Chapter 2
“Something’s wrong! Someone is hurting Mom and Aunt Sofia. Hurry—”
Before I could finish, Brianna ripped the pendant away from me.
“I was so busy dealing with these two ungrateful bitches that I forgot about the little brat. You actually tried to call for help?”
She slammed the platinum pendant bearing the Marchetti crest onto the concrete floor.
One sharp-eyed staff member stared at it and lowered his voice.
“That… that’s the Marchetti family crest. There’s only one like it in all of Manhattan…”
Others began whispering.
“She pressed it twice. That’s the Marchetti family’s internal emergency code…”
“Enough!”
Brianna looked my mother and godmother up and down with open contempt.
“Look at them. Do they look like women who could have anything to do with the Marchettis? Everyone knows how protective Marchetti is of his wife and daughter. They travel with dozens of bodyguards. Women like you couldn’t get past the Marchettis’ front gate, let alone belong to the family.”
A faint silver light flashed across my watch.
She destroyed the pendant, but she didn’t know my watch carried a second tracker and recorder.
Someone once spoke badly about my mother behind her back. The next day, my father’s men cut out his tongue.
Thinking about that made Brianna’s expression almost laughable.
Blood was still flowing from the wound on my mother’s forehead.
Even so, she bent down and stroked my hair.
“Don’t be afraid, baby. Mommy’s here. I won’t let anyone hurt you.”
Only then did I get a clear look at the wound.
It was raw and bloody. It looked terribly painful.
My father had warned me more than once that I was never to let my mother get hurt.
“Don’t be afraid, Mom.” I stepped in front of her. “Dad will be here soon!”
The contempt in Brianna’s eyes nearly overflowed.
“Your father? What is he, a driver? A security guard? Your whole family probably crawled out of some slum, and you still dare brag in front of me?”
She turned and shouted at the guards.
“What are you standing around for? Take the ring!”
The guards rushed forward.
My godmother hurried in front of my mother. Before she could speak, one of the guards slapped her across the face and sent her crashing to the floor.
When I saw another man grabbing my mother’s hand, I threw myself at him and bit him.
“Ah!”
The guard cried out in pain and kicked me away.
I hit the floor so hard that stars burst across my vision.
My mother rushed to me.
“Baby, are you all right?”
Then she turned on the guards.
“Touch any of us again, and I promise you won’t live to see tomorrow.”
My mother usually spent her days shopping and enjoying herself.
But in that moment, the full authority of Don Marchetti’s wife filled the room.
The guards were genuinely intimidated. They stopped.
Even Brianna hesitated for a second.
“You won’t let us see tomorrow? You really know how to tell a story.”
“Do you even know who my husband is? Ray Stone, vice president of Titan Realm Studios. In Manhattan’s entertainment industry, when he speaks, everyone listens.”
“He’s a senior associate of the Marchetti family. Once he gets here, we’ll see whether any of this nonsense you’re saying is true.”
The name sounded strangely familiar.
I blurted out, “Mom, isn’t Ray Stone the man Dad said was worth less than a dog?”
Brianna’s smile froze. Her face turned scarlet.
“You dare insult my husband? None of you are leaving here alive today!”
The backstage door slammed shut.
Several staff members took up positions in front of it, blocking every exit.