The Mafia's Undoing-Chapter 97: Deception

"It’s over," I tell him. "The FBI knows everything. Lisa sent all the evidence to the DOJ. Your board is being arrested as we speak."

"You’re bluffing."

"Am I?" I gesture to the window. "Look outside. See the FBI vehicles? The DOJ agents? They’re here for you, Charles."

Lisa’s voice broadcasts through the room’s speakers: "Meridian board members arrested at 14:32, Sterling Industries board at 14:45, Atlas Global at 14:47. You want me to continue?"

Charles’s face goes white, then red. His empire was crumbling in real time.

"You think this changes anything?" His voice is shaking with rage. "I have contingencies, dead man’s switches. If I’m arrested, everything comes down. Everyone connected to me-"

"Already disabled," Lisa interrupts cheerfully. "All of them. Your tech guy? Yeah, he works for me now. Has been for six months."

Charles’s gun is shaking. He’s losing, and he knows it.

But he’s still dangerous.

"I can still kill your father," he says. "Right here, right now, and you get to watch."

"You could." My voice is calm. "But then I kill you immediately. No trial and no chance to talk your way out. Just dead."

"I’m a dead man anyway."

"Maybe, but there’s dead in a shootout, and dead after years of appeals. Choose."

Thomas moves.

Fast. Faster than a man his age should move, and he grabs Charles’s gun hand to force it away from his head.

"I’m done being anyone’s pawn."

They struggle. Charles is younger, but Thomas is desperate.

The gun goes off, and Thomas stumbles.

I hear a shot to his shoulder. It wasn’t fatal, but he was bleeding.

However, it gave me the opening I needed.

I shoot.

Not to kill but to disarm.

The bullet hits Charles’s hand, and his gun flies away, skittering across the floor.

Timothy and David crash through the main entrance. The Guards were overwhelmed and outgunned.

It was over in seconds.

Katherine’s free, and she’s running to me. I catch her, hold her to check for injuries.

"I’m okay. I’m okay."

Bella’s helping Thomas. Pressing her jacket to his shoulder wound. "Stay still. The Paramedics are coming."

"You came," Thomas says to her. "You didn’t have to, but you came."

"You’re my father. Of course I came." She looks at him seriously. "I don’t know you. Don’t know if I’ll forgive you for giving me up, but you’re still my father."

Thomas is crying. "I don’t deserve your loyalty."

"Probably not." Bella’s voice is matter-of-fact. "But you’re getting it anyway."

Charles is on the ground, Timothy and David securing him. He’s not resisting anymore, just staring at us with pure hatred.

"You think you’ve won?" His voice is venomous. "I have contingencies you don’t know about. If I’m arrested-"

"They’ve been disabled," Lisa repeats. "All of them."

"The Commission survives!" Charles is screaming now. "It always survives! You can arrest me, but there are others! There will be others!"

"Not this time." I crouch beside him. "This time, we got everyone. Your board, your assets, and your network. It’s over."

FBI agents swarm the room with Chen leading them.

"Charles Sterling, you’re under arrest." Chen’s reading rights by the book to him.

They led Charles away when he looked at me one more time. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

"You’re just like me," he says. "Ruthless. Willing to sacrifice anyone for what you want. That’s why you won."

"I’m nothing like you." My voice is cold. "I protect people. You use them."

"We’ll see." He smiles despite being in handcuffs. "We’ll see what you become, Anthony Marvin. Whether you stay the hero or become the monster."

Then he’s gone.

Paramedics were treating Thomas, and Bella was staying with him, refusing to leave.

"I’ll ride with him," she tells me. "To the hospital. Someone should."

"Thank you." I don’t know what else to say to this sister I just met.

"We should talk... later. When all this is over." She almost smiles. "I have a lot of questions about our father. And you."

"Me too." I manage a smile back. "About you... about everything."

"Later." She nods and goes with the paramedics as they load Thomas onto a stretcher.

