Chapter 50 Power Plays

• Stefano.
• The air in the room was thick with cigar smoke and tension.
• Stefano De Ricco sat at the head of a long, obsidian conference table inside his private suite above a Roman financial institution no outsider would dare suspect was his. Every inch of the room dripped with wealth. Glass chandeliers glittered above them like a constellation of knives, walls paneled with centuries-old mahogany, and security systems so advanced they could detect a heartbeat shift. The entire building was a fortress, hidden behind centuries of old money and new technology.