Chapter 1
“You have to drink this entire bottle of wine, right here, right now.”
Katherine’s face emptied.
That was all I needed.
I had no intention of forcing her to drink anything I suspected had been tampered with.
I wanted the truth in her eyes before she had time to rebuild her story.
It came immediately.
Fear.
Marcus stopped struggling beneath the tilted clock.
Salvatore held the sealed decanter by its neck.
Clara remained against my chest, one small hand gripping my lapel.
I looked at Katherine.
“What’s in it?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why are you afraid?”
Her mouth opened.
No answer.
I handed Clara to Salvatore’s second guard and stepped closer to the table.
Not the wine.
Her.
“You told my daughter I would die after drinking this.”
“She misunderstood.”
Marcus said the same thing.
Interesting.
Two adults using the exact defense.
I looked at him.
“Why did you hit me?”
His jaw tightened.
“You were frightening everyone.”
“No.”
I glanced toward the decanter.
“You were frightened I’d touch something.”
Katherine suddenly spoke.
“Roman, don’t be dramatic. It was supposed to make you sleep.”
Silence.
There.
Not harmless.
Not poison, perhaps.
But altered.
“For how long?”
She looked away.
Marcus answered before she could.
“A few hours.”
Katherine snapped his name.
Too late.
I turned toward him.
“What happens during those few hours?”
No answer.
Then Clara whispered from behind me:
“Auntie said Daddy misses the meeting.”
I became still.
“What meeting, sweetheart?”
She pointed toward the closed gallery doors.
“The men after cake.”
The Christmas dinner had always ended with a private family council.
Tonight’s agenda had supposedly been routine.
Winter distributions.
Security rotations.
Estate access.
Nothing important enough to incapacitate me over.
Unless there was another agenda.
I looked at Katherine.
“What were you planning to decide while I slept?”
Her eyes moved toward Clara.
Not Marcus.
Clara.
That was when I understood.
May you like
This had never been only about removing me from one meeting.
They were planning something about my daughter.
