Chapter 6
Vivienne did not deny it.
That was worse.
She sat.
Crossed one leg over the other.
Then picked up another glass of champagne.
Dante watched.
“You invited my brother here.”
“Not here.”
She took a sip.
“Close.”
Marcus smiled faintly.
The siblings had regained confidence.
A secret was leverage.
Dante understood.
“Name.”
Vivienne looked at him over the rim.
“No.”
Dante’s face remained still.
She lowered the glass.
“Oh, don’t look at me like that.”
Her voice was poisonous.
“You’ve spent your whole life surrounded by people who answer because they’re terrified you’ll break something.”
She smiled.
“I’m not one of them.”
Marcus laughed.
“Finally somebody tells him.”
A capo shifted angrily.
Marcus looked toward him.
“What?”
He spread his hands.
“You all kiss his ring because his father handed him a chair.”
Dante stepped toward Marcus.
Vivienne immediately smiled.
“See?”
She tapped one fingernail against the champagne glass.
“Keep him angry.”
The recorded phrase.
Dante stopped.
Vivienne’s smile weakened.
He had recognized the manipulation.
Power shifted.
“Your brother’s name.”
Silence.
Dante waited.
Vivienne hated waiting more than threats.
Finally:
“Lorenzo.”
The name meant nothing.
That hurt.
An entire brother reduced to a stranger’s name.
Thomas spoke behind him.
“He was born two years before you.”
Dante turned.
“Why was he taken?”
Thomas’s face hardened.
“Your father believed only one son could inherit without splitting the family.”
Dante stared.
“He was two years old.”
“Yes.”
“You chose between children.”
Thomas looked away.
“Your father did.”
“And my mother?”
“She refused.”
Isabella tried to take both boys.
She was caught.
Dante remained.
Lorenzo disappeared with her.
Years later, Thomas told Dante that Isabella died abroad.
Nobody mentioned a brother.
Dante’s breathing slowed.
Vivienne watched him.
Almost pleased.
“You built your throne on a nursery decision.”
Dante looked at her.
She smiled.
“Does that make your precious signet ring feel heavier?”
Ava’s small hand squeezed his.
Dante looked down.
She was watching him with frightened eyes.
He crouched.
“You okay?”
She nodded.
“Are you?”
The question stunned him.
Three years old.
Still worrying about him after being chained.
He kissed her forehead.
Then stood.
“What does Lorenzo have to do with Ava?”
Vivienne’s expression changed.
Just slightly.
Dante caught it.
Thomas did too.
“Nothing.”
Vivienne answered too quickly.
Dante walked closer.
“Then why did you say my father ordered you to use her?”
She lifted her chin.
“Because the old recording gave us the idea.”
“What recording?”
Marcus finally spoke.
“The one about succession.”
Dante turned.
Marcus smiled.
“Your father said a Bellandi leader who chooses his child over the family must be removed.”
Thomas closed his eyes.
Dante saw.
“That part is real.”
Thomas did not answer.
Dante looked at him.
“Is it?”
“Yes.”
A pause.
Dante’s jaw tightened.
Then Thomas added:
“But the recording wasn’t about you.”
Everyone went still.
“Who was it about?”
Thomas looked toward Vivienne.
“She knows.”
Vivienne’s eyes hardened.
Dante understood before she spoke.
The recording was about Lorenzo.
The missing brother had once tried to return.
And Dante’s father had ordered him removed because he chose his own child over the family.
Vivienne whispered:
“Now you understand why we used Ava.”
May you like
Dante’s eyes changed.
They were recreating Lorenzo’s old test on him.
