Chapter 3 - Eight Months of Betrayal
The blackout lasted eleven seconds.
Evelyn counted every one.
She knew because counting was the only thing keeping her from screaming.
Dante had pulled her behind a marble column.
His body shielded hers.
One hand pressed against the back of her head.
The other reached beneath his jacket.
Around them, two hundred gala guests shouted, stumbled, and knocked over chairs.
Then emergency lights flickered on.
Red.
Low.
Unforgiving.
Dante’s security team appeared almost instantly.
Three men.
No confusion.
No shouting.
Only movement.
One checked the ballroom entrance.
Another disappeared toward the service corridor.
The third crouched beside Dante.
“Shot came from the mezzanine.”
Evelyn froze.
Shot.
“What?”
Dante looked at her.
“Stay down.”
“That was a gunshot?”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t hear—”
“Suppressor.”
The casualness of the word disturbed her more than panic would have.
Celeste was gone.
Evelyn looked toward where her sister had been standing.
Nothing.
“Where is Celeste?”
Dante looked too.
His jaw tightened.
“Marco.”
The security man nodded and left.
Evelyn grabbed Dante’s sleeve.
“My sister.”
“We’ll find her.”
“She knew this would happen.”
“She knew something.”
“That bullet was for me.”
Dante did not answer.
Evelyn’s stomach dropped.
“It was.”
“I don’t know.”
“You pulled me down before it hit.”
“I saw movement.”
“Dante.”
He met her eyes.
“Yes. I think someone aimed at you.”
For a strange moment, Evelyn wanted to laugh.
Not because anything was funny.
Because three hours earlier, her greatest fear had been discovering Adrien cheating.
Now someone might be trying to kill her.
Perspective was cruel.
The ballroom doors opened.
Security rushed in.
Guests were moved toward exits.
Charles Whitmore appeared.
He looked angry rather than frightened.
That told Evelyn something.
Adrien followed.
He saw her crouched beside Dante.
His expression hardened.
“What happened?”
Dante stood.
“Someone fired at Evelyn.”
Adrien looked genuinely shocked.
“What?”
Evelyn watched him closely.
“Did you know?”
Adrien stared at her.
“Are you insane?”
“That isn’t a no.”
“Evelyn, I cheated on you. I didn’t try to kill you.”
The sentence was so absurdly direct that she almost believed him.
Dante rose and extended his hand.
Evelyn took it.
Adrien noticed.
His mouth tightened.
“Stay away from him.”
Evelyn looked at him.
“You have lost the authority to tell me what to do.”
“You don’t know Moretti.”
“Apparently neither do you.”
Adrien moved closer.
“He destroys people.”
Dante remained calm.
“Usually people who deserve the effort.”
Charles intervened.
“This is ridiculous. Security needs to evacuate everyone.”
Dante looked at him.
“You seem remarkably composed.”
Charles glared.
“I’ve survived worse rooms.”
“Have you survived me?”
Silence.
Charles looked away first.
That answered another question.
Dante’s man returned.
“Celeste is missing.”
Evelyn’s heart lurched.
“What do you mean missing?”
“She didn’t exit with the guests.”
Adrien looked toward the service hall.
“Celeste?”
Evelyn noticed genuine concern in his face.
It hurt.
Not because she still wanted him.
Because somewhere inside her, a tiny part had hoped Celeste meant nothing.
But Adrien cared.
Perhaps more than he had cared about Evelyn in a long time.
Dante’s phone buzzed.
He glanced at the screen.
Then handed it to Evelyn.
UNKNOWN NUMBER.
A message.
IF YOU WANT YOUR SISTER ALIVE, WALK AWAY FROM THE VINEYARD.
Evelyn stared at the words.
Below was a photograph.
Celeste sat in the back seat of a car.
Her wrists were bound.
Her face was turned away.
A man’s hand gripped her shoulder.
Evelyn stopped breathing.
Adrien saw the image.
“No.”
He grabbed for the phone.
Dante moved it away.
“Don’t.”
“That’s Celeste!”
“Yes.”
“Then do something.”
Dante’s eyes became cold.
“Lower your voice.”
“You think I care who you are?”
