Chapter 5 - Whispers in the Shadows
While peace reigned inside the Whitaker estate, the streets of Chicago were turning into a slaughterhouse.
In a smoky, windowless backroom of an abandoned meatpacking plant on the South Side, Marco Moretti slammed a thick manila folder onto a steel table. Across from him sat four capos from allied syndicates, their faces illuminated only by the harsh glow of overhead strip lights.
""Whitaker is slipping,"" Marco hissed, his scarred face twisting with vicious delight. He spread a dozen photographs across the table.
The pictures showed Ethan at the ice arena, holding Ava’s hand as she walked down the steps. Another showed Ethan laughing by the poolside rink, wrapping an expensive coat around Ava’s shoulders while Sophie skated in the background.
""For three years, Ethan Whitaker has lived like a ghost behind a wall of titanium and federal judges,"" Marco continued, tapping the photograph of Ava’s face. ""No weaknesses. No mistresses. No openings. But now? He’s playing nursemaid to a dying skater girl. He’s distracted. His security details are rotating to guard medical shipments coming in from Switzerland instead of watching our movements at the southern railyards.""
""What’s the play, Marco?"" asked an older mobster, leaning forward. ""Whitaker still controls the docks and half the city council. If you take a shot at him and miss, he’ll wipe out every family in Cook County.""
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""We don't shoot him,"" Marco grinned, his eyes gleaming with psychopathic malice. ""A dead king just leaves a throne for another boss to take. We break him. We take what makes him human. The little girl is his soul, and this skater is his new heart. We take them both. We make him sign over every shipping route, every port account, and every dirty ledger he owns. And when he’s on his knees, stripped of his empire... we bury all three of them in the lake.""
Marco turned to his right-hand enforcer, a hulking mercenary known only as Razor. ""Find out who supplies Whitaker’s estate. Groceries, fuel, medical gear. Everyone has a price, and everyone has a family they care about. I want a breach within seventy-two hours.""
