Chapter 10
Cesare looked toward the old chair at the edge of the ballroom.
Marco’s chair.
Nobody used it during family gatherings.
Not because of a rule.
Because nobody ever chose to.
Avice sometimes placed flowers there.
That was all.
Julian had chosen that place deliberately.
Cesare finally understood the full architecture.
Avice would run.
Vanessa would fall.
The red capsule would break.
Guests would believe a pregnant woman had lost Cesare’s grandchild because of Marco’s daughter.
Cesare would attack.
Julian would condemn him.
The three dissatisfied capos would walk away.
And Avice would be left standing beside her dead father’s empty chair while everyone watched Cesare lose control of the family.
Not politics.
Punishment.
Julian wanted his father to feel displaced.
Vanessa wanted status.
Ethan wanted power.
Edmund wanted the old hierarchy restored.
All of them found something inside the same cruelty.
Then Vanessa turned toward Julian.
“Tell him the rest.”
Julian’s face hardened.
“There is no rest.”
She laughed.
“Oh, there is.”
Ethan looked at his sister.
“What?”
Vanessa stared at Julian.
“You promised me marriage after this.”
Silence.
Julian said nothing.
She continued.
“You promised Ethan the north crews.”
Ethan’s jaw tightened.
“Vanessa.”
“And Edmund?”
Her eyes slid toward the butler.
“You promised him full control of the estate staff.”
Edmund’s face hardened.
Vanessa smiled.
“Three promises.”
A pause.
“One problem.”
Cesare watched.
Julian had promised the same future to people whose rewards could not all coexist.
Vanessa stepped closer.
“So tell them what you told me last week.”
Julian’s voice became cold.
“Be careful.”
Her smile sharpened.
“No.”
“You should have been careful when you called me temporary.”
The ballroom went silent.
Vanessa continued.
“Julian said after tonight, Ethan would take the blame for the fake blood.”
Ethan’s head snapped toward him.
“He said Edmund would take the blame for touching Avice.”
Edmund went still.
“And I…”
Her voice shook with rage.
“…would be sent away as the unstable woman who faked a pregnancy because I was desperate to marry into the Lombardi family.”
Julian’s face became completely still.
The major twist was no longer whether Julian knew.
He had designed every exit.
If the plan worked, he took Cesare’s authority.
If the plan failed, every accomplice became disposable.
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
“You weren’t building a new family.”
She looked at Ethan.
“At Edmund.”
Then back at Julian.
“You were building witnesses you could bury.”
Ethan stepped forward.
“You told me we were brothers after this.”
Julian looked at him.
A cruel smile appeared.
“We were never brothers.”
Ethan’s face emptied.
Julian continued.
“You were Vanessa’s angry little hammer.”
His gaze moved toward Edmund.
“And he was an old servant desperate to feel important.”
Edmund’s jaw tightened.
Then Julian looked at Vanessa.
“And you…”
His eyes traveled over her gown.
“…were convincing because nobody expects a pregnant woman to be dangerous.”
Vanessa’s lips parted.
Julian finished:
“That was your value.”
Cesare watched all three realize the same thing.
They had been used.
But then Julian said something worse.
He looked toward Avice.
“The only person who mattered was her.”
Cesare’s eyes narrowed.
Julian continued.
“Because she was the one person you could never sacrifice.”
His mouth hardened.
“So I built the whole night around making you choose her.”
Silence.
Cesare finally understood the deepest betrayal.
Julian had not merely exploited his father’s weakness.
May you like
He had weaponized Cesare’s love for a child.
And he had been willing to traumatize that child to do it.
