Chapter 3 - Breaking the Brass Latch
Victoria attempted to force a glamorous, reassuring smile onto her trembling, crimson-painted lips as Salvatore arrived.
"Salvatore, please, it's nothing, just a stray animal that climbed inside the delivery crate!" she stammered desperately.
Salvatore did not utter a single word as his powerful right arm swept forward, shoving Victoria aside like an empty mannequin.
The blonde woman stumbled sideways in her high heels, barely catching her balance against the towering Christmas tree.
Salvatore dropped heavily onto one knee before the massive antique wooden chest, his heart hammering against his ribs.
He leaned his ear against the cold timber and heard the unmistakable sound of a young woman weeping in shallow gasps.
"Hold on!" Salvatore growled in a voice thick with sudden, sickening realization.
He seized the heavy brass locking mechanism with both hands, his knuckles turning stark white against the metal.
The lock had been driven tight, secured deliberately to prevent anyone inside from levering the lid open.
Salvatore channeled the full, terrifying strength of his muscular frame into a single, brutal upward wrench.
The aged brass groaned under the impossible torque, the metal screws shearing free from the ancient wood with a sharp crack.
Sparks of splintered oak flew into the air as the locking bar snapped completely in two.
Without wasting a single millisecond, Salvatore hurled the massive wooden lid upward and backward against the wall.
The heavy lid slammed against the dark walnut paneling with a reverberating boom that shook the surrounding ornaments.
A collective gasp of sheer horror swept through the thirty-five high-society guests encircling the scene.
The warm golden lights of the chandelier spilled deep into the dark, velvet-lined interior of the antique container.
Curled tightly inside the narrow space lay a young woman, her slender limbs trembling violently against the wooden base.
Her long chestnut-brown hair was hopelessly matted with sweat, and her delicate face was completely devoid of color.
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Salvatore froze in place, his breath catching in his throat as the world around him dissolved into absolute silence.
The trapped prisoner was not a stray animal, nor a nameless stranger, but his only biological child.
