Chapter 11 - The Second Glass.
Lorenzo did not look at Victor when the threat was made.
He looked at the phone.
The live video showed Mia sitting beside Elena on the edge of a bed.
The girl was drawing.
Elena looked tense but unaware of the man outside the door.
The hallway camera angle was high and fixed.
That meant Victor had access to the estate security network.
Lorenzo looked at Celeste.
"Did you give him access?"
Celeste shook her head.
"No."
Victor smiled.
"Still searching for one traitor when there are so many doors."
Lorenzo ignored him.
"Marco."
Victor's smile deepened.
"Maybe."
Lorenzo watched his face.
Too pleased.
A lie.
Or a truth presented as bait.
Serena stared at the feed.
"Leave the child out of this."
Victor's expression changed.
"You left the child out of nothing when you used her mother as a blind spot for years."
"What are you talking about?"
"Elena worked in Lorenzo's home because I arranged it."
Elena had said she applied after Tomas disappeared.
Lorenzo's mind moved quickly.
"Why?"
"Because Tomas hid something before he vanished."
"The ledger."
Victor smiled.
"Part of it."
Celeste spoke suddenly.
"Stop."
Victor turned.
"Excuse me?"
"This was never supposed to involve the child."
"Plans evolve."
"You promised me."
Lorenzo looked at her.
"What did he promise you?"
Celeste's face tightened.
Victor answered for her.
"Her son's freedom."
Celeste closed her eyes.
The truth emerged in her silence.
"Your son is in prison," Lorenzo said.
"Federal case."
"Victor said he could help with the appeal."
"In exchange for putting something in my drinks."
"At first, only the harmless bottle."
Serena stared at her.
"The same one Hart gave me?"
Celeste nodded.
"Then Victor changed it."
"When?"
"Six weeks ago."
Lorenzo remembered Chicago.
He had felt better there.
After returning, the symptoms became worse.
Six weeks.
The timeline fit.
Celeste's voice trembled.
"I tried to stop."
Victor laughed softly.
"You tried to negotiate."
"I copied the pantry footage."
Serena looked at her.
"You put the memory card in my purse."
Celeste nodded.
"I wanted you to see that I added something after you."
"Why not just tell me?"
"Because every time I tried to contact you privately, one of Victor's people appeared."
Lorenzo looked at the phone again.
"And tonight?"
Celeste's eyes moved to Mia on the screen.
"I didn't know he would threaten them."
Victor sighed.
"Guilt is so exhausting to watch."
Lorenzo finally looked at him.
"You enjoy hearing yourself talk."
"People enjoy honesty when it comes from a villain."
"You're not interesting enough to be a villain."
Victor's smile disappeared.
Good.
Lorenzo had wanted that.
Angry men revealed more than amused ones.
"Where is the ledger?"
"First, Serena learns the truth about her father."
"I don't care about your theater."
"You will."
Victor walked toward the altar.
He placed Carlo's letter beside an old silver chalice.
"Tomas Cruz discovered that Salvatore was moving money into a private trust after his wife threatened to leave."
Serena's face tightened.
"Why?"
"To make sure she couldn't take half the family's legitimate assets."
"That's not a crime worth killing someone over."
"No."
Victor's eyes gleamed.
"But Tomas also discovered where the money came from."
Lorenzo waited.
Victor enjoyed the silence.
"Carlo Duca."
Lorenzo's expression changed.
"My father?"
"A private settlement."
Salvatore had received money from Carlo before the original Romano-Duca agreement collapsed.
"For what?"
Victor smiled.
"Ask Salvatore."
Serena stepped forward.
"You're the one who called us here."
"Because I wanted you to understand that your father and Lorenzo's father were protecting each other long before either of you decided to marry."
The phone on the pew vibrated.
Victor picked it up.
His expression changed.
Only slightly.
But Lorenzo saw it.
Something had gone wrong.
"Problem?"
Victor ignored him.
He typed quickly.
The live feed flickered.
The man outside Elena's room turned toward the camera.
Then disappeared from view.
Mia looked up inside the room.
She seemed to hear something.
Victor's face hardened.
Lorenzo smiled faintly.
"You don't control my house as well as you thought."
Victor looked at him.
"What did you do?"
"Nothing."
That was true.
Before leaving for the chapel, Lorenzo had told Marco only one thing.
If the security system behaved strangely, trust Mia before the cameras.
The feed went black.
Victor swore.
Celeste moved.
Fast.
She grabbed the chapel key from the altar and threw it toward Serena.
Victor lunged for her.
Lorenzo stepped between them.
There was no dramatic fight.
No chaos.
Just one controlled collision of bodies and one sharp command.
"Enough."
Victor stopped because Lorenzo's hand had closed around his wrist.
Serena unlocked the chapel door.
Marco and two guards entered immediately.
Victor stared at them in disbelief.
"You followed him."
Marco shook his head.
"No."
"Then how?"
Mia appeared in the doorway behind Elena.
Lorenzo's heart dropped.
"Why is she here?"
Elena was breathing hard.
"Because she found the man outside our room before your guards did."
Mia held up a red plastic cup.
Everyone stared at it.
Elena continued.
"He left this on the room-service cart."
Marco took the cup carefully.
Inside was a small amount of dark liquid.
Victor's face changed.
Not triumph.
Fear.
Lorenzo noticed.
"That's not yours," he said.
Victor said nothing.
Celeste stared at the cup.
"No."
Her voice shook.
"That's the second formula."
Serena looked at her.
"The one you used on Lorenzo?"
Celeste shook her head.
"Stronger."
Victor snapped toward her.
"Shut up."
Lorenzo's eyes stayed on Victor.
"Who was it for?"
Victor said nothing.
Then a voice came from outside the chapel.
Matteo.
"Maybe me."
He stepped into view holding a sealed water bottle.
"Because someone left one of these in my room too."
Marco looked at Lorenzo.
This no longer looked like a plan to weaken one man before a wedding.
May you like
Someone had prepared a second round for multiple people.
And Victor was suddenly terrified of the very method he had helped create.
