Chapter 13 - The Last Stand at the Gate
-13-
The rain had started again, drumming a relentless, heavy rhythm against the stone portico of the Rossi estate as Nico’s Bentley idled near the front security checkpoint. Marcus stood by the gatehouse holding a black umbrella, while Valentina Rossi stood beneath the harsh amber glow of the security lights, soaked to the skin, her designer coat ruined, her hair plastered to her cheeks.
She looked unhinged. Gone was the pristine, untouchable matriarch of New York society. In her place stood a desperate, cornered woman whose empire had been completely ripped away from beneath her feet.
As Nico and I stepped out from the car under Marcus’s umbrella, Valentina lunged forward, pressing her hands against the iron bars of the gate.
“Nico! Open this gate!” Valentina shrieked, her voice cracking with hysteria. “You think you’ve won? You think you’ve destroyed me? Look at this!”
She thrust a thick manila envelope through the bars toward us. Marcus stepped forward, intercepting the envelope with a gloved hand and handing it directly to Nico.
Nico didn't open it immediately. He stared down at his ex-wife with cold, unyielding detachment. “Val, I warned you about trespassing. If you don't get back in your car right now, I will have you arrested for harassment and violation of the corporate restraining order.”
“Read it!” Valentina screamed, tears mixing with the rain streaming down her face. “Read the papers, Nico! Ask your precious little gold-digger where her father really came from! Ask her why the Vance family name was scrubbed from corporate registries twenty-five years ago!”
My heart stopped. The breath vanished from my lungs as if I’d been struck in the chest.
Vance family name. Twenty-five years ago.
“What are you talking about?” I stepped out from under the umbrella, my voice trembling as I gripped Nico’s sleeve.
Valentina let out a shrill, manic laugh that echoed through the dark courtyard. “Oh, she doesn't know! The innocent little victim doesn't even know who her real grandfather was! Ask Nico about Arthur Vance! Ask him whose money funded the very foundation of the Rossi empire before your grandfather was ruined and left to rot in a debtors' prison!”
Nico’s face turned the color of death. The dark, impenetrable mask shattered entirely, replaced by a flash of raw, exposed shock that I had never seen on him before.
May you like
“Valentina... shut your mouth,” Nico whispered, his voice shaking with a terrifying, suppressed fury.
“No!” Valentina cried out, clutching the iron bars. “You think you’re so righteous, Nico? You think you rescued an innocent girl from the streets? You brought your worst enemy’s bloodline straight into your bed!”
