Chapter 17 - The Trial That Shook Chicago
Matteo Rossi’s trial lasted six weeks.
Chicago treated it like a championship season.
Reporters camped outside the courthouse.
Politicians suddenly remembered they opposed organized crime.
Former associates discovered morality after receiving subpoenas.
I testified on the ninth day.
Adrian sat behind the prosecution table.
My mother sat beside Elisabetta.
Lucia Rossi sat separately under federal protection.
Matteo stared at me as I took the oath.
He smiled.
I didn't.
The prosecutor asked about the bridal-shop attack.
The docks.
The kidnapping attempt.
Then my father.
She introduced Michael Carter’s ledgers.
Names connected to decades of corruption.
Several retired officials were indicted before the trial even ended.
Then Matteo’s attorney stood.
He was good.
Expensive.
Smug.
“Miss Carter, isn't it true you are engaged to Adrian Voss?”
“Yes.”
“A billionaire whose father appears repeatedly in these criminal records?”
“Yes.”
“And Mr. Voss killed Giancarlo Rossi?”
Silence fell.
“Yes.”
“Yet he has never been charged.”
“Correct.”
“So your testimony benefits your fiancé.”
“My testimony benefits the truth.”
He smiled.
“Very dramatic.”
“No. Accurate.”
He walked closer.
“You went from unemployed waitress to millionaire foundation chairwoman in less than six months.”
“Correct.”
“You received luxury housing access.”
“Yes.”
“Medical benefits for your mother.”
“Yes.”
“A vehicle.”
“Yes.”
“An engagement ring worth approximately one million dollars.”
I glanced at Adrian.
“I told him that was excessive.”
The jury laughed.
The attorney did not.
“My point, Miss Carter, is that your entire life improved after becoming involved with Adrian Voss.”
“My mother survived cancer.”
“Yes.”
“I don't apologize for being grateful.”
“Could gratitude affect your memory?”
“No.”
“Could love?”
I looked at Adrian.
Then at Matteo.
“Love made me confront Adrian when he lied to me.”
The attorney paused.
“That wasn't my question.”
“It answers it.”
The prosecutor smiled.
Matteo stopped smiling.
Then Lucia testified.
She destroyed him.
She described Giancarlo’s organization.
Matteo’s recruitment.
Drug routes.
Extortion.
Murder orders.
The attack plans.
Finally, federal agents played recorded calls in which Matteo ordered Tomas to abduct me.
The defense collapsed.
But the biggest shock came on the final day.
Adrian testified voluntarily.
His attorneys begged him not to.
He ignored them.
Of course.
He admitted publicly that his father had operated criminal businesses.
He admitted inheriting questionable assets.
He described dismantling them.
Then the prosecutor asked:
“Mr. Voss, did you kill Giancarlo Rossi?”
The room froze.
Adrian looked at me.
Then answered.
“Yes.”
Gasps exploded.
His lawyers nearly died.
The judge demanded order.
The prosecutor continued.
“Why have you never been charged?”
“Because investigators concluded the shooting occurred during an active armed kidnapping where Rossi was threatening multiple hostages.”
“Do you regret killing him?”
Adrian went silent.
Then:
“I regret becoming the kind of man who believed killing was the only language available.”
My eyes filled.
The prosecutor asked, “And today?”
“Today I believe power means creating systems where men like Giancarlo don't control who receives justice.”
Matteo looked disgusted.
Adrian continued.
“My father taught me fear creates loyalty.”
He looked toward me.
“Sophie taught me fear creates obedience. They are not the same.”
The courtroom became perfectly quiet.
Three days later, the jury returned.
Guilty.
Every major count.
Matteo shouted as marshals restrained him.
“This isn't over!”
Adrian didn't move.
Neither did I.
For us, it was.
Matteo received life in federal prison.
Lucia entered witness protection.
Tomas received twelve years.
The old Rossi network collapsed.
But consequences reached Adrian too.
Federal regulators opened a full review of inherited Voss assets.
Adrian welcomed it.
“Open every book,” he told them.
For the first time, his empire had nothing to hide.
Then one morning, the review team found something neither of us expected.
A two-hundred-million-dollar account in Adrian’s name.
Money he had never known existed.
Money traced directly to extortion carried out by his father.
The government could seize it.
Adrian had another idea.
He looked at me.
May you like
“Let’s give it away first.”
And that decision would change Chicago forever.
