Chapter 2 - The Echo of Cicero
Dominic Moretti did not react the way a normal man would when his fiancée was violently assaulted in the middle of an elite engagement party. He did not yell, he did not draw a weapon, and he did not rush forward to play the knight in shining armor. Instead, he simply crossed his arms over his chest, his dark brows knitting together as he absorbed the scene with cold, analytical precision.
“Dominic!” Vanessa wailed from the floor, clutching her silk dress, her hair tangled in shards of glass. “She’s insane! She attacked me! Have your guards throw her into the lake!”
Silence hung heavy in the room. The sixty guests shifted uncomfortably, waiting for the legendary Moretti temper to explode.
Dominic looked down at Vanessa, then shifted his gaze back to Avery. He noticed the red handprint blooming across Avery’s cheek. He noticed the ruined delivery jacket on the floor, the frosting on her fingers, and the subtle, defensive stance she had instinctively assumed—the classic guard of a trained martial artist ready for a second wave.
“Get up, Vanessa,” Dominic said, his voice quiet, carrying effortlessly across the silent ballroom.
Vanessa blinked, her tear-filled eyes widening in disbelief. “What? Dominic, she humiliated me! She ruined the party! Look at what she did to my dress!”
“I said, get up,” Dominic repeated, his tone dropping an octave into a register that brook no argument.
Two family retainers quickly hurried forward to help Vanessa to her feet. She glared daggers at Avery, her chest heaving with humiliated rage. “You’re finished! Do you hear me? I’ll make sure you never drive a car in this state again! I’ll make sure your family loses everything!”
Avery didn’t flinch. She kept her chin lifted, her eyes locked onto Dominic. She expected him to nod, to appease his high-society fiancée, and to order his enforcers to drag her out into the rain. That was how powerful men operated. They protected their investments and crushed whatever inconvenienced them.
Instead, Dominic walked slowly toward her.
The crowd parted instinctively, clearing a path as if he were parting water. When he stopped two feet away from Avery, he towered over her, his presence radiating an overwhelming, heavy aura of authority.
“You dropped your jacket,” Dominic said softly, his gray eyes scanning the raw, red skin of her cheek.
Avery’s breath caught. “I don't care about the jacket.”
“Clearly,” Dominic replied, a faint, ghost of a smirk touching the corner of his mouth. He looked back toward his head of security, a hulking man standing near the doorway. “Marcus. Bring the delivery records for this estate from the last seven weeks.”
Vanessa gasped, stepping forward. “Dominic, what are you doing? Why are you investigating her? She’s the criminal here!”
“Silence, Vanessa,” Dominic commanded without raising his voice, though the sheer lethality in his tone made her step back as if struck. He turned his attention back to Avery. “Eleven years ago, I watched a state championship match in Oak Lawn. A young woman named Avery Carter swept the entire junior division before walking away from the sport permanently. Am I mistaken?”
Avery’s blood ran cold. The memories she had buried under mountain ranges of medical debt and night-shift exhaustion clawed their way back to the surface. “How do you know that?”
“I notice things, Miss Carter,” Dominic said smoothly, slipping his hands into his trouser pockets. “And I especially notice when people in my employ are treated like subhuman trash under my own roof while I’m busy managing port logistics across three states.”
He turned to face the stunned crowd of elites, many of whom were prominent business partners, politicians, and financial backers.
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“The party is over,” Dominic announced plainly. “Drivers, have my guests’ vehicles brought around immediately. If anyone attempts to contact the authorities or press charges regarding what transpired tonight, my legal team will ensure your corporate holdings are audited down to the last paperclip before sunrise. Good night.”
The panic was immediate. Within five minutes, the ballroom emptied like a sinking ship, leaving only Dominic, his security detail, Vanessa, and Avery standing in the center of the shattered glass.
