The Mafia's Undoing-Chapter 98: Framed

Chen’s phone rings. He listens, and his face goes carefully blank.

"I see. Yes... I’ll inform them."

He hangs up and looks at Tony and me.

"Crime scene techs just finished processing the Meridian board room. They found evidence."

"What kind of evidence?" Tony asks.

"Fingerprints on the murder weapon. A knife was used to kill three of the board members." Chen pauses. "Tony, they’re your prints."

"That’s impossible," I say immediately. "Tony was here with us. He couldn’t have-"

"There’s more." Chen won’t meet our eyes. "There’s DNA under one victim’s fingernails with defensive wounds. The DNA matches Tony’s profile from the FBI database."

"I’ve never been to that boardroom!" Tony’s voice rises. "This is a setup. Someone planted-"

"The security footage showed you entering the boardroom at 2:47 PM. Time of death is estimated between 2:45 and 3:00." Chen pulls up video on his phone. "I’m sorry, Tony, but I have to take you in."

The video shows Tony walking into a boardroom, clear as day.

Except Tony was here, fighting Charles and rescuing me.

"That’s not me," Tony says flatly.

"It looks exactly like you."

"Because someone wants it to look like me!" His control is fracturing. "Katherine, tell him-"

"He was here." I grab Chen’s arm. "The entire time fighting Charles. There are dozens of witnesses-"

"Who are all connected to you as friends and family. The defense will say they’re lying to protect him." Chen looks genuinely pained. "I believe you, but the evidence is compelling. I have to follow protocol."

"This is bullshit!" Tony’s shouting now. "Someone framed me. Someone with resources to plant DNA, fake security footage-"

"Which is exactly what your lawyer will argue in court." Chen gestures to approaching officers. "But right now, Anthony Marvin, you’re under arrest for twelve counts of first-degree murder."

"No." I step between them. "No, you can’t-"

"Katherine." Tony’s voice is suddenly calm and resigned. "Don’t, fighting only makes it worse."

"But you didn’t do this!"

"I know, you know, but they have evidence." He looks at Chen. "It’s planted evidence, but still evidence."

The officers were cuffing him and reading his rights. Words I’ve heard on TV but never thought I’d hear applied to Tony.

He looks at me one last time. "Find who’s doing this. Prove I didn’t do it."

"I will... I promise. Tony, I-"

"I know." His eyes held mine. "I love you too."

Then they led him away in a police car and drove off.

I was left standing in the rubble and chaos of Meridian Tower, watching the man I love be arrested for murders he didn’t commit.

Susan’s beside me suddenly with her arms around me, holding me up because my legs won’t.

"He didn’t do it," I’m saying over and over. "He was here, we all saw him. He didn’t do it."

"I know." Susan’s voice is fierce. "And we’re going to prove it."

Timothy, Bella, and Elliot join us... all of us processing what just happened.

"Someone’s been planning this," Timothy says. "Someone who knew we’d take down Charles. Who wanted him out of the way so they could frame Tony."

"The message on the wall," Susan says slowly. "You’ve removed my puppets. It’s plural."

"Charles and the board were both puppets," I finish the thought. "Which means the real Architect has been using them all. Margaret, Morrison, Charles - layers of misdirection while the real power stayed hidden."

"And now they’ve framed Tony to keep us distracted while they consolidate," Timothy adds.

Bella’s been quiet. Thinking. "I need to see the evidence. The security footage, especially."

"Why?" Chen’s still here, listening.

"I work in tech forensics. If that footage is fake, I can prove it."

Chen hesitates but carries on. "I’ll get you access... It’s unofficial. If anyone asks, you didn’t get it from me."

Three hours later, we’re in Susan’s estate in war room mode.

Bella’s analyzing the security footage on multiple monitors, Elliot’s helping with both of them, speaking in technical language the rest of us don’t understand.

"There." Bella points. "See that? Temporal artifact. The lighting on his face doesn’t match the ambient light in the room."

"Deepfake," Elliot confirms. "It’s really sophisticated, but there are tells. Pixel-level inconsistencies."

"Can you prove it?" I ask desperately.

"In a lab, with the right equipment? Yes." Bella’s face is grim. "In court, with a jury that doesn’t understand the technology? Maybe. Deepfakes are getting good enough that it’s hard to convince laypeople."

"But it’s something," Timothy says. "Evidence of tampering."

My phone rings, and it’s Tony’s lawyer, Mike Sullivan, who is a public defender.

"Ms. Blaire? I’m calling about Anthony Marvin’s arraignment. It’s tomorrow, and I need to prepare you - the prosecutor is pushing for no bail."

"On what grounds?"

"Flight risk, a danger to the community, and twelve counts of first-degree murder." He sounded exhausted and overwhelmed. "Ms. Blaire, I’m going to be honest. I’m a public defender handling forty cases. I don’t have resources for this. He needs a private attorney." 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

"We don’t have money for that. FBI froze our accounts."

"Then I’ll do my best, but you should know - with this evidence, his best is probably not good enough."

He hangs up.

I’m crying from frustration, fear, and helplessness.

Bella crosses to me, his half sister I just met, and puts a hand on my shoulder.

"We’ll figure this out, Tony’s my brother. I’m not letting him go down for something he didn’t do."

"You barely know him."

"He’s family, that’s enough." She sounded so much like Tony in that moment, that same stubborn loyalty. "Now let’s find who really did this."

The arraignment was a nightmare.

Tony, in an orange prison uniform, was handcuffed and looking exhausted.

The prosecutor was aggressive. Presenting evidence, fingerprints, DNA, and security footage.

"Your Honor, the defendant is a known associate of organized crime. He’s violent, dangerous, and a clear flight risk. The state requests no bail."

Mike Sullivan tries. He really does. "Your Honor, my client has ties to the community and no prior convictions. The evidence is circumstantial-"

"Circumstantial?" The prosecutor interrupts. "We have his fingerprints on the murder weapon. His DNA was under the victim’s fingernails, and video evidence of him entering the crime scene."

"Which my client denies-"

"Of course, he denies it; that doesn’t change the physical evidence."

The judge doesn’t even deliberate long. "Bail denied. Defendant remanded to Rikers Island pending trial."

I watch them lead Tony away. He catches my eye and mouths, "I love you."

Then he’s gone.