
Luca stood up slowly from behind his desk.
All the exhaustion and despair that had weighed him down for seventy-two hours seemed to burn away into cold, lethal purpose.
“Where is Vivienne right now?” Luca asked, buttoning his charcoal suit jacket.
“She’s at the Four Seasons in Boston,” Nora answered.
“Her father booked the Presidential Suite for their legal strategy meetings.”
“Call Marcus,” Luca ordered, walking toward the private executive elevator.
“Tell him to bring the surveillance footage from the Ocean House rehearsal dinner.”
Nora stood up quickly, hurrying after him.
“Luca, what are you going to do?”
“I spent my entire life trying to be the polite, diplomatic heir my mother wanted,” Luca said, stepping into the elevator cab.
“I let them turn my life into a corporate portfolio.”
“I let them humiliate the only woman who ever loved me for who I was, not for what I had in the bank.”
May you like
He turned to face his sister as the elevator doors began to slide shut.
“Now I’m going to show Arthur Russo and his daughter exactly what happens when you try to use my name to destroy someone I love.”
