Chapter 4
Cesare held the stained cloth between two fingers.
Vanessa laughed.
“Food coloring.”
Her voice was dismissive.
“The gala kitchen is twenty feet away.”
Cesare looked at her.
“You know what it is without touching it?”
Her smile faded.
Only slightly.
Ethan stepped in.
“Oh, please.”
He adjusted one cuff.
“Are we really pretending strawberry syrup is evidence of some grand conspiracy?”
His eyes moved toward Avice.
“The child steals a cloth from under a stair and suddenly everyone forgets she was caught snooping in Vanessa’s clothes.”
Cesare looked at him.
Ethan’s mouth curved.
“That’s the real problem with power.”
He spoke loudly enough for the capos to hear.
“Eventually people become afraid to tell your family when they’re wrong.”
Cesare remained silent.
Ethan continued.
“That girl should have been disciplined months ago.”
Avice’s fingers tightened.
Ethan nodded toward Edmund.
“He did what everyone else was too scared to do.”
Cesare’s expression cooled.
“You mean slap her?”
Ethan shrugged.
“She survived.”
The room went colder.
Ethan knew it.
Still he smiled.
“See?”
A mocking look around the ballroom.
“This is why nobody can speak honestly in your house.”
“One red cheek and suddenly grown men look ready to declare war.”
Cesare stepped closer.
Ethan held his ground.
Good.
The villain still believed his alliances protected him.
Then Julian spoke.
“Dad.”
Cesare turned.
Julian’s face was calm again.
“End this.”
“Why?”
“Because you are humiliating Vanessa.”
Cesare looked toward the fake belly.
“She humiliated herself.”
Julian’s jaw tightened.
“No.”
His voice sharpened.
“You did.”
He stepped closer.
“You never wanted her here.”
“You never wanted me serious with anyone you didn’t choose.”
“You never looked at her without comparing her to Marco’s wife.”
Avice looked up.
Her late father’s name had entered the room.
Cesare’s face changed.
Julian saw it.
And pressed.
“There.”
A bitter smile.
“Marco.”
“The dead son nobody can compete with.”
Cesare’s hand stopped over his ring.
Julian continued.
“And now his daughter.”
He looked toward Avice.
“She cries.”
“You melt.”
“She points.”
“You investigate.”
“She wanders through private rooms.”
“You call it innocence.”
Avice lowered her face.
Cesare’s voice became dangerous.
“Do not punish her for my grief.”
Julian’s expression hardened.
“I’m not.”
“Then stop speaking about her like she stole something from you.”
Silence.
That hit.
Vanessa saw Julian’s face and stepped in.
“She did.”
Cesare turned.
Vanessa’s eyes were cold.
“She stole the only part of him you still know how to love.”
The ballroom stopped.
Julian looked at her.
Even he had not expected the sentence.
Avice did not understand all of it.
She understood the tone.
Her eyes filled again.
Cesare looked at Vanessa.
Long enough that her confidence nearly slipped.
Then she smiled.
Defiant.
“What?”
Her voice became contemptuous.
“You wanted honesty.”
She looked toward Avice.
“There it is.”
“She walks into a room and you become a grandfather.”
“Julian walks in and you become a judge.”
Cesare did not deny the difference.
That made Vanessa less comfortable.
Then Edmund spoke.
“Mr. Julian has spent years being treated as a substitute.”
Every eye moved toward him.
Edmund’s voice remained severe.
“I served this house before half these men had gray hair.”
He looked at Cesare.
“And after Marco died, you preserved his place like a shrine.”
His gaze moved toward Avice.
“Even through her.”
Avice pressed closer to Cesare.
Edmund continued.
“So perhaps do not look shocked when others finally create a future that does not revolve around one dead son.”
Cesare’s face became unreadable.
The insult landed.
But something else landed too.
Edmund had said “create a future.”
Cesare turned.
“What future?”
Edmund’s mouth closed.
Julian’s eyes moved toward him.
Vanessa looked away.
Power shifted again.
Then a bodyguard approached from the west staircase carrying a small glass capsule.
It had been taped beneath the third step.
Inside was thick red liquid.
And tied around it—
a white ribbon embroidered with one word.
May you like
BABY.
Nobody laughed about food coloring after that.
