Chapter 3 - The Impossible Date
Luca stared at the date written in faded black ink. November 14, 1992.
He remembered that year perfectly. It was the year the blood feud between their families had reached its most violent peak. Luca’s father, the late patriarch of the Belandi syndicate, had sworn to the entire family that Thomas Sullivan had surrendered the land to settle a debt before fleeing the city.
Mara stood tall in her deep green velvet dress, refusing to break eye contact with the man who currently controlled her family's stolen legacy.
"He couldn't have signed it," Mara stated, her tone sharp, professional, and dripping with imminent destruction. "He was in state prison on this exact date."
The entire dining room went breathlessly, dead silent.
The cinematic realism of the moment crashed over the mahogany table with the force of a nuclear bomb. The signature on the deed had been officially notarized as being signed in a private office in downtown Manhattan. If Thomas Sullivan was locked inside a maximum-security state penitentiary on that exact day, the document was an absolute, undeniable forgery.
"That's a lie," Pyro hissed from across the table, his face flushing crimson with anger. "Your old man was a coward who ran away!"
"Check the public prison records yourself," Mara shot back flawlessly. "He was serving a six-month sentence for racketeering. He didn't run away. He was locked in a cell, completely unable to sign away our harbor."
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Luca stopped breathing. The air in his lungs violently turned to absolute ice.
👉 How will the powerful matriarch of the family react to this massive accusation?
