Chapter 2 - THE SHATTERED ENGAGEMENT
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The silence inside the grand dining room was heavy enough to suffocate everyone present.
Twenty-eight elite guests sat frozen like stone statues beneath the crystal chandeliers.
Luca Moretti did not blink.
His dark eyes remained fixed entirely on the trembling woman in the crimson silk gown.
Vanessa Bellini tried to take a breath, but only a dry gasp escaped her parted lips.
Her hand hovered over her diamond engagement ring as if she could feel it slipping away into dust.
Lily remained pressed against her father’s ribs, her small hands clutching the linen napkin that held her braid.
“Answer my daughter, Vanessa,” Luca said, his voice dropping to a terrifying, velvet whisper.
“Did you tell Caroline that Lily was ashamed of her?”
Vanessa’s eyes darted frantically around the table, searching for an ally among the silent crowd.
Not a single person met her gaze.
Even the city councilmen and high-ranking syndicate lieutenants looked down at their porcelain plates.
“Luca, you know how emotional Caroline can get,” Vanessa stammered, tears suddenly spilling over her lashes.
“I was trying to shield Lily from seeing her mother look so frail.”
“Frail?” Luca stepped forward, towering over the table.
“Caroline beat stage-three cancer while continuing to teach twenty second-graders every single day.”
“She is the strongest woman I have ever known, and you tried to make her feel like a monster to her own child.”
Vanessa took a step back, her heel catching against the Persian rug.
“I did everything for this family!” she shrieked, her composed mask finally shattering into hysterical pieces.
“I planned this entire evening to celebrate our future!”
“I organized the press, the donors, and the photographers!”
“And you’re going to humiliate me over some dead hair in a trash can?”
Luca’s expression became completely, unnervingly calm.
He reached down, gently untied the silk ribbons from the napkin, and wrapped the brown braid securely in the clean cloth.
He handed it back to me.
“Emma,” he said softly.
“Yes, Mr. Moretti?”
“Take Lily upstairs to the library and lock the door from the inside.”
I nodded immediately, taking Lily’s trembling hand into mine.
“No! Don’t you dare walk away from me!” Vanessa screamed, lunging toward us.
Before she could take two steps, Luca’s head of security, Marco, stepped into her path like a brick wall.
Luca slowly reached across the table and picked up Vanessa’s left hand.
For a split second, a desperate spark of hope flared in her tearful eyes.
Then Luca twisted the seven-carat emerald-cut diamond ring off her finger.
The ring clinked sharply as he dropped it directly into her unfinished champagne flute.
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“The engagement is over,” Luca announced to the entire room.
“Get out of my house before I have my men carry you out like the garbage you tried to throw away.”
