Chapter 5
Vanessa stared at the capsule.
Then rolled her eyes.
Too theatrical.
Cesare noticed.
“Mine.”
She said it before anyone asked.
Julian turned toward her.
She kept going.
“I planned something symbolic.”
Cesare’s gaze stayed on her.
“What?”
Vanessa lifted her chin.
“A charity announcement.”
“With fake blood?”
“Red dye.”
“Under a staircase?”
Her nostrils flared.
Ethan stepped beside her.
“She doesn't owe you a performance schedule.”
Cesare looked at him.
Ethan smiled.
“She is carrying grief.”
Avice looked toward the fake belly at Vanessa’s feet.
Even several guests did.
Ethan saw.
His expression hardened.
“You people really are animals.”
A scoff.
“A woman loses a child and because she didn’t advertise it correctly you stare at her like a fraud.”
Cesare’s voice remained quiet.
“She is a fraud.”
Ethan stepped forward.
“Careful.”
One of Cesare’s bodyguards shifted.
Ethan noticed and laughed.
“There.”
He spread both hands.
“The great Lombardi house.”
“Every answer behind a man with a gun.”
Cesare’s eyes stayed on him.
Ethan’s arrogance grew.
“You know what Julian told me about you?”
Julian’s face changed.
“Ethan.”
Too late.
Ethan smiled.
“He said you became afraid after Marco died.”
The room tightened.
Cesare did not move.
Ethan continued.
“Afraid to trust.”
“Afraid to let your surviving son grow beyond your shadow.”
His eyes moved toward Avice.
“So you built yourself a little shrine with curls and a birthday dress.”
Avice went completely still.
Cesare’s breathing changed.
Julian’s face hardened.
Even Vanessa glanced at Ethan.
He had gone far.
But he enjoyed it.
“Every time you look at her, you get to pretend Marco is still in the room.”
Cesare stared at him.
Long.
Then looked down at Avice.
Her eyes were wet.
He crouched.
“Go with Sofia.”
The nanny stepped forward.
Avice immediately shook her head.
“No.”
Cesare softened.
“Just across the room.”
She hesitated.
Then whispered:
“I have to tell you the stairs.”
His eyes narrowed.
“What about them?”
Avice looked toward Vanessa.
Vanessa’s face hardened.
The child whispered:
“She practiced falling.”
Silence.
Julian turned sharply.
Vanessa snapped:
“No.”
Avice flinched.
Cesare rose.
“What did you see?”
“She stood on the red cloth.”
Avice demonstrated with her feet.
“Then Edmund said ‘again.’”
Edmund’s jaw tightened.
Vanessa’s voice rose.
“She’s lying.”
Avice continued.
“She fell down.”
Her little hands moved toward her stomach.
“Then she cried and Ethan said not loud enough.”
Ethan’s face changed.
Every guest understood.
The red dye.
The fixed camera.
The marked stair.
The fake pregnancy.
Cesare’s voice became barely audible.
“You were rehearsing a miscarriage.”
Vanessa laughed.
Again.
But there was no humor now.
“What a disgusting thing to say.”
Cesare’s eyes stayed on her.
Avice whispered:
“She said I had to run first.”
That changed everything.
Cesare looked toward Julian.
His son’s face had gone still.
The plan had shape now.
Avice would run toward Vanessa.
Vanessa would fall.
The capsule would break.
The fixed camera would capture the child near the impact.
And a fake pregnancy would become a fake loss.
But one question remained.
Why choose Avice?
Cesare looked at Julian.
His son did not look away.
Then Julian said:
“Because everyone knows what you would do if someone blamed her.”
May you like
The room went silent.
He had finally admitted part of it himself.
