Chapter 5
The physical shift in the dining room was absolute. The fifty guests remained frozen, their eyes locked on the head table, realizing they were witnessing the brutal deconstruction of the syndicate's future matriarch.
Corinne backed away until her spine hit the edge of her velvet dining chair. The bright, luminous light of the room offered her no shadows to hide within. She looked wildly around the cavernous dining hall, desperately seeking an ally among the capos, but the hardened men refused to meet her eyes. The accusation of kidnapping a child and manipulating the boss had severed any political ties she held in that room.
"Dorian, you cannot believe this insanity!" Corinne pleaded, her hands shaking so violently her diamond earrings rattled. "She is a servant! She is trying to trap you! You cannot believe this girl and a confused child over me! Our families have an alliance!"
"Is an alliance built on the kidnapping of an infant worth keeping?" Dorian asked, his voice a low, vibrating rumble that sent shivers down the spines of the criminals seated nearby.
"She couldn't provide for her!" Corinne shrieked, tears of panic finally spilling over her rosy cheeks, ruining her elegant makeup. "I gave the girl a life! I gave you a daughter! I secured a perfect family for us!"
"Did you think I would crown a woman whose hands are stained with the emotional torture of a mother?" Dorian inquired, his voice remaining perfectly steady.
He looked down at Corinne, his profile catching the warm golden light. The artistic tattoo on his neck shifted as his sharply defined jaw tightened again, the muscles ticking beneath his neat stubble. He held a cold, unwavering stare, stripping away the diamonds and the silk, exposing the ruthless, pathetic rot underneath.
"I was doing it for you!" Corinne cried out, her voice pitching an octave higher as her panic fully set in. "You demand perfection in this house! You wanted an heir, but you wouldn't settle down! I solved the problem!"
"Do you believe you have the right to decide who lives and dies in my world?" Dorian asked, his deep voice remaining terrifyingly calm, completely devoid of the hysteria radiating from the woman before him.
"You need me!" Corinne shrieked, grasping at the last shreds of her political power and family influence. "My family controls the western distribution lines! We built this alliance together! If you break this engagement, my father will start a war that will burn this city to the ground!"
"Do you think the threat of a war frightens me more than a monster sleeping in my bed?" Dorian asked softly.
He didn't wait for her to formulate another pathetic excuse. He turned his head slightly, his gaze locking onto his senior capo.
"Silas," Dorian commanded. His deep, measured voice broke the silence, carrying perfectly across the grand dining hall.
The senior capo immediately stood up from his velvet chair, unbuttoning his tailored suit jacket to reveal the dark holster beneath. "Yes, Boss."
"Will you and two of your men escort this woman to the holding cells in the sub-basement?" Dorian asked, not taking his cold stare off Corinne.
"No! Please, Dorian! You can't put me in a cell!" Corinne screamed, kicking wildly as Silas and two massive enforcers approached her, grabbing her roughly by her arms and hauling her away from the table.
"Will you ensure she is kept entirely isolated?" Dorian continued, completely ignoring her thrashing and screaming. "We will discuss the exact nature of her punishment once I have verified her family had no knowledge of this."
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"My father will kill you!" Corinne screamed, her voice cracking with hysteria as the men dragged her backward, the delicate pearl-grey fabric of her gown tearing audibly.
"Let him try," Dorian replied quietly, finally turning his back on her.
