Chapter 4 - Sophia’s Dinner Became a Trap
Sophia invited us to dinner two nights later.
Roman wanted to refuse.
I told him we needed answers.
He looked at me.
“You're not going.”
“Yes, I am.”
“No.”
“Then don't invite me.”
“I didn't.”
“You know what I mean.”
He sighed.
Lily laughed for the first time in days.
“You two argue like married people.”
I nearly choked.
Roman looked at her.
“Don't encourage her.”
Sophia's mansion stood behind iron gates.
The dinner table was enormous.
Every important member of the Duca family was there.
Sophia sat at the head.
She smiled when I entered.
“My dear Clare.”
I smiled back.
“Your fake granddaughter-in-law has arrived.”
Roman coughed.
Lily laughed.
Sophia's smile tightened.
Dinner began.
Nobody mentioned the safe.
Nobody mentioned Elena.
Nobody mentioned Victor.
Then Sophia raised her wineglass.
“To family.”
Roman didn't drink.
Neither did I.
Lily stared at her plate.
Sophia noticed.
“Lily, darling, you look pale.”
“I'm fine.”
“You've been spending too much time with Roman.”
Lily looked up.
“I'm spending time with the only person who actually cares where I am.”
The room went silent.
Sophia smiled.
“You've always been dramatic.”
Then the lights went out.
A gunshot exploded.
Glass shattered.
Roman grabbed me.
Someone screamed.
Lily disappeared.
I turned.
“Lily!”
Roman ran toward her.
Another shot.
Then a man's voice echoed from the hallway.
“Roman!”
Roman froze.
The voice came again.
“Did you really think Elena died without leaving a message?”
Victor.
Alive.
Roman's face went white.
The hallway door opened.
A man stepped into the candlelight.
Older.
Scarred.
Cold.
Victor Duca.
He looked at Roman.
Then at Lily.
Then at me.
He smiled.
“So this is the bakery girl.”
Roman stepped between us.
“Stay away from her.”
Victor laughed.
“You always did protect strangers better than family.”
Sophia stood.
“Victor.”
He looked at her.
“Mother.”
I felt my blood run cold.
Mother.
The woman Roman called his aunt.
Sophia was Victor's mother.
And Roman had been calling her aunt because that was what the family wanted outsiders to believe.
Victor walked toward the table.
“You found Elena's box.”
Roman said nothing.
“You found the ledger.”
Still nothing.
Victor smiled.
“And you found the letter.”
Lily stepped forward.
“You killed my father.”
Victor looked at her.
“No.”
He pointed at Sophia.
“She did.”
Sophia's face didn't change.
Roman turned slowly.
“You.”
Sophia sighed.
“I did what was necessary.”
Lily began crying.
Roman's voice became dangerously quiet.
“Why?”
“Because your brother was becoming weak.”
Victor laughed.
“I refused to obey her.”
Sophia continued.
“Elena knew too much.”
Roman's hands curled into fists.
“You killed her?”
“No.”
Victor answered.
“She ordered it. I refused.”
Everyone looked at him.
Victor's smile disappeared.
“That's why she tried to kill me.”
Roman stared at his brother.
“You've been alive all this time.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you come back?”
“Because I knew what would happen.”
“What?”
Victor looked at Sophia.
“She'd kill you too.”
Sophia reached beneath the table.
Roman moved instantly.
He grabbed her wrist.
A tiny gun fell to the floor.
Lily screamed.
Sophia looked at Roman.
“You're making a mistake.”
“No,” Roman said.
“I made my mistake nineteen years ago.”
He looked at Victor.
“And I made another one when I believed you were dead.”
Victor looked at him.
“You still trust me?”
Roman shook his head.
“No.”
Victor smiled faintly.
“Good.”
Roman looked at me.
“Take Lily.”
I nodded.
We ran.
Behind us, gunshots erupted.
May you like
The Duca family had finally shattered.
And the person I had once believed was simply a difficult aunt had become the most dangerous woman I had ever met.
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