I Buried The Don And Took His Throne Chapter 05
The Sealed Letter
Bianca actually takes a step back from me. My calm scares her more than the slap did.
She flicks her sleeve, playing tough, and hurries out into the dark.
I watch her disappear down the hall and let the smile drop off my face.
Marco. You cut the Crestwell crew in half. You’re crowning Bianca. Fine.
At your highest, proudest moment — in front of every made man on the East Coast — I’m going to burn every single thing you love, with my own two hands.
—
Three days later. Coronation night.
The Vitale compound is lit up like a wedding. Every capo, every consigliere, every old-money name in the Five Families is packed into the main hall.
Marco sits in his father’s chair up on the dais, looking down at bowed heads, drunk on it.
Bianca kneels in a full-length red gown at the bottom of the steps, veil down, ring finger out, waiting for it to be official.
Nobody notices the black-suited shadows already tucked along the walls behind the columns.
The old consigliere, Genovese, stands and clears his throat. He reads Marco’s decree out loud, hand shaking.
First — Bianca Russo is confirmed as Donna of the Vitale Family.
Then the tone shifts.
“Sloane Crestwell — for conduct unbecoming, jealous behavior, and disrespect to the Donna — is stripped of standing. In recognition of past services, she is granted the rank of ‘mistress,’ as a lesson to others. The Crestwell house is instructed to remember its place and stay in line…”
The hall goes dead quiet.
Every man in the room hears it for what it is.
This isn’t a title. This is Marco grinding the Crestwell name into the floor in front of the entire underworld.
Genovese finishes. Every capo drops to a knee.
“Salute to the Don. Salute to the Donna.”
In the middle of the roar, I stay standing. Spine straight.
Marco’s stare cuts across the room like a straight razor. “Sloane! You defying an order in front of the whole Family?”
Bianca gasps behind her palm, all theater. “Sloane, please, don’t do this to yourself!”
“Soldiers!” Marco roars. “Take her down!”
The sound of pistols coming out of holsters cracks through the hall. A ring of black barrels closes around me from every side.
Marco looks down from the dais like he’s watching a corpse walk.
I look around slowly, then I throw my head back and laugh.
Marco frowns like I’ve lost it. “Sloane! You’ve gone crazy!”
I stop laughing, reach slowly into the inside pocket of my jacket and slide out a folded piece of cream-colored parchment.
The second everyone in that hall sees the wax seal on it —
Every breath in the room stops at the same time.
I hold it up. My voice isn’t loud. It doesn’t need to be. Still, every word reaches every corner of that hall.
“The Old Don’s succession letter. Signed. Sealed.”
“Anybody moves — you answer to him.”