Chapter 14 - THE VIPER'S NEST
Paranoia was a disease that spread quickly in the underworld. Evelyn locked down the syndicate. No one went in, no one went out. She turned the boardroom into an interrogation chamber. She reviewed every phone record, every bank transfer, every whisper of communication between their lieutenants and the East Coast.
She narrowed it down to three suspects: Dante, the head of the South Side rackets; Silva, Lorenzo’s chief accountant; and Julian, the young hotshot who ran the downtown casinos. Evelyn sat at the head of the long mahogany table, the three men sitting nervously before her. Armed guards stood by the doors.
"Lorenzo is recovering," Evelyn lied smoothly. Her voice was ice. "Which means whoever sold him out has a very short window to confess before he comes back and handles it himself. But I am not as patient as Lorenzo."
She slid a thick folder across the table. It stopped in front of Silva.
"Ten million dollars," Evelyn said softly. "Transferred to a shell corporation in the Cayman Islands three days ago. The exact amount the Calabrese family pays for a high-value assassination."
Silva began to sweat profusely. "Evelyn, wait, I can explain! It was an investment for the family, I swear!"
"You're a numbers man, Silva," Evelyn said, standing up and drawing a suppressed pistol from her shoulder holster. "Calculate the odds of me believing that."
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Silva broke. He fell to his knees, begging, confessing that the New York faction had threatened his family. Evelyn looked down at him, feeling no pity, only the cold reality of the life she had chosen. She didn't pull the trigger. She turned to Marco. "Take him to the warehouse. Extract every name he gave to New York. When he's empty, make sure he doesn't see tomorrow."
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