Home / The Matriarch’s Revenge / Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

All Chapters of The Matriarch’s Revenge: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

9 Chapters

Chapter 1

"Sign it, Mom. Don't make me screw on a suppressor."The Glock pressed hard against my forehead. The steel was ice cold.Gideon stood in front of me. My eldest son. I spent twenty years raising him, and two months ago, I put him in the Boss's seat with my own hands.I sat in the metal chair in the basement. I didn't flinch."The Black Siren got blown in half at the lake mouth at one-thirty this morning. Eighty million in guns, straight to the bottom." Gideon stared down at me. "The Five Families want blood. The High Commission gave us until dawn to hand over the rat.""So you pinned the leak on the terminal I gave up two months ago?" I looked at him."Where else?" Silas sneered from the corner.He scraped his switchblade against the floor tiles."He's the Boss now. The Calabria name can't have a Don who screws up on day one. You sat pretty for decades. Now it's your turn to take the fall."A quiet sob broke the silence beside me.Alessia dropped to her knees right beside me. The girl I

Chapter 2

"Bullshit!"The blood drained from Silas's face.He lunged forward and shoved the old butler aside. His eyes were wild as he glared at the screen. "Who the hell does the Commission think they are? Someone set me up! Old man, did somebody pay you to screw me over?"The butler slammed against the metal rack. He kept his head down and didn't utter a word."Shut up."Gideon's voice was low, but every word carried murder.He snatched the tablet and swiped across the glass. The blue glare hit his face. His skin went totally ashen.The cell tower logs were crystal clear. Eleven forty-five that night. The encrypted beacon went live from the top-floor VIP lounge at the strip club on Riverside.That room was Silas's private playground.Every frame of security footage was logged. From start to finish, Silas was the only one who scanned his thumbprint on that door."That's a shared channel!" Silas yelled, veins bulging down his throat. He swung around and jabbed a finger in my face. "It's her! Tha

Chapter 3

"I understand. How could I not?"I sat in that metal chair, staring straight down the barrel, and laughed.On the floor, Silas was still clutching his broken face, groaning through the blood.Alessia moved.She stepped over the blood on the floor. She reached out and gently pressed down on Gideon's wrist, smooth and completely poised."Gideon, lower the gun. She's our mother after all. No need to get messy." Her voice sounded calm, almost reasonable. "You're right. The family can't afford an eighty-million loss. But we can't afford the alternative, either."Gideon lowered the Glock an inch. His eyes flicked to her.Alessia turned to look at me. The helpless daughter act was gone. Her eyes held nothing but raw, ruthless ambition."The High Commission needs an answer they can sell," she said, her mind working with cold precision. "Who do the old men in the Five Families actually fear? The woman who ran Chicago for twenty years, not some punk who throws away cash at the underground fights

Chapter 4

I paused on the threshold, right where the howling wind met the doorframe. I turned and looked at Gideon.I smiled."Gideon, you've got guts now. Then keep your eyes open and see who throws who into the lake."I stepped out into the blizzard without looking back.Eight o'clock the next night. A private club in the city center.Tonight was an invitation-only gala for the heads of the Five Families. Armed guards lined the street. Security was tight as a vault. But when I pressed my thumb against the glass pad at the heavy front doors, the scanner blinked green.My master clearance was hardwired into the system years ago. Nobody could touch it. Not unless the old bastards who built this town with me signed off together.I walked straight down the long hall.The hall was thick with alcohol, jazz music mixing with the smell of cigar smoke.Bosses and captains from across the city stood around the central tables, drinks in hand, laughing and talking business.The second I walked into the lig

