CHAP 14 — LEO’S CHOICE
The captains were given forty-eight hours.
Stay with the legitimate Costa-Vale structure under strict compliance.
Leave.
Or follow Carmine.
Leo read the proposal.
“You realize half these men think compliance is a disease.”
“I’ve noticed,” Mave said.
Vincent stood by the window.
“Which way are you going?”
Leo looked offended.
“You’re asking me?”
“Yes.”
“I’ve been with you twelve years.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
Leo stopped chewing.
Then his expression became serious.
“My father worked docks for Carmine.”
Vincent frowned.
“You never told me.”
“You never asked.”
Leo looked at Mave.
“Carmine got him killed.”
Silence.
“I joined Costa because Alessandro paid my mother’s mortgage afterward.”
Vincent knew none of this.
Leo continued.
“I stayed because you were different.”
Vincent looked away.
Leo smiled faintly.
“Sometimes.”
“So?”
Leo placed the agreement on the table.
“I’m staying.”
Vincent exhaled.
“With the legal company?”
“No.”
They looked at him.
“With you idiots.”
Mave laughed.
The vote split the organization.
Nine captains stayed.
Six joined Carmine.
Four walked away entirely.
It was messy.
Imperfect.
But the Costa Syndicate as it had existed for generations ended that afternoon.
Carmine declared Vincent weak.
Then somebody bombed an empty Costa warehouse.
No one was injured.
The message was clear.
Carmine wanted war.
Vincent’s old instincts returned instantly.
Retaliation.
Pressure.
Fear.
Mave found him loading addresses into a secure phone.
“What are you doing?”
“Ending it.”
“How?”
“Old way.”
“No.”
Vincent looked up.
“Mave.”
“No.”
“He attacks my people—”
“There were no people inside.”
“Because we got lucky.”
“So your answer is creating another target where someone else gets lucky?”
Vincent’s jaw tightened.
“You don’t understand how men like Carmine think.”
“I understand perfectly.”
She took the phone.
“He wants you to become him.”
Vincent stared.
“He wants you angry enough to prove every newspaper story he’s telling.”
Leo stood at the door.
He wisely stayed silent.
Mave continued.
“If you retaliate, Carmine becomes the respectable uncle trying to rescue the company from a violent nephew.”
Vincent looked at the addresses.
Then at her.
“You always this irritating?”
“Only during business hours.”
“It’s midnight.”
“Overtime.”
He deleted the list.
The next morning, law enforcement received evidence connecting the warehouse attack to a Carmine-controlled contractor.
Public pressure grew.
Another captain defected from Carmine.
Mave had been right.
That was becoming a pattern.
Vincent found it both attractive and annoying.
Then Leo disappeared.
His phone went dead at 3:18 p.m.
At 3:40, Vincent received a photograph.
Leo tied to a chair.
Alive.
Carmine’s message:
BRING MAVE.
Vincent closed his eyes.
Mave read over his shoulder.
“No.”
He looked at her.
“This time I agree.”
She frowned.
Vincent continued.
“You are not going.”
“Leo is there because of us.”
“And that is exactly why you are not walking into another trap.”
Mave folded her arms.
“You promised.”
“I promised not to control you.”
“This feels remarkably similar.”
Vincent stepped closer.
“I love you.”
Silence.
Wrong moment.
Wrong room.
Perfectly Vincent.
Mave stared.
Leo was missing.
Carmine wanted them.
And Vincent Costa had just said the words as if filing a quarterly report.
“You choose now?”
“I’m under stress.”
Despite everything, she laughed.
Vincent touched her face.
“I love you.”
This time softer.
Mave closed her eyes.
Then:
“Good.”
His eyebrows lifted.
“Good?”
“I love you too.”
Vincent’s expression changed.
May you like
Mave took his hand.
“And we are still going to get Leo together.”
