Chapter 3 - THE ENEMY INSIDE THE ROOM
Nico did not raise his voice.
That was how Serena knew someone was about to have a very bad day.
“Lock the doors.”
The atelier owner blinked.
“What?”
“Now.”
The softness in Nico’s voice was more frightening than shouting.
His security detail had been waiting two floors below because Serena disliked armed men standing beside wedding dresses. Nico reached inside his jacket, removed his phone, and made one call.
“Luca.”
A pause.
“Seal the building.”
Anna stood immediately.
“Nico, no.”
He ended the call.
“No one leaves until I know who took that photograph.”
“There are customers downstairs.”
“They’ll survive the inconvenience.”
“You cannot imprison an entire building.”
He turned toward her.
“Someone threatened my child.”
The words hung between them.
My child.
Anna looked away first.
Within ninety seconds, footsteps thundered up the staircase.
Four men in dark suits entered, led by Luca Romano, Nico’s younger cousin and chief of personal security. Luca was thirty-one, sharp-eyed, heavily tattooed beneath an immaculate suit, and one of perhaps three people on earth Nico trusted without reservation.
He took one look at Nico’s face.
“What happened?”
Nico handed him Anna’s phone.
Luca read the messages.
His expression hardened.
“Photo was taken in this room.”
“I know.”
Luca began studying sight lines.
The mirrors.
The curtained dressing booths.
The staff hallway.
A shelf displaying veils.
He pointed.
“Security cameras?”
The owner nodded nervously.
“Front entrance and hallways. None inside fitting areas. Privacy.”
“Get the footage.”
Serena sat on the edge of the platform.
Her wedding dress remained on the mannequin behind her, suddenly looking almost obscene.
A symbol of a future built on a lie.
Anna reached for her coat again.
Nico caught her wrist.
“Where are you going?”
“Home.”
“No.”
She stared at his hand.
He released her instantly.
“I’m not staying in a locked building surrounded by armed men.”
“You’re not going back to wherever you’ve been living.”
“That is not your decision.”
“Someone knows where you work.”
“They’ve known for months.”
Nico froze.
“What?”
Anna looked toward the window.
“This isn’t the first message.”
Nico’s voice went dangerously quiet.
“How many?”
She did not answer.
“How many, Anna?”
“Enough.”
Luca looked up.
Nico stepped closer to her.
“When did they start?”
“February.”
Serena whispered, “Jesus.”
Anna wrapped her cardigan more tightly around herself.
“The first one came after I tried to reach you. It said if I contacted you again, the baby would never have a chance to meet his father.”
Nico’s face became unreadable.
That was worse than anger.
“And you never told police?”
Anna almost smiled.
“The police? About threats connected to Nico Moretti?”
Luca looked away.
She had a point.
Nico had spent years making sure his name inspired hesitation in prosecutors, detectives, and criminals alike.
Now the same reputation had trapped the mother of his child in silence.
“What else?” he asked.
Anna hesitated.
“They knew my doctor’s appointments. When I moved apartments, another note appeared under my door within two days. When I changed clinics, somebody sent me a photograph of the new building.”
Nico’s stomach tightened.
“That requires surveillance.”
“I know.”
“And resources.”
“I know.”
“You should have come to me.”
Her eyes flashed.
“I did.”
That stopped him.
“I stood outside your gate with an ultrasound picture in my purse.”
Nico had no answer.
Because whether he had ordered the gate closed or not did not change the fact that someone using his authority had turned her away.
Luca returned from the hallway carrying a tablet.
“We’ve got something.”
Everyone gathered around.
The security footage showed Serena and Nico entering at 3:07.
At 3:11, a delivery courier arrived carrying garment boxes.
At 3:14, a florist entered.
At 3:21, an older woman left.
At 3:28, a man wearing maintenance coveralls entered through the service door.
Luca paused the video.
“Recognize him?”
Nico leaned closer.
The baseball cap hid most of his face.
But the walk.
The shoulders.
The slight drag of his right foot.
Nico knew him.
“Enzo.”
Luca swore.
Anna looked between them.
“Who is Enzo?”
Nico did not answer immediately.
Serena did.
“My father’s driver.”
Anna’s hands tightened over her stomach.
Nico looked at Serena.
“Your father’s personal driver?”
“Yes.”
“Are you sure?”
“I grew up with him around.”
Luca enlarged the image.
There was no question now.
Enzo Bellini had entered the building eleven minutes before the threatening photograph appeared.
Nico turned away.
He walked toward the window and stared down at Madison Avenue.
His reflection hovered in the glass.
For twenty years, he had been taught that family alliances were built through controlled violence, shared leverage, and marriages that kept powerful men from becoming enemies.
His father had believed in those rules.
Marco believed in them even more.
Nico had always thought himself smarter than tradition.
Apparently tradition had been smarter than him.
His phone rang.
Marco.
Nobody spoke.
Nico answered.
“Yes?”
Marco’s familiar voice came through warmly.
“Nico. Serena’s father called. Said you’re still at the atelier. Everything all right?”
Nico stared at Serena.
She looked horrified.
“How did Bellini know I was still here?”
A pause.
