Chapter 10 - A Kingdom Built on Napkins and Blood
The rain had stopped by the time Evelyn returned to the Moretti Tower.
The city lights of Chicago stretched out beneath her like a map of conquered territory. Every bridge, every dock, every high-rise, and every back alley now answered to the new order.
As she stepped out of the private elevator onto the penthouse level, Lorenzo was standing by the floor-to-ceiling glass, holding two crystal glasses of bourbon. He turned, looking at her damp coat and the faint smell of smoke clinging to her shoulders.
He didn't ask where she had been. He already knew. Information in Chicago had a way of flowing upward, straight to the top of the food chain.
Lorenzo walked over, handing her one of the glasses. Their fingers brushed—warm, steady, and unbreakable.
“Is it finished?” he asked quietly.
Evelyn took a sip of the bourbon, letting the liquid burn away the last lingering ghosts of her past. She looked out over the endless sprawl of the city they now owned together.
“It’s finished,” she replied, a faint, genuine smile touching her lips.
She walked over to her desk, picking up the framed cocktail napkin resting beneath the glass—the lipstick-stained scrap of paper that had started a war, destroyed an empire, and forged a queen.
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Lorenzo stepped up behind her, wrapping a strong arm around her waist, pulling her close against his chest as the Chicago skyline glittered below them like a million fallen stars.
They had survived the trap. They had burned down the past. And from the ashes, they had built a kingdom that would never fall again.
