Chapter 2 - THE CRUMPLED TRUTH
Bianca’s soft, breathless laugh died the moment Vincent shifted his gaze from the child to her.
The dining room went dead silent. Outside, the February rain continued to batter the glass, sounding like fistfuls of gravel thrown against the penthouse windows. I lunged forward, my heart hammering against my ribs, desperate to grab Lily and pull her away from the apex predator sitting at the head of the table.
“I am so sorry, Mr. Moretti,” I choked out, my hands trembling as I reached for my daughter. “She doesn’t know what she’s saying. Lily, come here. Right now.”
But Vincent raised his left hand. Just an inch. It was a microscopic gesture, yet it instantly froze the two armed guards standing by the mahogany double doors, and it froze me.
“Let her speak, Elena,” Vincent said. His voice was remarkably soft. It wasn’t a yell. It was the terrifying, low baritone of a man who held the power of life and death in his checkbook and his holster.
He looked down at Lily. He didn’t try to smile or coddle her. He treated her with the exact same unblinking focus he gave his capos. “What doctor, little one?”
Lily blinked, clutching her stuffed rabbit. She wasn't afraid of him. She didn't know enough about the underworld to be afraid. She just knew the nice man in the expensive suit was finally listening. “The sweaty one,” she pointed a chubby finger directly at Dr. Malcolm Reed. “I heard him tell the lady in the bathroom. He said there’s no baby, but he wants his money anyway.”
Sophia Bellini shot up from her chair, her ivory silk dress catching the chandelier’s light. “Vincent, this is absurd! Are you going to listen to the delusions of a maid’s bastard child? Look at this!” She snatched the paper from the table. “It’s garbage!”
It wasn't garbage. I knew exactly what it was. It was a shredded lab report I had found in the master suite’s trash bin that morning. I had spent an hour taping it back together, terrified of the explosive secret it held: Patient: Sophia Bellini. HCG Levels: Negative. Pregnancy: Undetected. I had hidden it under my mattress, paralyzed by the fear of what the Bellini family would do to me if I ruined their billion-dollar merger. Lily must have found it.
Vincent didn’t look at Sophia. He kept his eyes on Dr. Reed. The physician’s face had drained of all color, matching the white roses in the center of the table. A bead of sweat rolled down Reed’s temple.
“Dr. Reed,” Vincent said, leaning back in his chair. He slowly capped his father’s fountain pen. “Is there a baby?”
“Mr. Moretti, I assure you, the ultrasound—”
“I didn't ask about the ultrasound. I asked if there is a baby.”
Sophia slammed her hands on the table. “Vincent! You are humiliating me!”
Vincent ignored her. He looked at his second-in-command, a massive, scarred man named Dante who was already pulling his phone from his jacket. “Dante. Lock the doors. Call Dr. Aris. Have him bring a portable sonogram machine. Nobody leaves this room until I see a heartbeat on a monitor.”
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Sophia gasped, stumbling backward. Bianca let out a string of vicious Italian curses. And Dr. Reed? He made the worst mistake of his life. He bolted for the door.
He didn't make it three steps before Dante’s heavy hand closed around his throat, slamming him face-first into the polished wood of the doorframe.
