Chapter 2 - The Name in the Dark
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The exhaustion vanished from Vincenzo’s face instantly.
His body went completely still, his dark eyes locking onto the small glass tube Beatrice unfolded on the stainless-steel island. The air in the kitchen grew cold, heavy, and dangerous.
“Explain,” Vincenzo said softly.
“I was in the pantry restocking the linens when Miss Kensington came in,” Beatrice whispered, keeping her eyes fixed on his. “She took this out of her robe. She poured it into your cup, stirred it, and threw the bottle away.”
Vincenzo stepped closer. He didn't reach for the vial. He looked down at Beatrice’s hands, noticing the slight trembling in her fingers and the faint smear of coffee grounds on her wrist.
“You’re telling me my fiancée is trying to poison me.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Why were you hiding in the pantry, Beatrice?”
Beatrice swallowed hard. Her throat felt dry as powder.
“Because forty minutes ago, before you came downstairs to announce the bankruptcy, I heard her on the phone in the library,” Beatrice said. “She wasn't talking to her father, Mr. Costa. She was talking to Adrian Rossi.”
Vincenzo’s jaw tightened so hard a muscle twitched beneath his scar.
Adrian Rossi was the head of the rival syndicate in Chicago—a man who had spent ten years trying to carve up the Costa shipping routes. If Evelyn was speaking to Rossi, then her sudden devotion during Vincenzo’s fake bankruptcy wasn't loyalty. It was a cover story while she executed a hit.
“What did she say to him?” Vincenzo asked, his voice dropping into a register that sent chills down Beatrice’s spine.
“She told him that your security was distracted by the fake federal raid,” Beatrice answered. “She said you’d be dead before sunrise, and that Rossi needed to have the transfer paperwork ready for her signature by dawn.”
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Vincenzo slowly reached out and picked up the glass vial. He held it up to the overhead light, watching the clear drop of liquid slide across the glass.
“She thinks I’m helpless,” Vincenzo murmured softly. Then he looked back at Beatrice. “And what about you? Why come to me instead of taking your mother and running?”
