Chapter 9
"I asked you a question, mother," Alexander whispered, his voice slicing through the heavy silence of the ballroom. He took one slow step forward, his leather shoe crushing a loose pearl into the marble. "Six months. Fifty thousand dollars a week. That is over a million dollars funneled into this estate exclusively for my daughter’s protection and care. Look at her."
He gestured slightly to the shivering, filthy child in his arms.
"Look at her!" Alexander roared, the sudden volume making the nearest guests flinch violently. "You starved my blood. You put her in rags. You forced her to eat out of a trash bin in front of the very people who eat at my table!"
Victoria scrambled backward, her hands slipping on the spilled champagne, cutting her palms on the broken glass. She didn't feel the pain; the sheer terror paralyzing her nervous system drowned out everything else.
"I... I didn't keep it all, Alexander!" Victoria cried out, her voice breaking into a pathetic, reedy whine. The aristocratic pride was completely gone. "You have to believe me! I had to pay them! When the news came from Sicily that your convoy was hit, the other families... the Russians, the Irish... they started moving on the ports!"
Alexander’s eyes narrowed into dark, dangerous slits. He didn't interrupt. He let her dig her own grave in front of the entire family.
"The capos were restless!" Victoria sobbed, pointing a trembling, bloody finger toward the men in the crowd who immediately looked away, sweating under their tailored suits. "I had to maintain the image of strength! I had to buy the politicians' silence, double the guards on the shipments! The estate needed to look untouchable! I used the trust money to keep your empire from collapsing while you were rotting in a grave!"
"You used my daughter's survival fund to buy the loyalty of cowards," Alexander deduced, his voice deathly calm. He turned his head slowly, his gaze sweeping over the crowd of guests and bodyguards. Every man who had taken a bribe from Victoria in the last six months felt their blood run cold.
"Lock the doors," Alexander commanded.
May you like
The two bodyguards at the entrance didn't hesitate this time. They immediately grabbed the heavy brass handles and slammed the massive mahogany doors shut, turning the deadbolts with a loud, final click. The bright, colorful ballroom instantly transformed from a luxurious banquet hall into a locked execution chamber.
"Nobody leaves," Alexander said softly.
