Chapter 4 – THE BLOODLINE

The crystal chandeliers seemed to hum in the silence.

“My father?” I whispered, staring at the Polaroid. “My father was a school teacher. He died in a car accident.”

Florence shook her head slowly.

“He was Marco Vitale. Sebastian’s uncle.”

Sebastian lowered his gun slightly, staring at me.

“My father told me Marco died in prison before I was born.”

“He changed his name to protect Grace and Sarah,” Florence explained, her voice gaining strength. “Your mother found out. She knew your father was turning the family business into something monstrous. She wanted to give the emergency trust—the one that key opens—to Marco. To start over. Legally.”

Bianca sneered, pacing like a caged panther.

“A touching bedtime story. But the trust was funded by my family’s money. The key belongs to me.”

“It’s not money in the vault, Bianca,” Florence said.

Bianca stopped. “What?”

“Your father didn’t want the vault opened because it contains wealth,” Florence said, her eyes flashing with defiance. “He wanted it destroyed because of the ledgers.”

Sebastian’s jaw tightened. “What ledgers?”

“The proof that the Laurent family ordered the hit on your mother,” Florence said.

The entire ballroom erupted into whispers.

Bianca’s face went completely white.

For the first time all night, she looked terrified.

Sebastian turned slowly toward Bianca.

The look in his eyes wasn’t anger. It was an absolute, freezing emptiness.

“You knew,” Sebastian whispered. “You knew your father killed my mother. And you smiled at me. You let me put a ring on your finger.”

Bianca took a step back.

“Sebastian, listen to me. It was business. The families needed to merge—”

“It was my mother!” Sebastian roared, the sound echoing off the marble walls.

He threw the massive, fifteen-thousand-dollar floral arrangement off the center table. It crashed to the floor, glass shattering everywhere.

Little Leo buried his face in my sister’s coat.

I knelt down, wrapping my arms around both of them.

“Grace,” Sebastian said, turning back to me. His eyes softened when he saw Leo. “Take your family into the library. Lock the door.”

“I’m not leaving you, Sebastian,” Florence said, lifting her chin.

“Miss Flo, please,” he begged.

Before Florence could move, the front doors of the mansion were kicked open.

Ten men in heavy tactical gear poured into the foyer.

They weren’t police.

They wore no badges.

And they all raised their weapons, aiming directly at Sebastian.

A man in a sharp grey suit stepped through the doors.

It was Bianca’s brother, Dominic.

“Hello, Sebastian,” Dominic smiled. “I hear you have something that belongs to our family.”

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