Chapter 3 - The Secret of the Silver Pendant
The silence that followed Vincent’s whisper was so heavy that the flickering of the candle flames sounded like distant thunder.
Chase pressed his back against the base of the pillar, clutching his bruised throat while trembling violently.
“I—I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Chase stammered, his voice rising in an octave of pure panic.
Vincent took one slow, deliberate step toward him, his polished oxfords grinding the shattered crystal into fine powder.
Marco and three armed bodyguards immediately moved forward, sealing the exits and turning their backs to the dining room patrons.
The entire luxury venue was now a fortified black site, disconnected from the rules of the civilized world.
Vincent knelt beside Chase, his eyes completely dead, devoid of mercy, devoid of patience.
He snatched the vibrating smartphone directly from Chase’s trembling grip before the millionaire could lock the screen.
Vincent’s eyes scanned the illuminated message: “YOU HIT THE WRONG GIRL. FIND THE NECKLACE BEFORE HE DOES!”
A dark, mirthless smile curved the edge of Vincent’s lips.
“A contract,” Vincent murmured softly, his thumb caressing the screen.
“You weren’t just drunk, Montgomery. You were sent here to stage an accident and steal from an innocent woman.”
“No! I swear to God, no!” Chase sobbed, tears cutting lines through the dust on his cheeks.
“I got paid five million dollars into an offshore account just an hour ago! The text said she was just an orphan with a family heirloom!”
“They told me she had no protection! They told me she was nobody!”
Vincent leaned closer, the shadow of his broad shoulders completely swallowing the trembling millionaire.
“You laid your filthy hands on the last living bloodline of the Romano family,” Vincent spoke into his ear.
Chase’s eyes dilated in sheer, unadulterated shock as the name reverberated in his skull.
The Romanos were the legendary sovereigns who had ruled the American underworld before the Great Purge fifteen years ago.
They were believed to be extinct, their wealth vanished, their bloodline wiped clean from the earth.
“And more importantly,” Vincent added, his voice dropping into a razor-sharp whisper, “she is the woman promised to me since the cradle.”
Vincent stood up abruptly, not wasting another breath on the pathetic creature at his feet.
He tossed the phone to Marco.
“Trace the IP, find the routing bank, and bring me the head of the man who signed the transfer before sunrise.”
“Understood, boss,” Marco answered without a second of hesitation.
Vincent turned back to Emma, his entire demeanor softening in a heartbeat as sirens began wailing in the distance.
Flashing red and blue lights painted the floor-to-ceiling windows, slicing through the darkness of the Manhattan night.
Paramedics entered through the front doors, followed closely by Vincent’s private trauma surgeons who had commandeered the response.
Vincent knelt again by Emma’s side, gently resting his fingers against her fluttering pulse.
“I found you,” he whispered, his thumb lightly stroking her blood-streaked temple.
“I spent fifteen years in the dark searching for this crest, and I will tear this entire continent apart before I let them take you again.”
The medical team moved with military precision, securing Emma’s neck with a cervical collar and sliding a backboard beneath her.
As they lifted her onto the gurney, the silver pendant swung softly against her chest.
Vincent reached out and gently tucked the pendant inside her shirt, concealing the crest from prying eyes.
He kept his hand over her cold fingers as they wheeled her toward the exit, refusing to break contact.
Behind them, Marco stood over Chase and his two paralyzed friends.
“What about them, Mr. Moretti?” Marco asked calmly from across the room.
Vincent did not turn around as he stepped through the glass doors into the biting cold.
“Break his hands,” Vincent commanded coldly into the night.
May you like
“Let him remember for the rest of his miserable life what happens when you touch what belongs to Moretti.”
The sound of Chase’s terrified scream was drowned out by the roar of the ambulance siren tearing into the midnight streets.
