Chapter 5: Two Hundred Guests
Elena was the one who said it first.
"Someone has to go downstairs."
Alessandro was still standing near the window, his phone in his hand.
He hadn't moved since ending the call with Carla.
The printed email and the photograph sat on the vanity behind him.
"I'll go," he said.
"Not alone," Elena said.
"I'm not sending anyone else to explain this."
"I'm not asking you to send anyone." She picked up her jacket from the chair.
"I'm coming with you."
Rosalie looked between them.
"What do you want me to do?"
"Stay with Livia," Alessandro said.
"Don't let her come downstairs yet."
Livia looked up.
"I want to come."
"Not yet." He crossed the room and crouched in front of her.
He looked at her hair — the long side, the short side, the small fistful still in her hand.
He gently took it from her fingers and set it on the cushion beside her.
"I'll come back for you.
I promise."
She nodded.
Once.
Trusting him the way only a child can trust a parent.
He stood.
Straightened his jacket.
Walked to the door.
The corridor outside was empty.
Their footsteps were quiet on the carpeted stairs.
As they descended, the sound from below grew — low conversation, the occasional clink of glass, the rustle of formal clothing.
Two hundred people who had dressed that morning and driven to this venue and taken their seats expecting a wedding.
Alessandro pushed open the door to the main hall.
The room shifted when he walked in.
Heads turned.
Someone near the front stood up slightly, then sat back down.
The priest, standing near the altar, folded his hands and waited.
Bianca's father was on his feet before Alessandro reached the center of the room.
A large man, silver-haired, with the particular confidence of someone who had never been told no by anyone who mattered to him.
"What is the meaning of this?" he said.
Not loud.
Controlled.
The voice of a man who preferred to apply pressure quietly.
"My daughter is not in her room.
The ceremony was due to begin twenty minutes ago.
Where is Bianca?"
"I don't know where she is," Alessandro said.
"I asked her to leave."
The hall went very still.
"You asked her to—" Bianca's father stopped.
His jaw worked.
"Do you have any idea what this family has invested in today?"
"I have some idea," Alessandro said.
"I also have some idea of what your daughter invested in making sure I would never find out the truth about her."
"What truth?" The word came out sharp.
Contemptuous.
"What has she supposedly done now?"
Alessandro reached into his jacket pocket and produced the folded email.
He didn't hand it over.
He held it where the man could see it.
"Forty thousand euros," Alessandro said.
"Sent eleven days ago to a woman your daughter had been threatening for six weeks.
A woman she paid to stay silent about things she had fabricated." He let that settle.
"Would you like to explain that?
Or shall I assume you didn't know?"
Bianca's father looked at the paper.
Something moved across his face — not surprise.
Something closer to recalculation.
"This is a private matter," he said.
"Not to be discussed in front of—"
"Two hundred people who came here today because they were invited," Alessandro said.
"They deserve to know why there will be no ceremony."
"You are making a catastrophic mistake."
"I made the catastrophic mistake two years ago," Alessandro said.
"Today I'm correcting it."
A murmur ran through the room.
Bianca's father stepped closer.
His voice dropped to something that was not quite a whisper.
"My family's money built the wing of this venue.
My family's connections got your firm the Meridian contract last spring." His eyes were flat and certain.
"You want to think very carefully about what you're doing."
Alessandro looked at him for a long moment.
"The Meridian contract," he said, "is already signed.
And my firm's work speaks for itself." He folded the email and returned it to his pocket.
"As for the wing of the venue — I'm sure they'll put your name on a plaque.
That seems to be what this family is most interested in."
He turned to face the room.
"I'm sorry to have brought you all here today," he said.
"The wedding will not be taking place.
Please enjoy the meal.
It's already been paid for."
He walked back toward the door.
May you like
Behind him, Bianca's father said nothing.
That silence was the loudest thing in the room.