Then Marco chuckled.
“Probably Serena told him.”
She shook her head violently.
Nico watched her.
“She says she didn’t.”
The silence lasted half a second too long.
“Put him on speaker,” Luca mouthed.
Nico did.
Marco’s voice filled the room.
“You sound tense.”
“I ran into someone.”
“Who?”
Nico watched Serena’s face.
“Anna Bennett.”
Silence.
This one lasted longer.
Then Marco said, “That name means nothing to me.”
Anna covered her mouth.
Nico’s eyes darkened.
“Interesting.”
“What?”
“Because Anna says you personally told her I wanted nothing to do with my unborn child.”
Serena closed her eyes.
Luca drew his weapon.
Not because Marco was in the room.
Because betrayal had suddenly become physical.
On the phone, Marco breathed slowly.
“Nico, wherever you are, listen carefully.”
“I’m listening.”
“There are things your father arranged before he died that you never understood.”
Nico’s jaw flexed.
“This is your chance to explain.”
“It cannot be explained over a phone.”
“Try.”
Marco sighed.
“You were supposed to marry Bellini’s daughter five years ago.”
“I’m aware.”
“You refused.”
“Yes.”
“Then you met Anna Bennett.”
Nico looked toward her.
Marco continued.
“You were willing to dismantle alliances generations of men died to build. For a seamstress.”
Anna flinched.
Nico’s voice sharpened.
“Choose your next words carefully.”
“I protected this family.”
“You threatened my child.”
“I protected your future.”
Nico’s grip tightened around the phone.
“Tell me where you are.”
“No.”
“That wasn’t a request.”
“Nico.”
For the first time, Marco’s voice changed.
No longer paternal.
No longer warm.
Hard.
“You need to understand what happens if you walk away from Serena now.”
“I’m beginning to.”
“No. You aren’t.”
A faint sound came through the call.
Wind.
Then bells.
Nico recognized them.
St. Gabriel’s Church near the old Moretti warehouse district.
Marco was nearby.
Luca recognized it too.
He moved toward the door.
Marco continued.
“The Bellini alliance isn’t about a wedding. It’s about peace. Without it, every family east of the Hudson will choose a side.”
“Let them.”
“You sound like your father before he got your mother killed.”
Nico went still.
Luca stopped walking.
Anna looked at him.
Nico’s parents had died in a car explosion when he was eighteen.
He had been told it was retaliation from a rival crew.
Marco had killed the men supposedly responsible.
For twenty years, Nico had never questioned it.
“What did you just say?”
Marco exhaled.
“You always wondered why your father changed his will three days before the bombing.”
Nico could hear his heartbeat.
“What will?”
Another pause.
Then Marco said, “Ask yourself why you never saw the original.”
The call ended.
Nico stared at the screen.
For several seconds, no one moved.
Luca finally spoke.
“I’ll find him.”
Nico nodded.
“Take two men. Alive.”
Luca left.
Serena stepped down from the platform.
“My father knows more than he told me.”
Nico looked at her.
“So do you.”
Her face tightened.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“You knew your father wanted this marriage.”
“I knew he wanted an alliance. I did not know he threatened Anna.”
“But you saw the photograph.”
“I didn’t know what it meant.”
“You heard him say once the girl was gone, I’d have no reason to refuse.”
“I didn’t know Anna was the girl.”
Nico stared at her.
“Would it have changed anything?”
Serena looked wounded.
“Yes.”
“Would you have told me?”
Her silence answered first.
Anna looked away.
Serena’s eyes filled with anger.
“I cared about you.”
“That wasn’t the question.”
“No. I probably wouldn’t have told you.”
The admission landed hard.
Serena’s voice trembled.
“Because by then, you had asked me to marry you. And for once in my life, my father was pleased with something I had done. I thought the photograph was about some woman you’d already chosen to leave.”
Nico said nothing.
“I was selfish,” Serena continued. “But I was not part of this.”
Anna finally spoke.
“I believe you.”
Both Nico and Serena turned.
Anna looked exhausted.
“Someone who knew what Serena knew wouldn’t have looked so confused when she saw me.”
Nico’s expression softened.
Before he could answer, Luca called.
Nico answered immediately.
“Talk.”
“We found Enzo’s car.”
“Where?”
“Two blocks from St. Gabriel’s.”
“And Enzo?”
“Gone.”
“Marco?”
“Not here.”
Then Luca’s voice changed.
“Nico… there’s something in the trunk.”
Nico’s body tensed.
“What?”
“A file.”
“What kind of file?”
“Medical.”
Anna’s face went pale.
Luca continued.
“It has Anna’s name on it.”
Nico looked at her.
“And?”
There was a pause.
Inside the file was a copy of Anna’s ultrasound report.
Her address.
Her doctor.
Every appointment she had attended.
And one final document.
A signed authorization for a private medical transfer scheduled for the following morning.
Patient: Anna Bennett.
Destination: Switzerland.
Consent signature: Anna Bennett.
Anna stared at Nico.
“I never signed that.”
Nico’s voice hardened.
“Who authorized the plane?”
Luca went silent for a beat.
May you like
Then answered.
“Your company.”
