Chapter 2 - THE SILVER THAT COULD HAVE DESTROYED A FAMILY|
Nobody at the bridal table answered Gabriel’s question.
He stood beside Catherine, his shoulders squared, while the room waited for Elena to explain herself.
His mother recovered first.
“Darling, you’ve misunderstood. Catherine wanted to help the kitchen staff.”
Catherine looked at her.
“I didn’t say that.”
Elena’s expression hardened.
“Must you embarrass me in front of our guests?”
Gabriel turned toward his wife.
“Tell me what happened.”
Catherine glanced at the bandages covering her knuckles. The wounds were not serious, but the bruises beneath them had darkened during the evening.
“I tried to recover something that belonged to your family.”
“The silver?”
“Yes.”
Gabriel looked at the display.
“Where did you find it?”
“In the old service passage behind the west pantry.”
His face became still.
“That passage has been locked for eleven years.”
“Someone opened it yesterday.”
Vittorio rose from his chair.
“Perhaps this conversation should take place privately.”
Gabriel did not look at him.
“Sit down, Uncle.”
Vittorio sat.
Catherine had discovered the silver by accident. She had been searching the house’s old architectural plans for a way to access a damaged heating pipe when she noticed that the measurements of the west pantry did not match the visible walls.
Behind a false panel lay a narrow passage leading to a disused storage room.
Inside it, she had found a velvet-lined case containing the missing silver.
She had also found a broken lock, fresh shoeprints, and a torn piece of paper bearing a warehouse number.
When she attempted to move the heavy case, a rusted metal shelf collapsed. She had caught herself against its edge, tearing her knuckles and bruising her wrist.
Then Arthur, the head of household security, had appeared.
He told her to forget what she had seen.
When she refused, he took the paper from her hand and threatened to have her removed from the property.
Catherine had escaped with a small scrap she had hidden inside her sleeve.
She had not told Gabriel because she did not know whom he trusted.
Now she wished she had spoken sooner.
“Arthur said the silver was being returned to the family,” she explained. “He said I had no right to ask questions.”
Gabriel’s eyes narrowed.
“Where is he?”
“Outside, I think.”
Gabriel turned to one of his men.
“Bring Arthur in.”
Elena rose abruptly.
“This is absurd. You cannot interrogate your employees because your wife scraped her hand.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“My wife found twelve stolen family heirlooms in a locked passage. If you believe that is unimportant, perhaps you can explain why.”
Elena’s face lost color.
Vittorio reached for his phone again.
Gabriel noticed.
“Put it on the table.”
His uncle obeyed slowly.
The ballroom doors opened, and Arthur entered between two guards. He was a broad man with graying hair and a permanent crease between his eyebrows.
He looked at Catherine.
Then he looked at Gabriel.
“I can explain.”
“Good,” Gabriel replied. “Start with why you threatened my wife.”
Arthur swallowed.
“I was protecting the family.”
“From what?”
Arthur’s eyes moved toward Elena.
The glance lasted less than a second.
It was enough.
Gabriel stepped closer.
“Mother, do you know why the silver was hidden?”
Elena lifted her chin.
“I know nothing about any theft.”
Catherine felt a cold certainty settle over her.
Someone had stolen the silver to create a crisis inside the Romano household. Someone had then returned it, expecting the family to celebrate its recovery without investigating how it disappeared.
And someone had counted on Catherine being too unimportant to notice the difference.
Gabriel held out his hand.
“Catherine, whatever evidence you found, give it to me.”
She reached into her sleeve and placed the torn paper in his palm.
He read the warehouse number.
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For the first time that evening, the feared head of the Romano family looked genuinely alarmed.
Because the number belonged to a facility his father had ordered destroyed before his death.
