로그인The customs inspection started at nine.She had arranged it herself. Called the port authority director at seven in the morning. Told him Romano-De Luca Maritime was requesting a voluntary inspection of their primary vessel. Full sweep. Cargo. Hull. Loading equipment.The director had been surprised.Companies didn't request their own inspections.She told him they believed their security had been compromised and they wanted everything documented officially.He said he would have a team there by nine.She thanked him and hung up and made coffee and waited.At nine-fifteen the inspection team found it.Ricci called her while she was still at the kitchen table."They found the package," he said. "Exactly where Marco's man put it. Under the loading ramp. Magnetic attachment. Sixteen kilos of cocaine wrapped in commercial packaging."Sixteen kilos.Enough to destroy the venture completely if found in a routine inspection without context."Did they photograph the location before removing i
Matteo sent the port security layout at eight that evening.She spread it across the study desk and looked at it properly. He had done more than she asked. Not just the security layout. Vessel positions. Loading schedules. Staff rotations. Access points. Everything a person would need to understand the harbor operation completely.She looked at it for a long time.Then she found it."Here," she said.Lorenzo leaned over her shoulder.She pointed at the layout."The east loading dock," she said. "It's the only point in the whole harbor where the overnight security rotation has a gap. Twelve minutes between the end of one patrol and the start of the next." She looked at him. "Matteo flagged it as something to fix. It's on his improvement list for next month.""Marco's port authority man would know about it," Lorenzo said."Yes," she said. "He works that dock specifically." She looked at the rotation times. "If Marco wants to do something to a vessel or to cargo this is where he does it.
He heard within the hour.She knew because his lawyer called Caselli at eleven-fifteen demanding a copy of any public statement made by the five families concerning his client. Lawyers only made calls like that when their clients already knew something had happened and needed the paper trail.Caselli called her at eleven-twenty."His lawyer is asking questions," Caselli said."Good," she said. "Let him ask."She was in the kitchen eating lunch when the second call came.Not a lawyer this time.Marco himself.Same unknown number as before.She answered on speaker so Lorenzo could hear."You got five signatures," Marco said."Yes," she said."Impressive," he said. "Fourteen months ago half those men believed I was the wronged party.""Things change," she said."Yes," he said. "They do." A pause. "Can I ask you something?""You can ask," she said."Do you actually believe a piece of paper stops me?" he said. "Five old men signing their names on a document. You think that changes anything
The restaurant was called Da Enzo.She noticed the name when they pulled up. She didn't say anything about it. She just looked at the sign for a second and walked in.The owner had closed it for the morning. No regular customers. No staff except one man behind the bar who looked like he had been doing this kind of thing for a long time and had learned not to notice things.The five family heads were already there when she arrived.She was three minutes early.They were all earlier.That told her something. They were curious. Curious men came early because they didn't want to miss the beginning.Crippa was at the head of the table eating bread like he had not had breakfast. Mancini was drinking coffee and looking at his phone. The Calabria man whose name was Ferrante was talking quietly to the man beside him. The other two were watching the door.They all looked at her when she walked in.Then they looked at Lorenzo behind her.Then back at her.She pulled out the chair at the head of
The first call was to Crippa in Naples.She had met him once. At the Montecalvo summit fourteen months ago. Heavy. Sixties. A face that had made every bad decision it had ever made and showed it. He had tested her at lunch with a comment designed to make her react. She had laughed instead.He remembered that."Valeria Romano," he said when he answered. Surprised. Not hiding it."Crippa," she said. "I need twenty minutes of your time tomorrow morning.""What for?" he said."Marco Romano called me from inside a prison cell this evening," she said. "He told me he's done being patient. I think you should hear what that means before he calls you."Silence."Where?" Crippa said."Neutral ground," she said. "Your choice."Another silence. Shorter."There's a restaurant in Salerno," he said. "I'll text you the address.""Nine in the morning," she said."Nine," he agreed.She hung up.Lorenzo was across the desk watching her work."Crippa is in," she said."He always liked you," Lorenzo said.
Ricci was waiting at the gate when she arrived.That told her everything.Ricci didn't wait at gates. Ricci sent people to gates. The fact that he was standing there himself at seven in the evening with his jacket on and his phone in his hand meant whatever Lorenzo had told him on the call had moved him personally.She stopped the car and got out."How bad?" she said."We've had three vehicles do slow passes on the north road since four this afternoon," he said. "Different plates each time. Different cars. But the same two men in each one.""You're sure it's the same men?""Camera caught their faces," he said. "Same men. Three different cars. They're not even trying to be subtle about it.""Marco doesn't need to be subtle anymore," she said. "That's the point."She walked through the gate.Lorenzo was in the courtyard.He looked at her the moment she came through. Not the checking-if-she-was-okay look. The we-have-a-problem look. The one where his jaw was set and his eyes were already
The appeal failed on Friday morning.Caselli called at nine to confirm it. The judge had reviewed the new evidence overnight. Bianchi's arrest. Giulia Sartori's testimony about being taken. The financial transfers connecting Bianchi directly to the Romano operation. The recantation document falling
They drove back through the night.She fell asleep somewhere south of Rome and woke up to the estate gates opening in the dark and the specific sound of gravel under tyres that she had come to recognise as the sound of arriving.Lorenzo parked.She sat for a moment before getting out.The estate wa
They reached Naples at six.Ferraro met them two streets from the warehouse. She was standing beside a grey car with her jacket collar up against the evening wind coming off the port. She looked at Valeria when they pulled up with the expression of someone who had news and was deciding how to order
His name was Rizzo.Fifty-something. Grey at the temples. The kind of face that had heard too many arguments from too many lawyers and had stopped being impressed by any of them. He sat behind his desk and looked at Valeria and Caselli and said nothing while they set the documents in front of him.







