Chapter 3 - A Father's Wrath
Across the city, in a penthouse overlooking Central Park, Senator Richard Sterling smashed a crystal decanter against a brick wall.
Victoria sat on a pristine white sofa, sobbing into a silk handkerchief, playing the victim with practiced ease. "He humiliated me, Daddy! He stripped off the ring in front of the servants and threw me out like I was trash! All over some clumsy little rat of a maid who spilled boiling water on me!"
Richard ran a hand through his silver hair, his face purple with rage. "Julian Rossi is a thug. A glorified thug with too much money. But he is a thug who controls the unions, the docks, and the construction contracts we need for the upcoming election."
"I don't care about the election!" Victoria shrieked. "I want him ruined! I want that maid destroyed!"
Richard paced the length of the room. He knew crossing Julian Rossi was a dangerous game, a fatal one if played incorrectly. The Rossi syndicate had a reputation for absolute brutality when provoked. But Richard Sterling was a man of immense pride, and Julian had just publicly spat on the Sterling name.
"We won't just attack him directly," Richard mused, a sinister plan forming in his political mind. "Rossi’s power comes from his legitimacy. His casinos, his import businesses. We freeze his assets. I’ll make a few calls to the DA’s office. We’ll initiate a tax audit on his shell corporations."
"And what about Julian himself?" Victoria demanded, her eyes narrowing.
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"If Julian wants to play the honorable king protecting his peasants," Richard sneered, "we will show him that peasants bleed just like everyone else. Find out everything you can about that maid, Victoria. When Julian is distracted by the feds tearing apart his businesses, we’ll take the one thing he ruined you over."
Victoria smiled, a cruel, sharp expression that mirrored her father's. "I'll make sure she wishes that coffee had burned her alive."
