Chapter 6
The golden light radiating from the cascading crystal chandeliers seemed to turn frigid. Estelle stared at Adrian, her mind racing desperately to find a foothold in a conversation where she was rapidly losing ground. The power dynamic of the household, of their entire criminal alliance, was shifting beneath her feet.
"You can't just end this," Estelle hissed, her hands gripping the back of one of the champagne velvet chairs. "The commission blessed this union, Adrian. If you call off this wedding, my father will see it as a declaration of war. Do you want the streets to run with blood over a maid?"
"Are you threatening me in my own dining room, Estelle?" Adrian asked, his voice maintaining its quiet, measured cadence, though the underlying menace was unmistakable.
"I am stating facts!" Estelle countered, trying to pull her sculpted satin gown tighter around her body. "You need the southern ports to move your cargo! If you humiliate me, my family locks down the docks. Your empire bleeds money within a week!"
Vera had finished the plate of food. Her hands were folded neatly in her lap, but her heart was pounding a frantic rhythm against her ribs. She was a housemaid, a woman who earned a meager wage to clean up the messes of the elite. She was not supposed to be the catalyst for a mafia war.
"Mr. Lockwood," Vera spoke up, her voice trembling but remarkably clear in the vast room.
Adrian slowly turned his head, his cold eyes shifting from the venomous woman across the table to the beautiful maid sitting in his chair. "Yes, Vera?"
"I have eaten," Vera said, looking down at her neatly tied white apron. "If it pleases you, I can resign my position tonight. I will leave the estate immediately. There is no need for... for any conflict on my behalf."
"Did you think you were a burden to me, Vera?" Adrian asked softly.
Vera looked up, her expressive brows lifting in surprise. The intense, unreadable expression on his angular face sent a jolt of electricity straight through her core. "I... I just want to keep the peace, sir."
"Has peace ever been achieved by feeding the innocent to the wolves?" Adrian inquired, his gaze dropping briefly to where Henry was resting his small head against Vera’s arm, completely exhausted by the emotional toll of the evening.
Estelle let out a harsh, bitter laugh. "Oh, listen to her! The noble martyr! She knows exactly what she's doing, Adrian! She’s playing you! She wants you to fight for her so she can dig her claws into your money!"
"Do you project your own ambitions onto others because you have nothing else to offer, Estelle?" Adrian asked, turning back to his fiancée.
"I offer you an empire!" Estelle screamed, her composure entirely shattered. She reached into her small, crystal-encrusted clutch resting on the table and pulled out her mobile phone. Her fingers flew aggressively across the screen. "You want to play games, Adrian? Let's see how much you care about this little whore when my father's enforcers arrive to escort me home."
Adrian watched her type, his face a mask of total indifference. He casually checked the expensive wristwatch resting on his tattooed wrist.
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"Do you believe your father's enforcers can breach my gates without my permission?" Adrian asked.
Estelle looked up from her phone, a vicious, triumphant smile spreading across her face. "They don't have to breach the gates, Adrian. They're already inside the perimeter. They came as my security detail for the party."
