Chapter 2 - The Mask Falls
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The silence in the grand dining room was so absolute that the lashing of rain against the arched windows sounded like gunfire.
Twenty-eight guests sat frozen in their high-backed velvet chairs.
Not a single person reached for their crystal wine glass.
Marco Bellini did not blink.
His dark eyes remained fixed entirely on Celeste, who stood trembling in her burgundy gown.
The color had fled from her face, leaving her as pale as marble.
“You visited my brother in prison?” Marco asked, his voice deceptively low.
It was the tone he used right before someone ceased to exist in Philadelphia.
“Marco, listen to me,” Celeste stammered, stepping backward until her calf pressed against her chair.
“Did you visit Daniel?” Marco repeated, taking one measured step forward.
“I went to warn him!” she cried out, her voice shrill and desperate.
“I went to tell him to leave us alone!”
“You told him you would reveal what happened the night my father died,” Marco said.
Every muscle in his broad shoulders went rigid under his tailored jacket.
“Why would you mention my father to a man who took the fall for your theft?”
A murmur rippled through the seated guests.
These were men of power, city council members, business partners, and family lieutenants who understood the weight of Salvatore Bellini’s murder.
“She’s lying, Marco!” Celeste pointed a manicured finger at seventy-eight-year-old Helen.
“Look at her!
She’s an old, senile woman who showed up uninvited to sabotage our future!
She probably doesn't even know what day it is!”
Before she could finish her sentence, Marco’s palm struck the oak dining table with a force that rattled every fork and porcelain plate.
The entire room jumped.
“Do not speak about my godmother again,” Marco said, his voice deadly quiet.
Celeste’s hand dropped to her side.
Tears welled in her eyes, but they were not tears of remorse; they were tears of trapped fury.
Helen leaned heavily against me, her frail hand clutching my forearm so tightly her knuckles were white.
I could feel the residual cold radiating from her soaked dress.
I wrapped my wool coat tighter around her shivering shoulders.
“Olivia,” Marco said without turning his gaze from Celeste.
“Yes, Mr. Bellini?” I whispered.
“Take Aunt Helen upstairs to the master guest suite on the second floor.
Have the housekeeper bring dry clothes, fresh blankets, and hot broth immediately.”
“Right away, sir,” I answered softly.
I gently helped Helen to her feet.
The elderly woman wobbled, her knees weak from standing in the freezing storm outside.
“Marco,” Helen pleaded, her eyes shining with tears.
“Please be careful, sweetheart.
She isn't acting alone.”
“I will handle it, Aunt Helen,” Marco murmured, his expression softening for only a fraction of a second as he looked at the woman who had helped raise him.
“Rest now.
You are safe under my roof.”
As I guided Helen toward the arched entryway, Celeste made a desperate move forward.
“Marco, don't dismiss me like this!
We have guests!
This is our engagement celebration!”
Marco did not even glance at the room full of elite onlookers.
He raised two fingers in the air.
Immediately, two towering security guards stepped out from the shadows near the kitchen entrance.
“Escort Miss Warren to her private quarters,” Marco commanded coldly.
“Confiscate her phone.
Disconnect the landline.
And place two men outside her door.”
“Marco!
You can't do this to me!” Celeste screamed, her composure entirely shattering as the guards stepped on either side of her.
“I am your future wife!”
“You are a ghost,” Marco answered without turning around.
“And tomorrow morning, my brother will tell me exactly whose grave you dug.”
I steered Helen through the double doors and out into the quiet marble hallway.
Behind us, the heavy mahogany doors clicked shut, cutting off Celeste’s frantic shrieks.
I felt my heart pounding against my ribs like a caged bird.
May you like
I was just a housemaid who worried about my father’s garage and an overdue electric bill.
Yet tonight, I had just stepped directly into the crosshairs of a war that had been brewing for over two years.
