Chapter 2 - THE FROZEN BANQUET
|
The grand dining room turned into an icy tomb the second those words left Olivia's lips.
Thirty elite guests froze in their velvet chairs, clutching crystal glasses that no longer dared to clink.
Luca Moretti remained entirely motionless, his tall frame casting a terrifying silhouette against the blazing hearth.
His piercing dark eyes slowly moved from his estranged sister to his pale, hyperventilating wife.
At the carved double mahogany doors, two armed guards stood shoulder to shoulder, their hands resting heavy on their holstered firearms.
Vanessa pressed her trembling back against the polished wood, her French manicure digging frantically into the gold molding.
"Luca, please listen to me," Vanessa cried out, her manicured voice cracking with rising panic.
"She is an emotionally unstable woman who ran away nearly two decades ago!"
"She is concocting a vicious fairy tale because she wants your money!"
Luca did not blink, nor did he raise his voice above a deadly whisper.
"Shut the heavy iron gates at the perimeter."
"Nobody leaves this estate tonight."
"Not a guest, not an associate, and not a single vehicle."
A sharp gasp rippled through the dining table as several mafia capos exchanged uneasy glances.
Luca walked slowly toward Olivia, his polished leather shoes clicking rhythmically against the Italian marble.
He reached down with steady hands and gently took the twelfth letter from his sister's trembling grasp.
I stood just inches away, holding my silver serving tray like a protective shield against my pounding heart.
I could see the faint yellowing edges of the paper Olivia had carried through eighteen years of poverty.
Luca unfolded the page with absolute precision.
His gaze swept across the handwritten paragraphs, his jaw clenching so hard a muscle twitched beneath his skin.
"Tell me what this means, Olivia," Luca murmured, his tone devoid of all human warmth.
Olivia lifted her chin, tears carving shining paths through the dust and fatigue on her pale cheeks.
"Eighteen years ago, our mother didn't lose control on Lake Shore Drive because of a snowstorm," Olivia whispered.
"Her brakes were deliberately severed inside our family garage."
"I found the cut hydraulic line myself when I went down to fetch her emergency medical kit."
A collective shudder ran through the room, chilling the warmth of the roaring Christmas fire.
"Why didn't you tell me then?" Luca demanded, his voice cracking under the weight of an ancient agony.
"Because the person who paid the mechanic told me that if I opened my mouth, you would be killed next," Olivia sobbed.
"They gave me twenty-four hours to vanish from Illinois forever."
Vanessa lunged forward from the doorway, her designer crimson gown rustling loudly in the suffocating silence.
"She is lying to tear our marriage apart, Luca!"
"Look at her, she lives in squalor and reeks of desperation!"
Luca turned his head toward Vanessa with a glance so lethal that she froze mid-step.
"I asked you once to be quiet," Luca said, his voice dropping into the terrifying register of a boss about to pass a death sentence.
"If you interrupt my sister one more time, Vanessa, I will have Matteo escort you into the freezing cellar."
Vanessa took a staggering step backward, clutching her diamond necklace as her face drained of all color.
Luca turned back to Olivia and knelt once more beside her worn wooden chair.
"Who cut the lines, Olivia?"
Olivia pointed a trembling, work-roughened finger directly past the centerpiece of white orchids and silver candles.
Her finger stopped, aiming straight at the place setting where Vanessa’s personal diamond-studded clutch lay open.
May you like
"The mechanic kept a ledger of every payoff," Olivia whispered into the deafening stillness.
"And the signature on every wire transfer matches the maiden name of your beloved new bride."
