Chapter 5 - Point Blank
The scene in the living room was horrifying.
Valentina lay motionless on the gleaming floor, her skin pale and clammy, her eyes closed. I was kneeling right over her, barefoot among a lethal sea of shattered glass from the broken vase. Fresh red blood was dripping from my palms and squeezing from beneath my fingernails where I had desperately scraped against the sharp shards to pull Valentina away from the worst of the wreckage.
Celeste instantly threw herself backward, letting out a shattered, hysterical sob as Dante strode into the room, flanked by four armed bodyguards.
"Dante! Thank God you're home!" Celeste wailed, tears streaming down her face as she pointed a trembling finger at me. "I caught her! I caught her trying to hurt your mother! I saw her pouring something into Valentina's drink, and when I confronted her, she shoved Valentina into the glass table!"
My head whipped toward Celeste, my shock turning into pure, unadulterated fury. "You liar! You psychopathic liar!" I screamed, my voice raw.
"Look at her hands, Dante!" Celeste cried, stepping behind his broad frame. "She has blood all over her! She was trying to finish her off so she could steal Valentina's jewelry! She's been manipulating your mother for months!"
Dante didn't say a word. The air in the penthouse instantly plummeted to sub-zero temperatures.
A dark, terrifying aura radiated from Dante Moretti. His face was a stone mask of terrifying rage—the face of the ruthless mafia king who ruled Chicago’s underworld with an iron fist.
Slowly, deliberately, Dante reached into the holster beneath his tailored suit jacket.
Click.
He drew his dark, heavy semi-automatic handgun.
The bodyguards behind him gasped, stepping back. Celeste’s hysterical crying abruptly stopped, replaced by a dark, cruel smirk of satisfaction that she quickly tried to hide behind her hands. She thought she had won. She thought Dante was about to put a bullet through my head.
I sat there, bleeding, panting, barefoot on shattered glass, looking up at the deadly barrel of the gun.
Dante raised the weapon.
"Dante..." I whispered, tears spilling over my cheeks. I didn't beg for my life. I didn't scream. I just looked directly into his dark eyes, searching for the man who had looked at me with tenderness in the kitchen at 3:00 AM. "I didn't do this. I swear on my mother's life... I would die before I let anyone hurt Valentina."
Dante stood towering over us for three suffocating seconds, his gun raised, his chest heaving with silent rage.
Then, Dante moved.
He didn't aim at me.
With blinding, terrifying speed, Dante pivoted on his heel, swinging the heavy barrel of the gun away from me and locking it directly onto Celeste Bowmont’s forehead.
Celeste froze. Her breath hitched, her face instantly draining of every drop of color. "D-Dante?" she stammered, her voice squeaking in absolute terror. "What... what are you doing? She's the maid! I'm your fiancé!"
"Shut your mouth, Celeste," Dante snarled. His voice was a low, lethal growl that sent chills straight down my spine.
"Dante, you're making a mistake! She pushed your mother!" Celeste shrieked, backing up against the wall, her hands flying up in panic.
"My mother has been sick for months," Dante said coldly, his finger tightening on the trigger. "And five minutes ago, Leo checked the security feed from the hallway kitchen. The feed you thought was broken."
Celeste’s eyes widened in sheer panic.
"We saw you tamper with the medicine bottle, Celeste," Dante continued, his dark eyes burning with absolute vengeance. "We saw you hand it to Serena. And we saw Serena dump it straight down the sink because she cared more about my mother’s life than taking a risk."
Dante took a heavy step toward Celeste, pressing the cold steel barrel directly against the center of her forehead.
"You brought poison into my home," Dante whispered dangerously. "You laid a hand on my mother. And you tried to frame the woman I love."
Celeste burst into real, terrified sobs, dropping to her knees. "Dante, please! Our families... the alliance! You can't do this! My father will destroy you!"
"Your father is currently being arrested by federal agents for tax evasion and racketeering," Dante said smoothly, a cold, dark smile touching his lips. "I leaked his private ledgers to the FBI an hour ago. The Bowmont family is finished. And so are you."
Dante looked back at his bodyguards. "Marcus, Leo. Take this trash out of my house. Hand her over to the authorities for attempted murder. If she ever steps foot in this city again, execute her."
"No! Dante, please! Mercy!" Celeste screamed as Marcus and Leo grabbed her arms, dragging her kicking and screaming out of the grand penthouse, her designer heels dragging uselessly across the marble.
The heavy front doors slammed shut. Silence descended on the room once again.
Dante immediately lowered the gun, dropping it onto a nearby table, and fell to his knees in front of me.
He ignored the shattered glass cutting into his expensive suit trousers. He reached out with terrifying gentleness, taking my bleeding, trembling hands into his broad palms.
"Serena..." he rasped, his voice trembling with emotion. "Are you alright? Look at me, sweet girl. Look at me."
"Valentina..." I sobbed, pointing weakly to his mother. "She... she collapsed... she isn't breathing right..."
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"The paramedics are already in the elevator," Dante said softly, pulling me close against his chest. "You saved her, Serena. You saved her life twice today."
I buried my face in his shoulder, soaking his white silk shirt with my tears as the sound of emergency sirens wailed in the Chicago streets below.
