Chapter 5 - THE TOAST
At nine the next morning, the Moretti mansion looked untouched.
Florists replaced wilted roses.
Housekeepers removed empty champagne bottles.
Caterers packed silver trays.
Nobody outside Alessandro’s inner circle knew the engagement party had almost become a murder scene.
More importantly, Luca believed Alessandro remained unaware.
Vivian believed the same.
At least Alessandro hoped so.
He summoned them to breakfast.
Vivian entered first.
She wore cream trousers and a cashmere sweater.
No red silk.
No diamonds.
“You disappeared last night.”
Alessandro poured coffee.
“I was ill.”
Her gaze sharpened.
“From the wine?”
“Maybe.”
Luca entered behind her.
“Boss.”
Alessandro gestured toward chairs.
“Sit.”
Both obeyed.
He watched them as he had watched enemies across negotiation tables for years.
Vivian reached for fruit.
Luca chose nothing.
“Where’s Matteo?” Alessandro asked.
“Went back to Manhattan,” Luca replied.
“Early.”
“Meeting.”
Alessandro nodded.
“I want the wedding moved forward.”
Vivian’s fork stopped.
“What?”
“Two weeks.”
Luca looked up.
Vivian recovered.
“That’s sudden.”
“You object?”
“No.”
She smiled.
“Of course not.”
“Good.”
He sipped coffee.
Luca watched him closely.
“Why the change?”
Alessandro shrugged.
“Last night reminded me life is uncertain.”
Vivian’s smile tightened.
“Because you felt sick?”
“Exactly.”
Luca and Vivian exchanged the smallest glance.
There.
Still happening.
Even now.
Alessandro almost admired the arrogance required to believe he could not see it.
He leaned back.
“I’m also restructuring Harbor Renewal.”
Luca’s face changed.
“Why?”
“Financial irregularities.”
“Which irregularities?”
Alessandro smiled faintly.
“Interesting question.”
Luca relaxed his expression.
“I oversee the project. Naturally I’m asking.”
“Did.”
“What?”
“You did oversee it.”
Silence.
“I’m transferring oversight to Gabriel.”
Luca’s voice became careful.
“Is there a reason?”
“Yes.”
“What?”
“I trust him.”
The words were deliberate.
Luca heard them.
For fifteen years, that sentence had belonged to him.
Vivian placed her hand over Alessandro’s.
“Maybe this isn’t the morning for business.”
He looked down at her fingers.
“Maybe not.”
Then he smiled.
“Let’s talk about our toast instead.”
Both stared at him.
Alessandro stood and walked to the wine cabinet.
He removed a bottle of Barolo.
The same vintage.
Vivian’s face lost color.
“I thought we could finish what we started last night.”
Luca rose.
“It’s nine in the morning.”
“Since when do you object to drinking?”
Alessandro opened the bottle.
He poured three glasses.
Vivian watched every movement.
Then Alessandro slid one toward her.
“One for my future wife.”
Another toward Luca.
“One for my brother.”
He raised his own.
“To loyalty.”
Neither touched their glasses.
Alessandro smiled.
“What’s wrong?”
Vivian swallowed.
“Nothing.”
“Then drink.”
Luca stared at the wine.
“This is childish.”
“Is it?”
“You’re testing us.”
Alessandro lowered his glass.
“Why would a glass of wine feel like a test?”
Nobody answered.
Then Vivian laughed.
She picked hers up.
“Fine.”
She drank.
Luca did too.
The wine was clean.
Alessandro had expected that.
What mattered was their fear.
For three seconds before drinking, both believed he might have poisoned them.
That meant they knew exactly what they had done.
Alessandro set his glass down.
“Better?”
Vivian nodded.
“Much.”
He leaned close to her.
“Good.”
Then whispered:
“Drink for me.”
Her eyes widened.
The exact phrase she had used the night before.
Alessandro walked out.
Luca followed him into the hall.
“Boss.”
Alessandro stopped.
“You have a problem?”
Luca lowered his voice.
“What is this?”
“Breakfast.”
“You’re acting strange.”
“I nearly died last night.”
Luca became very still.
“From what?”
Alessandro turned.
“Did I say from the wine?”
