PART 15: THE VENICE SHOWDOWN
The battle shifted to Venice, Italy, where the Varga Syndicate held its annual financial summit under the guise of a masked regatta.
The grand ballroom of the Palazzo Pisani Moretta was filled with the wealthy, the corrupt, and the untouchable.
Everyone wore elaborate Venetian masks, their true identities hidden behind velvet and gold leaf.
Camila walked through the crowd wearing a midnight-blue gown, her face obscured by a silver lioness mask.
Alejandro followed a few paces behind, a imposing figure in a black tuxedo and a stark white phantom mask.
They moved toward the private VIP lounge on the second floor, where Elena Varga was meeting with three international banking executives.
The guards at the door moved to block Alejandro, but he simply looked at them through the slits of his mask.
The sheer aura of danger radiating from him made them step back without a word.
Camila pushed the heavy oak doors open, stepping into the room.
Elena looked up, her mask resting on the table beside her champagne glass.
"You're persistent, Camila," Elena said, her voice dripping with artificial amusement.
"But you're out of your depth here. These gentlemen represent the clearing houses that fund your shipping insurance."
"Not anymore," Camila said.
She removed her silver mask, revealing an expression of absolute certainty.
She turned to the three executives.
"Gentlemen, forty minutes ago, a public file was leaked to the European Central Bank."
"It details how the Varga Syndicate used your specific clearing houses to launder assets from the port of Odessa."
The executives looked at each other, their faces turning pale beneath their velvet masks.
"If you don't withdraw your support from the Varga network within the next sixty seconds," Camila continued, "your licenses will be revoked by dawn."
One of the older executives stood up immediately, grabbing his coat.
"This meeting is over," he muttered, rushing past Elena without looking back.
The other two followed him within seconds, leaving Elena completely alone in the massive room.
Elena stared at Camila, her hands trembling with a rage she could no longer contain.
"You think you've won because you played a political card?" Elena hissed.
"I still have the physical access codes to your family’s compound."
"No, you don't," Alejandro said, stepping out from behind Camila and removing his phantom mask.
"Viktor confessed."
"Your operatives in Genoa are currently in the custody of my people."
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"You have no leverage left, Elena."
"Only a very long prison sentence."