Katherine and I are finally alone in the chaos. The Emergency personnel were everywhere, but they were giving us space.

"You came back," I say. "For my father."

"For your family and for you." She touches my face. "I couldn’t let Charles kill him, not after everything."

"Even though he betrayed us, lied, and made me believe he was dead."

"He’s still your father, and he was trying to protect you. Even if he did it wrong." She leans into me. "Family’s complicated."

"Tell me about it." I look toward where Bella disappeared with Thomas. "I have a sister. A thirty-six-year-old engineer sister I never knew existed."

"You have a sister." Katherine’s smiling despite her exhaustion. "Family’s really complicated."

"At least she seems sane."

"Give it time."

We’re laughing, despite everything. Maybe because we’re alive together and it’s finally over.

Chen approaches. "We need statements. Depositions. You’ll both need to testify."

"Later." I’m not letting go of Katherine. "Right now, we’re just going to exist. Together."

Chen nods. "Later, then."

Elliot and Susan find us. Both safe and exhausted.

"Is it really over?" Susan asks.

"It’s really over," Katherine tells her. "Charles is arrested. The Commission is done."

"Good." Susan hugs her. "Because I need a vacation. Somewhere with no terrorists, no billionaire psychopaths, and really good cocktails."

"That sounds perfect," Katherine agrees.

We’re being led out of the elevator, through the lobby, and into the chaos of Manhattan.

We see FBI vehicles everywhere, the news crews and civilians gawking.

We’re finally free.

Then Chen pulls me aside. "We have a problem."

"What now?"

"We raided the Meridian board meeting. Where the other eleven board members were supposed to be waiting for arrest."

"And?"

"We found twelve bodies. All dead. Professional hits. Executed minutes before we arrived."

My blood runs cold. "What?"

Katherine joins us. "What’s wrong?"

"The board is dead," Chen says grimly. "All of them. Someone killed them to prevent them from talking."

"But Charles-" I start.

"Charles was arrested here. This happened across town. Whoever did this had access to Meridian’s top floor despite our lockdown. They were already inside. Waiting."

Chen shows us crime scene photos.

Twelve bodies. Board members. All shot execution-style.

And on the wall was written in blood.

Charles failed, the board failed, but the Commission endures. You’ve removed my puppets. Now face the puppeteer. -A.M.

Katherine’s staring at the message. "A.M.?"

"We don’t know. Initials, maybe. A code name?"

Then Katherine goes white.

"No. It can’t be."

"What?" I grab her shoulders. "Katherine, what is it?"

"Anthony Marvin." She looks at me with dawning horror. "A.M. Your initials."

Understanding hits like a freight train.

"They’re framing me." My voice is hollow. "For all of it. The board murders... everything."

"That’s..." Chen’s face shows he’s already thinking through implications. "That’s exactly what it looks like."

Katherine’s gripping my hand. "But you were here with us, you have an alibi. You couldn’t have-"

"Doesn’t matter." I know how this works. "Someone with resources and planning could fake evidence, video, and witnesses."

"But why?" Katherine’s voice breaks. "Why frame you?"

"Because," Chen says quietly, "whoever’s really behind the Commission wants Tony to take the fall. Wants him arrested, discredited, and destroyed."

"The real Architect," I finish. "Charles wasn’t the top. That means he was another layer."

"And the real Architect just eliminated everyone who could identify them." Chen’s phone is buzzing. "I have to go to the crime scene, but Tony - don’t leave town, don’t do anything that looks like running."

He leaves.

Katherine and I stand in the chaos.

We thought we’d won.

We thought it was over.

But the real Architect is still out there.

And they just framed me for twelve murders.

"What do we do?" Katherine’s voice is small.

"We prove I didn’t do it. We find the real Architect, and we end this." I pull her close. "Together."

"Together."

But for the first time since this all started, I’m not sure we can win.

Because how do you fight an enemy who can frame you for murder while you’re surrounded by the FBI?

How do you fight someone invisible?

That powerful?

That far ahead?