Luca stared.
Alessandro stepped closer.
“You assumed.”
A pause.
“Because you mentioned being sick.”
“Maybe.”
Luca’s jaw tightened.
“Are you accusing me of something?”
Alessandro looked at the scar along Luca’s cheek.
For years he had seen that scar as evidence of loyalty.
Now he wondered whether loyalty had ended long ago and only the scar remained.
“No.”
He touched Luca’s shoulder.
“Not yet.”
Then he walked away.
Within twenty minutes, Gabriel reported movement.
“Luca made three calls.”
“To who?”
“Burner phone. We traced one contact to Matteo’s driver.”
“Vivian?”
“Texted someone asking whether ‘the hospital package’ had been moved.”
Alessandro’s head lifted.
“Miguel.”
“Likely.”
“Can you trace the recipient?”
“Working on it.”
Rosa stood across the security office.
Her bruising looked worse in daylight.
“So they moved him because of the wedding?”
“Maybe because they planned to kill me,” Alessandro said. “Once I was gone, Miguel would no longer be insurance. He would be evidence.”
Rosa went pale.
“Then they could kill him now.”
“Yes.”
She reached for her coat.
Alessandro stepped in front of the door.
“Where are you going?”
“To find my husband.”
“You don’t know where he is.”
“Then I’ll start with Vivian.”
“That gets Miguel killed.”
Rosa stopped.
“You don’t know that.”
“I know people like Vivian.”
“So do I now.”
Lily sat at a desk nearby drawing with crayons.
Rosa lowered her voice.
“I waited eighteen months.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
Alessandro’s face changed.
“My sister disappeared when I was fourteen.”
Rosa went quiet.
“She was nine.”
“What happened?”
“They found her body three days later.”
Rosa’s anger softened.
“I’m sorry.”
Alessandro looked toward Lily.
“That’s why I learned sign language.”
Rosa understood.
“You learned for her.”
“She lost her hearing after meningitis when she was five. I was the only person in the family who learned enough to talk to her properly.”
“What was her name?”
“Isabella.”
Rosa glanced at Lily.
“That’s why you believed Lily.”
“I believed her because she told me something no child that age could invent.”
He looked at Rosa.
“And because adults underestimate children when they don’t communicate like adults.”
Rosa slowly removed her coat.
“Then find Miguel.”
“I will.”
A phone rang.
Gabriel answered.
His face tightened.
“We traced Vivian’s text.”
“Where?”
“Burner registered through a shell company.”
“Address?”
Gabriel turned the screen.
A marina in Port Jefferson.
Rosa stood immediately.
Alessandro looked at the map.
“What’s there?”
“Private slips. Storage. Charter boats.”
Gabriel typed.
Then stopped.
“One vessel left at 7:40 this morning.”
“Registered to?”
“Duca Holdings.”
Rosa’s blood went cold.
“Where is it going?”
“Filed destination says Newport.”
Alessandro shook his head.
“They won’t file the real destination.”
Gabriel nodded.
“I can track coastal transponder.”
“Do it.”
A minute later, a moving dot appeared.
The boat was heading east.
Then south.
Not toward Rhode Island.
Toward open water.
Rosa stared.
“Is Miguel on that boat?”
Alessandro looked at Gabriel.
“Find out.”
Then Gabriel’s screen flashed.
A camera from the marina had captured the vessel leaving.
They enlarged the image.
Two men stood at the stern.
A third figure sat between them.
Male.
Thin.
Head lowered.
Rosa stepped closer.
“No.”
Gabriel froze the frame.
The man turned slightly.
Even grainy and distant, Rosa recognized the shape of his profile.
Her knees almost gave out.
“Miguel.”
Lily looked up.
Rosa pointed at the screen.
Her hands shook as she signed.
Papa.
Lily ran toward the monitor.
Alessandro’s voice became lethal.
“Get the boat.”
Gabriel looked at him.
“Boss?”
“Every coast contact we have. Harbor police, private security, whoever owes us.”
“And Luca?”
Alessandro looked through the window toward the mansion.
“Let him keep smiling.”
His eyes hardened.
May you like
“Until I put Miguel Delgado in front of him.”
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