Chapter 4 - The Unraveling
The sub-basement of the Caruso Grand was a place where history was erased. There were no cameras, no windows, and no hope. David Vance, stripped of his expensive suit, sat on a concrete floor, shivering as the dampness of the underground tunnel seeped into his bones.
Vincent stood in the shadows, watching him. He hadn't touched him. He didn't have to. The psychological weight of the situation was doing all the work.
“The accounts are frozen, David,” Vincent said, his voice echoing in the chamber. “Every shell company you set up, every offshore wire transfer, every bribe you paid to keep your law license clean—my team has mapped them all.”
Vance looked up, his eyes glassy. “You can’t do this. I’m an attorney. I have friends in the DA’s office.”
“You had friends,” Vincent corrected. “But after I sent the recordings of you ordering a hit on a public figure in a crowded lobby, those friends decided it was safer to have never met you.”
Vincent pulled out a stack of documents. “These are the confessions of the maintenance man you hired. He’s already told us about the plan to frame your brother-in-law for the hit, just to keep the investigators busy while you emptied the accounts.”
Vance’s head dropped into his hands. The man who had once dictated terms to the city’s most powerful figures was now nothing more than a broken legal instrument.
“I only wanted what was mine,” Vance sobbed.
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“You had it,” Vincent said. “You had a legacy, a seat at my table, and the keys to this city. But you wanted the throne. And in this world, people who reach for the throne without the strength to hold it… they don't just fall. They disappear.”
Vincent turned away. “Keep him here until morning. Then, drop him at the edge of the docks. Give him a ticket out of the country and tell him that if he ever sets foot in this city again, the ground won't be the only thing that opens up for him.”
