Chapter 10 - A NEW ERA IN THE ONYX ROOM: WHEN THE WHISPER BECAME A LEGEND
Six months later, the Onyx Room was busier than ever.
The black steel door with no sign still required an invitation, the air still smelled of aged mahogany and expensive smoke, and judges, CEOs, and politicians still sat in the private velvet booths whispering about things that could change the city.
In the back booth—the most private one, shielded by frosted glass—sat Vincent Romano.
Beside him sat Chloe Vance, now the chief financial officer of Romano Holdings, wearing an elegant emerald silk dress that shimmered under the warm amber lights of the jazz stage.
Across from them sat Leo Donati, laughing loudly as he recounted an old story about the docks.
The jazz band was playing a slow, smooth melody that drifted across the crowded room.
A young waitress walked up to their table carrying a bottle of vintage Cabernet wrapped in a white cloth. Her name tag read Mia. She poured the wine into Vincent’s crystal glass with hands that didn't tremble at all.
“Will there be anything else, Mr. Romano?” she asked politely.
Vincent lifted his glass, his dark eyes catching the amber light of the room. He looked at Chloe, who smiled back, raising her own glass in a silent toast.
“No, Mia,” Vincent said smoothly, a faint, rare smile touching his lips. “That will be all.”
The waitress nodded, turned, and disappeared back into the shadows of the club.
Vincent took a sip of the wine, feeling the warmth spread through his chest.
The past was buried. The enemies were gone. And the empire was secure.
In the underworld of Chicago, people still whispered about the night a waitress leaned close to the most dangerous man in the city and whispered three words that changed everything.
Some said she was a ghost. Some said she was an angel of vengeance.
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Vincent knew the truth.
She was the woman who saved his life, the partner who burned an empire to the ground, and the only person in the world he would ever truly trust.
