Chapter 189 *
"Gentlemen." He took his seat at the head of the table. "The Commission has formally recognized the transition. Romano family operations continue under my leadership effective immediately."
The men around the table nodded. Most of them had voted for this. The ones who hadn't were smart enough to accept it.
"Viviana Romano has filed civil asset recovery proceedings against Salvatore Romano and Miranda Kestrel." Lorenzo laid out the documents. "Every property, every account, every asset transferred during the marriage without her explicit consent is being recovered. The family's legal team is handling the execution."
"Where does that leave us?" DiMatteo asked.
"Stronger than we were under Sal." Lorenzo's voice was firm. "Viviana's family brought the original territory. The docks. The union connections. The political relationships. All of that was hers before it was Sal's. Now it's ours again. Legitimately."
He looked around the table.
"Romano Enterprises continues operations as normal. Construction contracts. Real estate holdings. Waste management. Nothing changes on the business side except that we're no longer hemorrhaging money to offshore accounts."
Caruso spoke up. "What about the girl? Scarlett?"
"Scarlett Romano is my sister." Lorenzo's voice went flat. "She's the legitimate heir to this family. Anyone who has a problem with that can leave now."
No one moved.
"She's married to Damon Wolfe," Lorenzo continued. "That alliance protects this family in ways Sal never could have managed. We're stronger for it. Anyone who doesn't see that is too stupid to sit at this table."
The room stayed quiet.
"Good." Lorenzo stood up. "The transition is complete. Get back to work."
The men filed out one by one.
Lorenzo stayed in the conference room after they left. He pulled out his phone and called Scarlett.
She picked up on the second ring. "Did it go through?"
"It's done. I'm officially recognized. The family's stable."
"Good."
There was a long pause.
"Are you okay?" Lorenzo asked.
"Yeah." Her voice was quiet. "I'm good."
"Scarlett." He stopped. Started again. "I know I don't have the right to ask this. But are we—"
"We're done, Lorenzo." Her voice wasn't cruel. Just final. "You run the family. I stay out of it. That's the arrangement."
"I understand."
"Good luck with everything." She hung up.
Lorenzo sat in the empty conference room and looked at his phone for a long time.
Then he put it away and went back to work.
— — — — — —
Zelda stood outside a coffee shop in Brooklyn four weeks after everything fell apart.
She had one hundred and forty-seven dollars left. Her phone was dead. She'd been sleeping in a hostel in Queens that charged by the night and didn't ask questions.
The overnight bag she'd carried out of the Romano estate was gone. Someone had stolen it from her locker at the hostel two days ago. She had the clothes on her back and nothing else.
She'd tried calling old friends. None of them picked up. She'd tried calling sorority sisters. They'd heard what happened. The line went dead after five seconds.
The Romano name that had opened every door for nineteen years now closed them twice as fast.
She pushed open the coffee shop door. The warmth hit her face. She walked to the counter.
"Can I get a small coffee? Black."
"Three fifty."
Zelda pulled out four singles and slid them across.
She took the coffee to a table by the window and sat down.
The city outside looked the same as it always had. Traffic and noise and people moving past with purpose and direction and places to be.
She'd lived in this city for nineteen years. Walked these streets. Knew these neighborhoods.
She'd never noticed how cold it was.
Her hands wrapped around the paper cup. The heat seeped through. She held on and watched the steam rise and tried to figure out what came next.
There was no money. No family. No name worth claiming.
There was just this. A coffee shop in Brooklyn and one hundred and forty-three dollars and the particular weight of understanding that everything she'd built her life on had never actually belonged to her at all.
She sat there until the coffee went cold.
Then she stood up and walked back out into the city.
The streets received her with the same indifference they showed everyone else who had nowhere to go and no one waiting.
She pulled her jacket tighter and kept walking.