Power trip
692 Words
*Chapter 25: Power Trip*
Alessandro never wanted power. He was born with it.
But after Selena got sick, he wanted control over everything.
“Buy the airport,” he told Luca one morning.
“Which one, Boss?” Luca asked, not even surprised anymore.
“All of them in Karachi,” Alessandro said.
Luca blinked. “That’s… 2 billion.”
“Do it,” Alessandro said. “If a plane can’t land without my permission, no one touches my family.”
In 2 weeks, Moretti Holdings owned Karachi International.
The headline: `Mafia King Now Owns the Sky.`
He didn’t stop there.
He bought the power company. The water company. The internet provider.
“Why?” I asked him at dinner.
“So no one can cut us off,” he said. “Ever.”
Selena was 3. She didn’t understand. She just wanted her toys.
Alessandro gave her a toy airport. With real planes.
“Papa owns this,” he said.
Selena clapped. “Papa big!”
The other families were scared.
Vincent Romano called from New York. “You’re too big now, Moretti.”
“Good,” Alessandro said. “Stay away.”
Luca was worried. “Boss, the government is watching.”
“Let them watch,” Alessandro said. “I pay taxes. I follow law. I just own everything.”
He was right. He was untouchable now.
The government sent men.
Suit men. Not gun men.
“Mr. Moretti,” the lead man said. “You own too much.”
Alessandro leaned back. “It’s called business. Check my papers.”
“Your papers are clean,” the man said. “Too clean.”
Alessandro smiled. “I have good lawyers.”
Me.
The man left. Empty handed.
That night, Alessandro took me to his new office. 50th floor. Whole city below us.
“See that?” he said, pointing. “My airport. My power plant. My port.”
“Your empire,” I said.
He turned to me. “Our empire.”
He put my name on everything. 50%. Legal.
“If something happens to me,” he said. “You run it all.”
“Don’t say that,” I said.
“I have to,” he said. “Because I love you.”
Selena started school. Private. The best.
Alessandro bought the school too.
“Now no one bullies my daughter,” he said.
Luca shook his head. “Boss, you’re buying the world.”
“Only the parts that can hurt her,” Alessandro said.
But power has a price.
Rivals started uniting. Three families. One goal: Take Alessandro down.
They couldn’t fight him with money. So they tried politics.
They filed cases. 20 of them. All fake.
“Let them,” Alessandro said. “We’ll win them all.”
And we did. Because I knew law better than them.
Still, he was tense. He didn’t sleep.
“Come here,” I said one night.
He came. Laid his head on me. Like a child.
“Everyone wants a piece of me,” he whispered.
“They won’t get it,” I said. “I won’t let them.”
He closed his eyes. “You’re my peace, in all this war.”
The next day, he announced it.
`Moretti Foundation: 500 Million for Karachi’s poor.`
Hospitals. Schools. Food.
The people loved him.
You can’t arrest a man the people love.
One night, we were on the balcony. City lights below.
“Is this enough?” he asked. “All this power?”
“No,” I said. “Because you still look scared sometimes.”
He looked at me. “Only when I think of losing you.”
I went to him. “You won’t.”
He kissed me. Hard. Desperate. Like the world was ending.
“Promise me,” he said.
“I promise,” I said. “We stay. Together.”
Power couldn’t protect him from fear.
Only I could.
And I did.
The rivals backed off. The cases dropped.
Because Alessandro Moretti wasn’t just rich.
He was loved. Feared. And protected.
By me. By Luca. By the city.
That was real power.
- Writer
