Chapter 10
Roxanne carefully slipped out of the bed, making sure not to disturb her sleeping son. She walked over to the chair, retrieved the encrypted cell phone from the pocket of her damp blazer, and stepped back into the main sitting room of the secure suite. The caller ID was a string of randomized numbers—a secure line from her intelligence network in New York.
She pressed the phone to her ear. "Speak."
"Boss," the voice of her chief intelligence officer crackled through the encrypted connection. "We have a massive problem. News of the incident at the conservatory has already leaked to the Commission. The Five Families are convening an emergency meeting."
Roxanne’s jaw clenched. "I told my people to keep their mouths shut. Who talked?"
"It wasn't your people, Boss," the officer replied grimly. "Harrison had a dead man's switch. He knew you might move against him tonight. He set up a live audio feed that broadcasted directly to the heads of the Commission. They heard everything. They heard you strike a senior adviser, and they heard you order his execution."
Roxanne closed her eyes, letting out a long, slow breath. Harrison had always been a snake, but she hadn't anticipated him being paranoid enough to wire himself at a public charity gala.
"The Commission is demanding you step down immediately, Roxanne," the officer continued, his voice tight with anxiety. "They view your actions as a direct violation of the old codes. They are officially declaring a blood feud. They are calling for your head, and they have authorized hits on everyone loyal to you."
"Let them call for whatever they want," Roxanne said, her voice dropping into a cold, lethal register. She walked over to the window, pulling the heavy curtains back slightly to look out over the dark, sprawling grounds of the conservatory. "Boston is my city. They do not dictate who sits on the throne here."
"Boss, with all due respect, this is the entire Commission," the officer pleaded. "They have ten times the manpower we do. They are already moving hitters up the coast. We need to go into lockdown. We need to evacuate you and the boy out of the country."
"I am not running from a bunch of ancient men clinging to outdated rules," Roxanne replied fiercely. "They want a war because I protected my bloodline? Fine. I will give them a war they will never forget. Activate all sleeper cells. Pull every loyal capo off the streets and fortify the strongholds. I want the borders of this city locked down tighter than a vault. Nobody comes in or out without my authorization."
"Understood, Boss," the officer said, realizing there was no changing her mind. "What about Harrison and Penelope? Do you want me to halt the execution until we can use them as leverage?"
Roxanne looked back toward the bedroom door, where her son was sleeping fitfully, traumatized by the cruelty of his own family. The old rules had almost cost her everything. It was time to write new ones in ash and fire.
"No," Roxanne said softly, a dark, merciless smile curling the corner of her lips. "Execute them immediately. And mail the ashes to the Commission in New York. Let that be my formal response to their declaration of war."
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She hung up the phone, the digital connection dying with a soft click. The storm was coming. The entire underworld was about to descend upon her city, bringing a tidal wave of violence and chaos that would test the very limits of her empire. But Roxanne was not afraid. She was a mother who had almost lost her child, and she was a queen who refused to be dethroned.
She slipped the phone back into her pocket and walked slowly back toward the bedroom, ready to protect her son against the entire world.
