Chapter 5 - The Bodyguards Bring Back A Terrified Maître D'
The heavy kitchen doors swung open violently, cutting off our conversation in an instant. Alessandro’s lead bodyguard marched through the opening, dragging a kicking and screaming Monsieur Laurent by his tailored lapels.
The French maître d’ looked completely unraveled, his immaculate tie twisted sideways and sweat pouring down his face. He was thrown hard onto the marble floor near table four, sliding until his polished shoes hit my frayed sneakers.
"Let me go! You cannot do this! I am a citizen of France!" Laurent shrieked, thrashing against the cold stone. Alessandro walked over, placing the toe of his Italian leather shoe gently on Laurent’s outstretched hand.
"France is three thousand miles away, Laurent, and right now you are in my dining room," Alessandro stated softly. Laurent whimpered, freezing instantly beneath the crushing weight of Alessandro’s gaze.
"Did you write the fox’s eye in the margin of the reserve list?" Alessandro demanded, leaning down slightly. "No! I swear on my mother's grave, I did not write it!" Laurent sobbed, pressing his forehead against the floor.
"Then who did?" I asked, stepping forward with the heavy menu open to the marked page. Laurent looked up at me with eyes filled with absolute terror, as if looking at a ghost.
"It was delivered... three days ago by a courier who wouldn't give his name," Laurent confessed in a breathless rush. "He said if I didn't place it at table four tonight for the Moretti party, my restaurant would burn."
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"Your restaurant?" Alessandro chuckled darkly, raising his foot from Laurent’s hand. "L’Étoile Noir belongs to Black Star Holdings, Laurent, and you were just a rented face keeping the doors open."
Laurent collapsed against the marble floor, realizing he had been nothing more than an expendable pawn in a deadly game.
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