Chapter 5

"Not walking off this street?"I looked into Julian's dark eyes and gave him two cold words: "With you?"Julian whipped a clear ziplock bag straight at my windshield. It was smeared with dark red blood.Inside lay a bloody severed finger."Remember Damon?"My pupils shrank. My top hacker. The man who cracked the deep networks and pulled the offshore ledgers for me."That's the deposit, Camilla." Julian spun his pen between his fingers, a smug, cold smile playing on his lips. "I want a public confession. Tell them every tape and ledger on that screen was fake. You eat the treason charge yourself, and Damon lives. The Commission will honor the original deal. You take your cash and get the hell out of North America."He took a step forward. "I'm giving you twenty-four hours. If I don't hear your confession by eight tomorrow night, the next delivery won't just be a finger."My face didn't change. I actually smiled."You spent too much time defending dead men, Julian. Now you think you deci

Chapter 6

The High Commission Tribunal. Sub-basement three.The heavy blast door locked shut behind me. Three commissioners sat in the shadows around a circular table.I pushed Damon's hard drive into the center of the table.The screens flared to life with data. Promissory notes from the cartel wiping Silas's thirty-five-million-dollar marker. Logs of Alessia forging my encryption key. Black and white. Solid proof."Camilla," the chief commissioner said, his voice dry as dust. "Once this seal hits the paper, the Calabria house you built will be burned to the ground tonight.""Burned to the ground is better than rotting in the hands of maggots."I uncapped my pen. I signed my name at the bottom of the Blood Oath Indictment.The red wax seal pressed down over the ink."The indictment stands," the commissioner said, taking the papers. "The city-wide purge has begun."I pocketed the pen, turned around, and walked out.The elevator took me to the street. The moment I cleared the main doors, a Commis

Chapter 7

Three days later. The Calabria family cemetery.Heavy rain beat down on the black umbrellas.Silas wasn't there. The High Commission broke both his legs yesterday. He was locked in a hole, waiting for the noose.Only Alessia stood by the open grave. She wore a black veil. She threw herself onto the coffin, sobbing like her heart was breaking. The capos holding umbrellas started whispering.I stood under the trees ten paces away, watching the show.Old Thomas, the counselor who served two generations of Dons, walked through the rain and stopped beside me.He held out a letter soaked with rain."Gideon left this in his office, Boss," Thomas said, his voice quiet. "He made it clear before he took his own life. He took all the blame. He begged you to let Alessia live."I took the envelope and pulled out the paper.The handwriting was messy. Every line was a plea for mercy, going on and on about blood being thicker than water, begging me to spare Alessia for the sake of my own children.I s

Chapter 8

Seven days after the funeral, the High Commission officially executed the purge against the Calabria crew.The crew captain flipped on the spot. He handed over footage of Alessia scrubbing the money-laundering servers. With solid proof on the table, the Commission stripped those three brats of every dime and every privilege.Three o'clock in the afternoon. The High Tribunal. Sub-basement two.I signed the final paperwork for the asset transfer. Two enforcers escorted me down the prisoner corridor.The air smelled of bleach and cold rust.A heavy iron gate rattled open ahead. Metal scraped hard against the concrete walls.Silas.His head was shaved bald. He was down to skin and bones. Heavy chains welded his wrists to an iron gurney. A black death-row tag hung over his chest. The second he saw me, his bloodshot eyes bulged out of his skull. He thrashed against the metal."Camilla!" Silas screamed through a ruined throat. "You happy now? You drove Gideon to put a bullet in his head, and

Chapter 9

"Eight hundred million, Camilla!"The old Don of the New York Gambino family crushed his cigar onto the conference table, his eyes vicious."Handle your own house, fine by us. But the Calabria route went dark. The Great Lakes lost eight hundred million overnight. Who pays for this mess?"Twenty capos stared down the length of the table. Every pair of eyes locked on me.I sat at the head of the long table and took a sip of coffee. "Eight hundred million?" I put the cup down. My voice was quiet, but it silenced the room instantly."If I hadn't cut that line myself, you wouldn't be counting cash tonight. You'd be staring down cartel rifle barrels."I looked straight into Gambino's eyes."Putting down a rabid dog beats having your throat ripped open in your sleep. If any of you think I cut into your pocket, go ahead. Send your crews into my blocks tonight."Dead silence down both sides of the long table.Nobody spoke. Nobody moved an inch."No objections then." I signaled the enforcer besid

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