Chapter 1 - The Champagne Glass That Changed Everything
“Drop one glass, Emma, and your brother loses his medical funding tomorrow.”
Savannah Prescott smiled as she threatened Emma Brooks, a thirty-year-old maid struggling beneath a silver tray holding twenty-five champagne glasses.
Emma’s wrist was swollen. Purple bruises covered her arm. Every step sent pain through her shoulder.
But she couldn't afford to stop.
Her younger brother, Tyler, depended on expensive rehabilitation, and Savannah had threatened to cancel his funding if Emma disobeyed.
Across the luxurious Las Vegas ballroom, Dante Bellini noticed her suffering.
At forty-three, Dante was one of Nevada's most feared Mafia bosses. His tattooed arms, broad shoulders, and cold expression made powerful men nervous.
But when Emma stumbled, he moved without hesitation.
He caught the heavy tray before it hit the floor.
His fiancée hurried over.
“Darling, she's just clumsy.”
Dante examined Emma's bruises.
“Who did this?”
Savannah claimed Emma had bumped into a shelf.
Dante didn't believe her.
Then he noticed Savannah staring at one champagne glass decorated with a tiny gold ribbon.
When he reached for it, she grabbed his wrist.
“Don't touch that one.”
Her fear was unmistakable.
Dante ordered his security chief, Marcus, to secure every glass.
Later, Emma admitted Savannah had threatened her brother's medical care to keep her quiet.
She had also seen Savannah carrying a silver medical case containing three small bottles.
During a telephone conversation, Savannah had mentioned an important toast that needed to happen before Dante signed an $80 million hotel agreement.
Her brother, Richard Prescott, was involved in arranging that deal.
Then Marcus discovered something hidden beneath the gold ribbon.
A label read:
BELLINI PRIVATE FOUNDATION — AUTHORIZATION REQUIRED.
It came from the sealed archives of Dante's father.
Archives connected to his family's fortune and his mother's supposed death in 2002.
Moments later, an anonymous message arrived.
THE CHAMPAGNE WAS NEVER MEANT FOR YOU.
Another message contained a hospital record dated March 17, 2026.
The patient's name was Elizabeth Bellini.
Dante's mother.
A woman who had supposedly been dead for twenty-four years.
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The final message was even worse.
ASK YOUR FATHER WHY THERE WERE TWO DEATH CERTIFICATES.
