Chapter 10: The Destruction of the Romano Family!
Oak Brook Estate, main building, conference hall.
Around the long table, over a dozen power players from Chicago's underground world were raising their glasses in celebration.
These people controlled Chicago's casinos, drugs, weapons, money laundering networks... Each one of them could make the entire city tremble with just a stomp of their foot.
At this moment, they had gathered at Oak Brook Estate to witness the historic moment when the Romano family crushed their challenger.
Mario sat at Vito's right hand, his right shoulder wrapped in bandages, his face pale but unable to hide the satisfaction in his eyes.
"Father, that Leo crippled my hand. I'll make him pay back a thousand times for this!"
"When Robert's men bring his body here, I'll personally chop him into mincemeat and feed him to the fish in Lake Michigan!"
Alice held her wine glass, snuggling up to Mario, her beautiful face full of charm.
"Mario's right. That Leo is just a dog belonging to that loser Luke. Now that the master's dead, what can a dog do?"
"Luke was just as full of himself back then, and didn't he end up jumping from the 68th floor and getting smashed to a pulp? Now he doesn't even have a decent tombstone..."
Before she could finish.
BOOM!
A deafening explosion shook the entire estate!
The crystal chandelier swayed wildly, wine spilling all over the floor.
Everyone's faces changed as they all looked toward the window.
At the estate's main gate, the protective wall made of reinforced concrete, half a meter thick, was now collapsing like paper!
Debris, steel bars, and dirt flew everywhere.
An M113 armored personnel carrier, like a steel beast, smashed through the wall with overwhelming force, its tracks crushing the rubble as it charged into the estate's inner courtyard!
"We're under attack! Under attack!"
"Everyone, battle stations!"
Inside the estate, hundreds of fully armed guards instantly reacted, pouring out from every corner.
Heavy machine guns were set up.
Snipers took position.
Rocket launchers were loaded.
A sea of gun barrels aimed at the charging armored vehicle from all directions.
"Fire! Shoot! Kill them!"
The head guard roared.
In an instant, gunfire erupted like popping beans!
Countless bullets poured out, sparking against the armored vehicle's body.
Rocket launchers fired with a roar, orange flames streaking across the gray sky.
However.
Just then.
A sharp whistling sound came from above!
Everyone instinctively looked up.
From the gray clouds, twelve AH-64 Apache attack helicopters emerged like dark clouds bearing down on the city!
Under their bellies, the barrels of M230 chain guns gleamed with the cold light of death.
"...Is that... an Apache?"
"My God! How can there be military attack helicopters?!"
The guards completely panicked.
They'd seen shootouts, they'd seen brawls, and they'd even seen rocket launcher battles between gangs.
But attack helicopters?
This was war!
BANG!
A dull sniper rifle shot rang out.
The head guard's head exploded like a watermelon, his headless body falling straight down.
Then came the second shot, the third, the fourth...
Precise sniper rounds whistled in from high points around the estate, each shot taking a life.
Shadow squad's snipers had already occupied all strategic positions.
Those guards carrying heavy weapons became their priority targets.
"Ahh!"
"Snipers! There are snipers!"
"Where are they? I can't see them!"
Panic spread through the guards like a plague.
They might be gangsters, but they didn't want to die.
Just then.
The armored vehicle's top hatch opened.
"Sweep them all away."
Leo, dressed in a black suit, stood up from inside the vehicle, holding an M249 squad automatic weapon, and pulled the trigger.
Bullets poured out, sending debris flying from cover, turning bodies into bloody messes.
At the same time.
The twelve Apaches opened fire.
The M230 chain guns roared deafeningly, shells raining down like a storm.
The heavy machine gun positions behind the walls were plowed over by shells, completely reduced to ruins.
In less than three minutes.
Over half of the hundred armed guards were dead or wounded!
"Don't run! Hold your positions! I'll shoot anyone who runs!"
A Romano family officer drew his gun and roared.
Before he finished speaking.
A sniper round precisely hit the back of his head, blood and brain matter splattering everywhere.
Leo jumped down from the armored vehicle, stepping over shell casings and corpses, walking step by step toward the main building.
Behind him, four members of the Shadow Squad followed like ghosts.
Thirty years.
How many conspiracies had the Romano family plotted in this estate, how many innocent people had they killed.
And today, all of this would end!
Inside the conference hall.
Vito was shocked as always, but the other gang bosses were already fleeing in panic, some jumping out windows, some running upstairs, the scene in complete chaos.
"Godfather! We need to go!"
A bodyguard rushed in, his face covered in blood.
Vito understood that there were only a few people in all of America who could mobilize Apache attack helicopters!
He had messed with the wrong person!
"Take the secret passage!"
Vito rushed toward the fireplace at the back of the conference hall, pressing a hidden mechanism beside it.
The heavy bookshelf slowly moved aside, revealing a narrow passage leading underground.
This was the escape route he'd prepared thirty years ago, leading directly to the underground garage where bulletproof cars were always ready to start.
"Quick!"
Vito pulled Mario along, bringing four trusted bodyguards into the secret passage.
Alice stumbled after them in her high heels, her face full of terror.
The bookshelf slowly closed behind them.
"Father, where are we going?" Mario asked in panic.
"The underground garage. There are cars there. We can escape to the Canadian border. I have people there to meet us..."
They went down the spiral staircase, passing through several blast doors.
Finally.
The iron door to the garage appeared ahead.
Vito entered the password with trembling hands.
The iron door slowly opened.
The lights were blinding.
Vito squinted as he walked out of the secret passage. The next second, he froze completely.
In the underground garage.
The tires of over a dozen luxury cars had all been shot out, rubber fragments scattered on the ground.
And at the far end of the garage, against the wall.
A young man in a black suit was leaning against the wall, methodically wiping the handgun in his hand with a handkerchief.
Under the dim yellow light, the gun's body reflected a cold metallic gleam.
Leo looked up, glancing calmly toward the secret passage exit.
"Vito, sorry to keep you waiting."
The color instantly drained from Vito's face.
Mario's legs went weak, nearly collapsing to the ground.
The four bodyguards instinctively raised their guns.
Four gunshots rang out almost simultaneously.
Not from Leo's gun.
But from the Shadow squad snipers positioned around the garage.
The bodyguards were shot in the forehead, falling in unison.
Alice screamed and hid behind Mario.
Vito, after all, was a gang godfather who had weathered countless storms.
"Mr. Ashford."
Vito took a deep breath, forcing out a smile.
"I admit, I underestimated you."
"Being able to mobilize Apache attack helicopters, being able to infiltrate my estate in advance... It seems the people backing you are much bigger than I imagined."
"But you should also understand that killing us won't do you any good."
"I control the entire underground network of the Great Lakes region. Casinos, drugs, weapons, money laundering... Operations throughout America, with annual revenue exceeding ten billion dollars."
"As long as you're willing, all of this can be yours."
Vito spread his arms wide, as if offering the entire world to Leo.
"I can give you Chicago, hand over all of the Romano family's resources to you. From now on, you'll be the new godfather! The entire underground world will bow at your feet!"
"Why push yourself to the edge for a loser who's been dead for over a year?"