Chapter 8 - THE HEIRESS AND THE WAITRESS
Celeste twirled the silver rosary around her manicured fingers. "The police chief is on my payroll, Lorenzo. The official story tomorrow morning will be tragic. Silas orchestrated a coup, killed you and the boy, and I heroically survived. The Moretti empire absorbs into the Vane dynasty."
The armed officers stepped forward, raising their weapons at Lorenzo and Evelyn.
"You don't have to do this, Celeste," Lorenzo said quietly, keeping his body positioned squarely in front of Leo. "Take the territory. Just let the girl and the boy go. They are innocent."
"Innocent?" Celeste laughed sharply, a bitter, ugly sound. She pointed a manicured finger at Evelyn. "This gutter trash ruined my flawless execution. She made me look foolish. And the boy? He's a loose end. A Moretti heir will always be a threat to my claim."
Evelyn felt a cold, hard rage crystallize in her chest. She had spent her whole life shrinking, hiding, playing the invisible waitress so rich monsters like Celeste could step on her. Not anymore.
"You think you're so smart, Celeste," Evelyn said, stepping out from behind Lorenzo. She didn't have a weapon, but she had something far more dangerous. The truth.
"Quiet, waitress," Celeste spat.
"Silas told us everything before Lorenzo locked him in there," Evelyn lied, her voice projecting with absolute, unwavering confidence. "He told us about your secret offshore accounts. The ones you’ve been funneling your family’s money into without your father knowing."
Celeste’s smirk faltered for a fraction of a second.
Evelyn pressed hard, banking on a hunch she’d formed watching Celeste’s nervous ticks at the restaurant. "Silas kept the receipts, Celeste. He put them on the real ledger. He was going to blackmail you the second Lorenzo was dead. He played you."
"Liar," Celeste hissed, but her eyes darted nervously to the sealed vault door.
"The real ledger isn't in that vault," Evelyn continued, taking another step forward. She reached into her coat pocket, her hand closing around her father’s silver pocket watch, which she had snatched from Silas during the fight. "My father, Arthur Carter, coded the real ledger into this."
She pulled the silver watch out, letting it dangle by the chain.
The police officers hesitated, looking at Celeste. If Celeste was being blackmailed, their payouts were in jeopardy.
"Give me that watch!" Celeste shrieked, losing her aristocratic composure completely. She snatched a gun from the officer next to her and aimed it at Evelyn.
"Drop it, Celeste!" a new voice boomed from the elevator.
The doors slid open to reveal Dante, bleeding but standing tall. And behind him wasn't the corrupt police chief—it was the FBI Task Force director, a man Lorenzo had been quietly feeding information to for months. Dozens of heavily armed federal agents flooded the hallway, laser sights instantly painting Celeste and her corrupt cops.
"It's over, Ms. Vane," the Director announced. "We have the security footage from the restaurant, and Silas's men have already started talking. Put the weapon down."
Celeste looked wildly around. Her empire was crumbling in real time. She looked at Lorenzo, then at Evelyn, her face twisting in pure, unadulterated hatred.
"If I go down, you go with me!" Celeste screamed, turning the gun directly at Leo.
Time slowed down.
Lorenzo lunged for his son. Dante raised his weapon.
But Evelyn was closer. Without a thought for her own life, she threw herself across the space between them, tackling the heiress just as the gun went off.
A searing pain ripped through Evelyn’s shoulder. She hit the ground hard, Celeste crashing down beneath her. Federal agents swarmed, ripping the gun from Celeste's hand and pinning the screaming heiress to the concrete.
Evelyn lay on the cold floor, her vision swimming. She felt warm hands pressing against her shoulder.
"Evelyn," Lorenzo’s voice cracked, thick with an emotion she had never heard from him before. He was pressing his coat against her bleeding wound. Leo was kneeling beside him, crying, holding Evelyn's good hand.
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"I've got you," Lorenzo whispered, brushing the hair from her sweating forehead. "You're safe now. I promise."
Evelyn looked up at the terrifying mafia boss, seeing only a desperate, loving father. She squeezed Leo's small hand, and for the first time in her life, the dark didn't feel so scary. She closed her eyes and let the sirens wash over her.
