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8. The Morning of Ash and Silk
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2026-01-03 11:00:00The morning light did not filter into the master suite; it stabbed through the heavy velvet curtains, gray and unforgiving. Roman woke with a heaviness in his lungs that had nothing to do with the storm and everything to do with the woman currently tangled in his arms.
The "exile" was failing. He was supposed to be in his own bed in Manhattan, preparing for a briefing on the Brooklyn docks. Instead, he was inhaling the scent of vanilla and expensive gunpowder that seemed to cling to Angeline’s skin even in sleep.He looked down at her. Without the mask of the "Lombardi Princess," she looked younger, yet somehow more dangerous. Her dark hair was splayed across his chest, and one of her legs was hooked over his hip. The silk nightgown she had been wearing was bunched at her waist, revealing the cream-colored skin of her thighs—and the faint, silver-white line of a scar near her hip that Roman hadn't noticed in the dark.He reached out, his thumb hovering jus
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Sinful Virtues 16. The Concrete Fortress
The transition from the sun-drenched, ancient stone of Sicily to the steel and smog of New York City was a jarring descent into a different kind of hell. As the private jet touched down at Teterboro under a shroud of gray, freezing rain, the news reaching Roman’s encrypted phone was worse than Stefano had predicted.Manhattan was bleeding.Vincenzo Moretti, in a fit of senile megalomania and spite, hadn't just invited the Russians in—he had opened the gates and handed them the keys. The Vory v Zakone, led by a cold-blooded butcher named Viktor Drago, had already seized three Moretti distribution hubs in Queens and turned a neutral social club in Little Italy into a charnel house."The city is a war zone," Silas reported as they climbed into a modified, lead-lined SUV that felt more like a tank than a luxury vehicle. "Your father has gone underground. He’s ceded the northern territories to Drago in exchange for protection. He’s essentially declared you a rogue element, Roman. To the Ru
Sinful Virtues 15. The Lion’s Throat
The Sicilian dawn was not a beginning; it was a reckoning. The light that crept over the rugged limestone cliffs was the color of a fading bruise, illuminating the carnage of the night before. Inside the villa, the air was stagnant, heavy with the metallic scent of spilled Nero d’Avola and the ozone of a house on the brink of collapse.Roman stood on the balcony, his shirt unbuttoned, the cool morning mist clinging to his skin. He watched as the Sicilian Capos—men who had sat at Stefano’s table for thirty years—systematically stripped the villa of its loyalist guards. They were moving with the efficiency of scavengers. Stefano was still alive, locked in the wine cellar where he had once stored his finest vintages, but his power had evaporated the moment Angeline had exposed his ledger."He’s asking for you," Silas said, appearing in the doorway. Silas looked exhausted, his suit jacket discarded, his holster visible. "Stefano. He says he will only speak to a Moretti man. He refuses to
Sinful Virtues 14. The Bitter Salt of Sicily
The Moretti villa in Sicily was a sprawling fortress of sun-bleached stone and wrought iron, perched precariously on a cliffside overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea. It was a place where history was etched into the walls with the blood of vendettas past. As the sun dipped below the horizon, painting the sky in a violent shade of bruised plum, the long dining table in the courtyard was prepared for a feast that felt more like a sacrificial rite than a family dinner.Roman stood at the window of their guest quarters, his hands gripping the stone sill. Below, the servants were laying out heavy silver platters of pasta con le sarde and roasted lamb. He could see his Uncle Stefano holding court, surrounded by his "Wolves"—the loyalists who believed that a man was only as strong as the secrets he kept from his wife."They won’t use bullets tonight," Roman said, his voice barely a whisper against the sound of the crashing waves below. "Stefano is a man of 'honor.' A bullet in a guest's house is a
Sinful Virtues 13. The High-Altitude Cage
The Gulfstream G650 sliced through the midnight sky at forty thousand feet, a silver needle threading the dark fabric of the Atlantic. Inside the cabin, the atmosphere was a pressurized mix of luxury and lethal intent. Every surface was polished to a mirror finish—the burl wood tables, the cream leather reclining chairs, the crystal decanters filled with golden liquid that cost more than a common man’s annual salary.Roman sat in the wide captain’s chair, a stack of folders spread across the desk in front of him. He wasn't reading. His eyes were fixed on the window, watching the moonlight reflect off the engine casing. They were headed to Sicily—the ancestral heart of the Moretti bloodline. It was a place where tradition was more sacred than the Bible, and where a woman at a Commission table was considered an abomination that only fire could purge."You haven't slept," Angeline’s voice drifted from the back of the cabin.He turned. She was emerging from the private sleeping quarters,
Sinful Virtues 12. The Den of Lions
The Commission was not a court of law; it was a theater of death. It was held in the sub-basement of an old, decommissioned opera house in the Bronx—a place where the acoustics were designed to carry the sound of a soprano’s voice but now served to amplify the cold, hard click of safety catches being disengaged.Roman adjusted the tie of his black suit, his fingers steady, though the air in the armored car was suffocating. Beside him, Angeline sat in a dress of deep crimson silk, high-necked and long-sleeved, looking every bit the lethal queen she had become. She wasn't wearing jewelry—she didn't need the glitter of diamonds to command attention. Her power was in her stillness."The heads of the five families will be there," Roman said, his voice a low vibration in the small space. "My father will sit at the head of the table. He’s going to argue that I’ve been compromised. That our 'unholy alliance' has threatened the stability of the entire organization."Angeline checked the small,
Sinful Virtues 11. The Scarcity of Mercy
The air in the back of the armored SUV was thick with the ozone of discharged gunpowder and the sharp, copper tang of blood. Outside, the neon lights of the Meatpacking District blurred into long, jagged streaks of violet and gold as Silas pushed the vehicle to its absolute limit.They had just finished burning down Vincenzo’s most lucrative "dark" warehouse—the one that handled the untraceable offshore shipments. It wasn't just a financial blow; it was a public execution of Roman’s father's authority.Roman sat in the shadows of the backseat, his chest heaving, his knuckles bruised from the hand-to-hand struggle he’d finished only minutes ago. He didn't look at the window. He looked at Angeline.She was sitting opposite him, her black silk blazer torn at the shoulder, a thin streak of soot across her cheekbone. She was reloading the magazine of her Glock with a mechanical, haunting precision. Each click-slide of the brass casing echoed in the quiet cabin
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