Chapter 10 - The Unraveling
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The ballroom descended into utter, deafening bedlam.
Flashbulbs from press photographers who had been covering the charity gala suddenly erupted in a blinding storm of light.
Journalists who had been politely sipping wine in the back row pushed forward, raising their cameras and shouting questions at the stage.
Julian Vale looked around the vast room, searching frantically for an exit or a single ally willing to meet his gaze.
The judges, aldermen, and wealthy donors who had praised his philanthropic genius five minutes ago were now turning their backs and rushing toward the coats.
Julian took two frantic steps toward the rear service door behind the stage, but Marco was already standing in the doorway with his arms crossed.
Two uniformed Chicago police captains and four armed federal agents strode up the carpeted stairs of the stage with handcuffs drawn.
“Julian Vale, you are under arrest for federal wire fraud, conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, and two counts of first-degree homicide,” Agent Vance stated.
Julian lunged forward, his face purple with rage, grabbing for the heavy brass microphone stand to use as a weapon.
Luca was on the stage in the blink of an eye.
He grabbed Julian’s arm, twisting it behind his back with effortless, crushing precision and forcing the older man down onto his knees.
Julian let out a pathetic, strangled groan as the cold steel handcuffs snapped around his wrists.
Luca leaned down close to Julian’s ear, his voice quiet enough that only the disgraced billionaire could hear the words.
“My father died on Lake Shore Drive thinking you were his friend,” Luca whispered with chilling, lethal calm.
“You will spend the rest of your miserable life staring at concrete walls, remembering that his son was the one who put you there.”
On the other side of the stage, Vivienne was sobbing hysterically, her expensive crimson dress dragging on the floor as two female officers seized her arms.
“Luca, please!” Vivienne screamed, tears creating black mascara tracks down her cheeks.
“I did it for us! My father forced me to do it! He said if we didn’t get control of the Moretti assets, our family would be ruined!”
“I love you, Luca! You can't let them take me to prison!”
Luca slowly stood up and turned to face his former fiancée.
He looked at her with an expression of such complete, absolute indifference that it was more devastating than any scream of anger.
“You didn't care if my eighty-five-year-old grandmother suffocated on a marble floor in front of two hundred people,” Luca said coldly.
“You locked her breath in a handbag and called it drama.”
“The only thing you love, Vivienne, is the power you thought my name would give you.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the platinum engagement ring he had discarded earlier that evening.
He dropped the ring onto the floor right in front of her trembling, designer-shod feet.
“Keep the ring,” Luca added softly.
“You can use it to pay for your commissary in federal prison.”
Vivienne shrieked in anguish as the officers pulled her backward down the stage stairs and marched her through the crowd in full view of the flashing news cameras.
Julian Vale was hauled to his feet and dragged away in silence, his head hanging low as the crowd of former admirers booed and jeered.
Rosa watched the procession from the front row, her hands resting calmly in her lap.
A soft, serene smile touched her face, thirty years of unresolved grief finally lifting from her weary shoulders like an evaporating fog.
Luca stepped down from the stage and walked directly over to where I was standing.
He stopped inches from me, his intense dark eyes searching my face for any sign of fear or doubt.
“Are you alright, Elena?” he asked softly, ignoring the pandemonium swirling around us.
“I am now,” I replied, feeling a genuine smile spread across my face for the first time in twenty-four hours.
Luca reached out and took my right hand into his, raising it to his lips in front of every remaining guest and news camera in the room.
He pressed a gentle, reverent kiss against my bruised knuckles, his gaze never leaving mine.
May you like
“Thank you for giving my family our justice back,” he murmured against my skin.
My heart fluttered wildly against my ribs, and for a fleeting moment, the entire chaotic room faded into complete, breathtaking silence.
