Chapter 11
The mansion stayed dark for ninety seconds.
Long enough to terrify everyone who didn't know the backup system.
Not long enough to help the attackers.
Vittorio had already moved loyal guards into the east corridor.
Three intruders were taken immediately.
Two surrendered after seeing the hall sealed.
The sixth ran.
Mauro’s men caught him near the kitchen.
No one reached Anna.
No one reached Mia.
No one reached the old east salon.
When power returned, Marco was standing in the main dining salon with a pistol in his hand.
He looked around.
Confused.
His men weren't there.
Celeste stood beside him.
Pale.
Capos surrounded them.
Vittorio walked in.
No rush.
No weapon drawn.
Marco looked at the room.
Then at Vittorio.
“You set us up.”
Vittorio continued walking.
Celeste snapped:
“You were supposed to be weak.”
Silence.
She realized.
Too late.
Again.
Vittorio stopped ten feet away.
“Supposed to?”
Celeste's face tightened.
Marco shouted:
“He knows.”
Celeste turned.
“What?”
“He knows everything.”
“No.”
Marco laughed bitterly.
“You think Anna disappearing was an accident?”
Celeste’s eyes moved toward Vittorio.
Then the doors opened.
Anna entered.
Mia beside her.
Protected by four guards.
Celeste's face twisted.
Not fear.
Rage.
“You.”
Anna stopped.
Celeste pointed.
“You ungrateful little parasite.”
Mia moved closer to her mother.
Celeste continued.
“I gave you a room.”
Anna said nothing.
“Food.”
Anna’s expression changed.
Vittorio heard the lie too.
Celeste stepped forward.
“I kept you employed when anyone else would've thrown you out with that child.”
Anna finally spoke.
“You withheld meals.”
Celeste laughed.
“Because you were lazy.”
“You locked me in the blue room.”
“Because you failed to clean it.”
“My hands were bleeding.”
Celeste rolled her eyes.
“There it is.”
She looked at the capos.
“The suffering maid.”
Then back at Anna.
“Did you want applause?”
Anna went still.
Celeste smiled cruelly.
“Your hands hurt because you’re slow.”
Mia began crying.
Celeste looked down.
“And now the brat starts.”
Vittorio moved one step.
Celeste saw him.
Stopped.
But only briefly.
She looked at Mia.
“Go ahead. Cry louder.”
Anna put herself in front of her daughter.
Celeste laughed.
“Maybe your father will come save you.”
Then she remembered.
Mia had no father in the house.
The cruelty was deliberate.
Anna’s face broke.
Vittorio’s expression turned lethal.
Celeste knew it.
She kept going anyway.
“That's the problem with people like you.”
She looked at Anna.
“You teach children to expect rescue.”
Then at Mia.
“No one comes forever.”
Vittorio said:
“I did.”
Silence.
Celeste looked at him.
Vittorio continued.
“And now you have a bigger problem.”
Marco raised the pistol.
Every guard aimed.
Vittorio didn't move.
Marco shouted:
“Everybody drops theirs.”
Nobody did.
He pointed the gun at Anna.
Mia screamed.
Marco smiled.
“There.”
He looked at Vittorio.
“Now you listen.”
Vittorio stared at him.
Marco’s confidence returned.
“You care too much.”
He nodded toward Anna and Mia.
“That's what all this proved.”
Vittorio said nothing.
Marco continued.
“A maid.”
He laughed.
“You're risking capos for a maid.”
Anna flinched.
Marco noticed.
“And she still thinks this ends well for her.”
Then something moved behind Marco.
Captain Reese.
Free.
Somehow.
He stepped from the service doorway.
Gun in hand.
Marco smiled.
“Finally.”
Reese raised the weapon.
Not at Vittorio.
At Marco.
Marco’s smile disappeared.
Celeste whispered:
“What are you doing?”
Reese looked at them.
Then said:
“Cleaning up.”
May you like
Vittorio understood.
Marco and Celeste had never been intended to survive the coup either.
