Chapter 7
The second target was not Celeste.
Luciano knew that before anyone explained.
The nursery hallway mattered for only one reason.
The baby.
Unborn, but already part of Ferraro succession.
Celeste sat down again.
This time she did not argue when the physician moved beside her.
Luciano stood absolutely still.
“Who sent the clip?”
Nora checked.
“No number.”
Anthony looked toward Augusto.
“Signal?”
The old man said nothing.
Dario’s face had changed completely.
Not defiant now.
Scared.
Luciano noticed.
“You didn’t know about the nursery.”
Dario shook his head once before catching himself.
Too late.
Luciano stepped closer.
“You thought this ended with me stepping aside.”
Dario said nothing.
“But there was another plan.”
Augusto finally spoke.
“No one intended to hurt the child.”
Celeste laughed softly.
Everyone looked at her.
It was not amusement.
It was disbelief.
“You keep saying that about every dangerous thing you arrange.”
Augusto’s eyes moved to her.
She continued.
“The stairs were safe enough. Dario only needed to provoke Luciano. The Bellandis only needed temporary access. The nursery was probably only another message.”
Her voice hardened.
“When exactly does your family admit danger is real? After someone dies?”
Augusto’s face flickered.
Luciano saw it.
A reaction too deep for the current night.
“Who died?”
Silence.
Anthony looked between them.
Celeste stared at Augusto.
“You know someone already did.”
Dario turned toward his father.
Even he looked confused now.
Luciano stepped closer.
“Who?”
Augusto’s voice dropped.
“This has nothing to do with tonight.”
That was answer enough.
There was another death.
Another secret.
Something connected to the same succession obsession that had put Celeste on the staircase.
Anthony spoke quietly.
“Your grandfather’s second son.”
Luciano froze.
He had heard the name only twice as a child.
Rafael Ferraro.
Augusto’s younger brother.
Dead at twenty-eight.
Officially an accident during a hunting trip.
Anthony looked at Augusto.
Then at Luciano.
“Rafael’s wife was pregnant too.”
The foyer seemed to shrink around them.
Luciano slowly turned toward his father.
May you like
And suddenly Augusto’s terror at the nursery footage made sense.
This was not the first time the Ferraro family had tried to solve succession through a pregnant woman.
