Chapter 6 - THE SINS OF THE FATHERS
The chandeliers above us seemed to dim, as if the room itself was holding its breath.
"My grandmother?" I whispered, staring at the elderly woman in the faded navy dress.
I hadn't seen my grandmother since I was a little girl. She and my mother had a massive falling out, and her name was never spoken in our house again. Yet here she was, standing in a billionaire's dining room, holding the strings to a fifteen-year-old mystery.
Ruth looked at me, her eyes softening. "Oh, Hannah. You look so much like your mother."
Nico stared at the Polaroid photograph, then at Ruth. "You saved Matteo from my father? What does that mean?"
Marcus laughed, a harsh, grating sound. "Tell him, old woman. Tell him what a monster his beloved Isabella really was."
"Isabella wasn't a monster!" Nico shouted, lunging forward. Two of his security guards grabbed his arms, holding him back from murdering Marcus on the spot.
"She wasn't a monster," Ruth agreed calmly, ignoring Marcus. "But she was terrified, Nicholas. Your father found out she was pregnant. He told her that if she gave birth to a DeLuca heir, he would take the child and raise him to be just like him. Cold. Ruthless. A killer."
Nico stopped struggling. "My father threatened her?"
"He did more than threaten," Ruth said. "He offered her a million dollars to disappear and leave the baby. Isabella refused. She came to the clinic where my Mary worked. She begged for help."
Ruth pointed at the little boy still clinging to me.
"When Matteo was born, Mary forged the death certificate. Elena, your sister, smuggled Isabella and the baby out of the city. We hid them."
"Then why did Isabella leave him with Elena?" Nico demanded. "Why did she disappear?"
"She didn't disappear," a new voice rang out.
The crowd parted again. A woman walked into the dining room. She was holding a blood-stained towel to a deep cut on her forehead, but she stood tall. She was wearing a beige trench coat.
"Elena," Nico gasped.
His sister looked older, her face lined with exhaustion, but her eyes were fierce.
"Isabella didn't leave him, Nico," Elena said, pressing the towel to her head. "She died. Four years ago, just like the ledger says. It wasn't a car accident. She was sick. She made me promise to keep Matteo hidden until you were no longer under our father's thumb."
"I took over the family three years ago!" Nico said, tears finally falling. "Why didn't you bring him to me then?"
Elena pointed a bloody finger at Victoria. "Because of her."
Victoria shrank back against the table.
"I tried to contact you," Elena said. "But every time I called, Victoria answered. Every letter I sent, she intercepted. She found out about Matteo. And she sent Marcus to finish what our father started."
"That's a lie!" Victoria shrieked. "I was protecting the company! An illegitimate child would ruin the merger with my father's firm!"
Richard Sterling, Victoria's father, suddenly looked very pale. "Victoria, what have you done?"
"I did what you told me to do!" Victoria screamed at her father. "You told me we needed the DeLuca money because you bankrupted our company! You told me to secure the marriage by any means necessary!"
The eighty guests gasped in unison. The great Sterling family, practically royalty in Chicago, was bankrupt.
Nico shook off his guards. He walked slowly toward Victoria.
"You intercepted letters from my sister. You kept my son from me. And tonight... you tried to have them killed at my gates."
"I didn't!" Victoria sobbed, sinking to the floor in her ruined designer dress. "I just told Marcus to scare them away! Just scare them!"
"She's lying," Elena said quietly. "Marcus didn't try to scare me. He ran my car off the road. He was coming to finish the job, but I managed to hide Matteo in the bushes and run. I drew Marcus away so the boy could get inside."
Nico turned slowly toward Marcus.
The enforcer wasn't smiling anymore. He reached into his jacket.
May you like
"Gun!" one of the guards yelled.
Before anyone could react, a gunshot shattered the silence of the dining room.
