Chapter 3 - Blood at the Breakfast Table
I had heard the Moretti name whispered for years.
In markets.
In police reports.
In staff gossip behind closed doors.
People said Dominic Moretti had enemies everywhere.
But when he said Lily might need protection from his own family, I felt the floor vanish beneath me.
“Your family?” I whispered.
Dominic glanced toward Ethan and Lily.
The children were sitting together on the bed, holding hands like survivors of the same storm.
“Not here,” he said.
He led me into the hall.
Two guards stood by the bedroom door. Another waited near the stairs.
The family wing, once silent and elegant, now felt like a bunker.
Dominic stopped beside a window overlooking the back gardens.
“My brother is coming,” he said.
“Why?”
“Because someone told him what happened before I did.”
I folded my arms around myself.
“Is that bad?”
“It means the leak is close.”
I had never met Dominic’s brother, but I knew the name.
Vincent Moretti.
Older.
Louder.
The kind of man staff avoided even when he smiled.
I had seen him only twice at the estate. Both times, the air changed when he entered.
Dominic looked toward the stairs.
“Vincent believes Ethan should not inherit anything.”
I blinked.
“He’s eight.”
“He’s Sophia’s son.”
That name softened his voice for half a second.
Then it hardened again.
“My wife’s family money, my legitimate businesses, the estate. All of it goes to Ethan one day.”
“And Vincent wants it?”
“Vincent thinks blood should reward strength.”
I felt sick.
“So he would kill a child?”
Dominic’s eyes met mine.
“I don’t know.”
But I heard the truth beneath it.
He feared the answer.
A door slammed downstairs.
Voices rose.
Dominic turned before I did.
“Stay behind me.”
I almost snapped that I was tired of staying.
Then I remembered Lily asleep behind a guarded door and swallowed my pride.
We descended the staircase together.
The birthday flowers still lined the railings, turning the mansion into something cruel.
A celebration with death hiding inside it.
Vincent Moretti stood in the foyer wearing a dark suit and a smile that did not touch his eyes.
He was taller than Dominic, broader through the shoulders, with silver at his temples and a gold ring flashing on one hand.
Two men stood behind him.
Dominic’s guards blocked them from moving farther.
“Brother,” Vincent said. “I came as soon as I heard.”
Dominic stopped halfway down the stairs.
“Who told you?”
Vincent’s smile grew.
“People talk.”
“In my house, they don’t.”
“Well, apparently one did.”
His eyes slid to me.
“And this must be the maid whose child ruined the party.”
I stiffened.
Dominic’s voice dropped.
“Choose your next words carefully.”
Vincent lifted both hands.
“No offense. I hear the little girl is a hero.”
He said hero like he meant problem.
I stepped down one more stair before I could stop myself.
“My daughter saw a man poison Ethan’s cake.”
Vincent looked amused.
“A three-year-old saw that?”
“Yes.”
“And now everyone believes her?”
“I do,” Dominic said.
Vincent looked back at his brother.
“Children imagine things.”
“The test was positive.”
“Then perhaps the chefs made a mistake.”
“With poison?”
Vincent shrugged.
“People are careless.”
Dominic descended the rest of the stairs.
Nobody moved.
The brothers stood close enough to strike each other.
“Why are you here?” Dominic asked.
“To support my nephew.”
“Ethan is resting.”
“I’ll see him.”
“No.”
The word cracked through the foyer.
Vincent’s smile vanished.
“No?”
“You don’t go near him until I know who tried to kill him.”
Something ugly flashed in Vincent’s eyes.
“You think I had something to do with this?”
“I think someone inside my circle did.”
Vincent leaned closer.
“Careful, Dom. Grief made you paranoid after Sophia. Don’t let fear make you stupid now.”
At the mention of Sophia, Dominic’s hand curled into a fist.
I thought he might hit him.
Instead, a weak voice called from the hall.
“Mr. Moretti?”
We all turned.
Emily Price stood between Marco and Dr. Harris, wrapped in a blanket, pale as paper.
My heart jumped.
“Emily.”
She looked at me, and her face crumpled.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
Dominic moved first.
“Who made you call Anna upstairs?”
Emily shook so hard Dr. Harris steadied her.
“I didn’t know it was about Ethan. I swear I didn’t know.”
Vincent watched her like a man watching a crack form in a wall.
Dominic stepped closer.
“Start talking.”
Emily swallowed.
“My brother owes money.”
“To who?”
“I don’t know his real name. Everyone calls him Russo.”
Marco muttered something under his breath.
Dominic did not look away from Emily.
“What did Russo want?”
“He said I had to get Anna away from the kitchen for fifteen minutes. Just fifteen. He said no one would get hurt.”
I pressed my hand to my mouth.
Emily sobbed.
“He knew where my brother lived. He sent pictures of my nephew outside school. I thought it was a theft. I thought they were stealing something from the cold room.”
“You disabled the camera?” Dominic asked.
“No. I don’t have access.”
The room went silent.
Dominic turned slowly toward Vincent.
Vincent laughed once.
“You cannot be serious.”
Emily’s voice shook.
“I saw someone near your study before the party.”
Dominic’s head snapped back.
“My study?”
She nodded.
“I was carrying towels. The door was open. I saw a man coming out.”
“What man?”
Emily looked terrified.
Vincent spoke softly.
“Be careful, girl.”
Dominic moved so fast Vincent’s guards reached for their jackets.
Marco’s men reached faster.
The foyer became a breath away from violence.
Dominic got inches from Vincent’s face.
“Threaten one more person in my house.”
Vincent smiled again, but it flickered.
Emily whispered, “It was Mr. Vincent’s driver.”
The silence hit like a gunshot.
Vincent rolled his eyes.
“My driver uses the bathroom and suddenly he’s an assassin?”
Dominic looked at Marco.
“Bring Luca in.”
Vincent’s jaw tightened.
“He’s not here.”
Dominic turned back.
“How do you know?”
“Because I came alone with my men.”
Marco checked his radio.
Then he looked up.
“Luca’s car is at the lower service road.”
Vincent’s face changed for one second.
Just one.
But I saw it.
So did Dominic.
A scream came from upstairs.
Lily.
I ran.
Dominic was right behind me.
I took the stairs two at a time, my heart tearing itself apart.
The guards outside the bedroom were on the floor.
One moved.
One did not.
The door was open.
Ethan stood inside, shaking, holding a lamp with both hands.
Lily was gone.
For one second, I could not make sense of the room.
Then Ethan pointed toward the balcony doors.
“He took her,” he cried. “The man with shiny shoes took Lily.”
My world went black at the edges.
Dominic grabbed the radio from his belt.
“Lock every gate!”
I ran to the balcony.
Below, across the garden path, a man in a dark coat carried my daughter toward the trees.
Lily kicked and screamed.
“Mommy!”
I screamed back so hard my throat tore.
May you like
Dominic’s voice became thunder behind me.
“Nobody leaves this estate alive with that child.”