“No. Which is why I’m giving you one warning.”
Evelyn stepped between them.
“Enough.”
Both men stopped.
She looked at Dante.
“Can you find her?”
“Yes.”
The certainty surprised her.
“How?”
“I have people.”
“That’s becoming a very unsettling answer.”
“It’s still accurate.”
Adrien said, “I’m coming.”
“No,” Dante replied.
“Why?”
“Because I don’t trust you.”
Adrien turned to Evelyn.
“You believe him over me?”
Evelyn stared at him.
“You had eight months to earn the benefit of the doubt.”
Adrien looked wounded.
Good.
She hated that the thought gave her satisfaction.
Dante guided Evelyn toward a private hotel exit.
“Where are we going?”
“Somewhere secure.”
“My sister has been kidnapped.”
“And walking into the street won’t help her.”
“I want police.”
Dante paused.
“You can call them.”
Evelyn frowned.
“You’re not going to stop me?”
“No.”
That surprised her.
“But I recommend waiting five minutes.”
“Why?”
“Because if this concerns what Celeste said, police involvement may warn whoever took her.”
“That sounds conveniently criminal.”
“It is conveniently practical.”
Evelyn looked at Adrien.
He appeared torn between following and staying with Charles.
Charles spoke first.
“Adrien, we need to control this.”
Evelyn turned.
“Control what?”
“The narrative.”
Even Adrien looked disgusted.
“My God, Dad.”
Charles lowered his voice.
“Two hundred people just saw Evelyn with Moretti, then there was gunfire. By morning—”
Evelyn walked toward him.
“No.”
Charles stopped.
She had spent years trying to earn this man’s approval.
Tonight, she finally understood how little it was worth.
“No more narratives. No more private conversations. No more using me to make your family look legitimate.”
Charles’s expression hardened.
“You have no idea what you’re accusing us of.”
“Then explain the forged signatures.”
Adrien’s face changed.
Evelyn saw it.
There.
Recognition.
“You knew.”
“Evelyn—”
“You knew!”
Adrien looked around.
“Not here.”
She slapped him.
The sound cracked through the nearly empty ballroom.
Adrien stared at her.
Evelyn’s hand stung.
She didn’t care.
“How much?”
He said nothing.
“How much debt were you putting in my name?”
“It wasn’t supposed to become debt.”
“That is not an answer.”
“The vineyard value was expected to triple.”
“Because of the tunnel?”
Adrien froze.
Evelyn felt the truth before he spoke.
Dante did too.
“What tunnel?” Adrien asked.
Too late.
“You knew.”
Adrien looked at Charles.
Charles said, “Stop talking.”
Dante stepped closer.
“What’s under the vineyard?”
Charles stared at him.
“Private property.”
Dante smiled without warmth.
“Wrong answer.”
Evelyn’s phone buzzed.
Another message.
This time from Celeste’s number.
A voice recording.
Evelyn pressed play.
Celeste’s frightened voice filled the silence.
“Eevee, if you hear this, I’m sorry. I didn’t sleep with Adrien because I loved him.”
Adrien went pale.
The recording continued.
“I did it because Charles Whitmore told me to get close to him. He said if I didn’t, he would destroy Mom.”
Evelyn’s blood turned cold.
There was a muffled noise.
Celeste whispered faster.
“The affair was supposed to keep Adrien distracted while they moved your company into the deal. But I found something worse. The tunnel isn’t for wine. It connects the vineyard to federal land, and they’ve been moving—”
The recording cut off.
Silence.
Evelyn stared at the phone.
Moving what?
Dante’s expression had transformed.
Not panic.
Recognition.
Charles Whitmore began backing toward the door.
Dante noticed.
“So that’s it.”
Charles said nothing.
Dante looked at Evelyn.
“I know why they wanted that vineyard.”
“What?”
His voice dropped.
“Because fifteen years ago, my father died trying to expose the same route.”
Evelyn stared at him.
And in that moment she understood something even more frightening than the kidnapping.
Dante Moretti had not come to the gala for the Whitmores.
He had come for the vineyard.
And Evelyn had just become the person standing between him and the answer he had been hunting for fifteen years.
May you like
End of Chapter 3.
---
