Chapter 3 - THE WOLF IN THE DINING ROOM
The screams started immediately.
Chairs tipped over as wealthy guests scrambled away from the table, their silk dresses and tailored suits tangling in their panic.
But Luca didn't move.
He stood perfectly still, his body shielding Daniel, his eyes fixed on the barrel of the silver handgun pointed directly at his chest.
Vanessa’s hand was shaking violently.
"Turn it off, Luca," she screamed, her voice cracking. "Turn that recording off right now!"
Caroline’s voice continued to play from the tablet in Luca's hand, echoing beneath the chaos.
"Luca, you have to protect Daniel. If the Bellinis get their hooks into you, they will never let my son survive. They want their own bloodline to inherit everything."
Luca carefully reached down and pressed the pause button.
The silence that followed was more terrifying than the screams.
"Your father killed my wife," Luca said.
It wasn't a question.
It was a realization that shattered a four-year-old grief and replaced it with a blinding, lethal rage.
Vanessa kept the gun raised.
"My father did what he had to do!" she shouted, tears ruining her perfect makeup. "Your syndicate was bleeding us dry. He offered you an alliance years ago, and you laughed in his face! You told him you would never marry a Bellini as long as Caroline was breathing!"
She let out a bitter, ugly sob.
"So he made sure she stopped breathing."
Daniel buried his face in his father's jacket, crying silently.
Luca didn't comfort him this time.
His muscles were coiled tight, his dark eyes calculating the distance between himself and the woman he had almost married.
"And you?" Luca asked softly. "Did you know?"
Vanessa laughed.
"Of course I knew! I was the one who visited her room the night she died. I was the one who watched her take her last breath. I wanted to see the woman who made you reject me."
My stomach heaved.
She hadn't just tormented Daniel.
She had watched his mother die.
"But you didn't count on her making a recording," Luca said.
"No," Vanessa spat. "I didn't find the tablet until six months ago. I was going to destroy it, but then I realized I could use it. I told Daniel I would let him hear her voice if he learned his speech. I was going to break his attachment to her, and then smash the tablet in front of him."
She was a monster.
A beautiful, wealthy, soulless monster.
"Put the gun down, Vanessa," Luca said evenly. "There are thirty witnesses in this room. You can't kill all of us."
"I don't have to," she sneered. "My father's men have been waiting outside the gates all evening. Once we were officially engaged, they were going to come in and help you 'celebrate'."
She smiled, but it looked frantic.
"I'm leaving, Luca. And if anyone tries to stop me, I swear to God I will put a bullet in your son."
She shifted her aim slightly, pointing the barrel directly at Daniel's small back.
Luca’s expression changed.
The calm control vanished, replaced by the terrifying aura of a man who ruled the Chicago underworld.
"If you pull that trigger," Luca whispered, "there isn't a hole deep enough on this earth to hide you from what I will do to you."
Vanessa swallowed hard, her confidence wavering.
She took a step backward toward the grand double doors.
"Nobody move!" she yelled.
She kept the gun trained on Daniel as she backed away.
I was standing near the serving buffet, just a few feet from the doors.
I saw her hand shaking.
I saw the desperation in her eyes.
But I also saw something else.
On the buffet table, resting right on the edge, was the heavy silver soup tureen I had brought out twenty minutes ago.
It was filled to the brim with scalding hot lobster bisque.
Vanessa took another step back.
She was almost parallel to me.
If she left this room, her father's men would breach the house. Luca and Daniel would be slaughtered.
I thought about my mother.
I thought about the money I desperately needed.
And then I looked at the little boy who had held my hand because he was too terrified to speak.
I didn't think about the consequences.
I grabbed the heavy silver handles of the tureen.
"Miss Bellini!" I shouted.
Vanessa startled and turned her head toward me.
I swung the tureen with all my strength, hurling the scalding soup directly across her chest and arms.
Vanessa shrieked in absolute agony.
The gun fired wildly into the ceiling, raining plaster down on the dining table.
She dropped the weapon, clawing at her burning skin and ruining the red silk gown.
Before the gun even hit the floor, Luca moved.
He crossed the room like a shadow, grabbing Vanessa by the throat and slamming her violently against the oak-paneled wall.
Her screams choked off into a gag.
Luca’s forearm pressed against her windpipe.
"You don't get to threaten my son," he snarled, his face inches from hers. "And you don't get to leave."
The dining room doors suddenly burst open.
Four men in dark suits flooded into the room, their weapons drawn.
But they weren't Bellini's men.
They were Luca's personal security, led by his head of detail, a massive man named Marcus.
"Boss!" Marcus yelled, surveying the chaos.
"Secure the perimeter!" Luca ordered, not looking away from Vanessa. "Bellini’s men are at the gates. Nobody gets in. Nobody gets out."
Marcus nodded and barked orders into his radio.
Luca released his grip slightly, letting Vanessa gasp for air. She slid down the wall, sobbing and clutching her scalded arms.
Luca kicked her silver handgun across the floor.
Then he turned and looked at me.
I was standing frozen by the buffet, my hands shaking uncontrollably, realizing I had just assaulted the daughter of a mafia boss.
"Emma," Luca said.
I squeezed my eyes shut, expecting to be fired, or worse, arrested.
"Yes, sir?"
"Go to the nursery."
I opened my eyes. "Sir?"
"Take Daniel. Lock the door. Do not open it for anyone except me or Marcus."
I looked at the little boy. He was shaking, staring at the plaster falling from the ceiling.
I didn't hesitate.
I ran to Daniel, scooped him up into my arms even though he was too heavy for me, and carried him out of the dining room.
But as I reached the grand staircase, I heard the sound of breaking glass from the front of the mansion.
Followed by the unmistakable sound of automatic gunfire.
Vanessa had been wrong about one thing.
Her father hadn't waited for the engagement.
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He was already inside.
TITLE: THE GOLD LIGHTER
