Chapter 8 - THE ENEMY AT THE DINNER TABLE
The invitation arrived on cream stationery, as though a formal dinner could make an emergency look civilized. Victor Vale wanted Alessandro to host potential donors at the estate on Friday, two days before the foundation's annual board meeting. Among the guests was a Montana transport executive who might, Victor claimed, replace several unreliable vendors. The executive's name was Grant Mercer.
Alessandro read the guest list twice. He could cancel dinner, alert Grant that he knew, and lose an opportunity to observe the man responsible for Elena's terror. Or he could allow Grant onto the property under tightly controlled conditions, an idea that horrified him even as he considered it. He called Nora before making any decision. She reminded him that Elena was not bait and that her safety could not be treated as a business tactic.
He went straight to Elena. "Grant's been invited," he said. "I didn't authorize it. I can cancel the entire evening."
For several seconds, she stared at him as if he had spoken in another language. Then she sat down. Her first instinct was to pack. The second was to demand why Alessandro had taken so long to warn her. She chose a third response.
"Does Nora know?"
"She's the first person I called."
Elena asked for the guest list and read it in silence. "Victor wants him here. Grant wants me to know he can walk through your front door." She looked up. "Don't invite him because you think I can get him to confess. I won't be part of that."
"Understood."
"But don't cancel it for my sake without asking what I want, either."
Alessandro waited. Elena requested that she remain off duty and away from the main house, with Rosa and Diane aware of her location. If she decided at the last minute to speak with investigators or provide a statement, that would be her decision. Alessandro agreed. Grant would see locked doors and security, not the woman he had come looking for.
Before dinner, Elena had spent almost an hour deciding what she would do if Grant approached her. She rehearsed a firm refusal in the bathroom mirror, then put the words aside. She owed him no perfectly delivered speech. Years earlier, he had trained her to believe that saying no was only the beginning of a negotiation. Tonight she planned to practice something different: choosing not to participate. Rosa helped her make a small bag with identification, a charger, water, and the number of a person she could trust. It wasn't glamorous preparation for a millionaire's gala, but it was the first time Elena had organized a difficult evening around her own needs.
Friday evening transformed the mansion into an exhibition of money. Cars curved along the drive, string musicians played near the terrace, and servers carried trays through a dining room decorated with Lucia's favorite white roses. Victor greeted guests beneath a portrait of the sister whose work he had spent years exploiting. Alessandro watched him shake hands and wondered how often obvious cruelty appeared perfectly respectable when dressed in a tailored suit.
Grant arrived with a charming smile and a western accent softened for wealthy company. He was handsome in the ordinary, carefully maintained way that once embarrassed Elena into believing she was lucky. From the gallery above the dining room, Diane photographed his entrance for the record. Elena was nowhere near the house. She sat with Rosa in the cottage, drinking ginger tea and trying not to look at the clock.
At the dinner table, Grant spoke easily about humane transport and animal welfare. He congratulated Alessandro on the foundation's public reputation. Alessandro let him finish, then asked a simple question: "What happens when a transport company bills for delivering a horse that never leaves its original stable?"
Grant's fork paused halfway to his mouth.
"I'd assume a clerical error," he said.
Victor intervened. "We didn't bring our guests here to discuss invoices."
"Apparently we should have," Alessandro replied.
A hush spread across the table. Grant smiled again. "If there has been a discrepancy, I'll cooperate with a normal review. Unlike some people, I've always kept clean records."
"That's good to hear."
The conversation limped onward. Alessandro did not reveal the ledger or Lucia's recording. He had learned enough from Nora to avoid turning a dining room confrontation into a substitute for a proper investigation. Yet Grant's eyes kept drifting toward the service entrance, where temporary workers carried the last of the dessert trays.
At 9:20, Elena's phone rang. It was Grant. She let it ring while Diane, who had joined them at the cottage, documented the call. A message followed: BEAUTIFUL PLACE. DOES HE KNOW YOUR BABY IS MINE? Elena felt the familiar impulse to hide her shame, then reminded herself that having been threatened was not a shameful act. She forwarded the message to Nora without answering.
Five minutes later, the power went out in the guest wing. Rosa stepped to the window and saw a guard running toward the generator shed. Diane told them to stay inside while she confirmed whether it was a routine failure. They had nearly relaxed when someone knocked at the cottage door and called Elena's name.
It was Evelyn.
"Alessandro wants you at the house," she said through the door. "There's been a misunderstanding."
Elena stayed where she was. "Then he can call me."
"He can't. His phone isn't working. Please, Elena. You're embarrassing him in front of important people."
The last sentence revealed more than Evelyn intended. Elena had heard variations of it from Grant whenever he wanted her to set aside her judgment for the sake of appearances. She refused to open the door. Diane called Alessandro on a separate line. He answered immediately.
"I sent no one," he said.
When security reached the cottage, Evelyn had disappeared. Elena watched the headlights sweep across the hedge and realized that the most dangerous person on the estate might not be the guest who openly wanted her back. It might be someone Alessandro trusted enough to give a key.
At the main house, Victor announced that Grant had an urgent flight and was leaving. But Grant paused at the entrance, drew Alessandro aside, and delivered the words he had been saving all evening.
"Tell Elena her father is still alive," he said. "Then ask yourself why nobody's been allowed to see him."
May you like
Before Alessandro could respond, Grant stepped into the waiting car. It drove down the illuminated lane, past the guards and the marble fountain, as comfortably as if it belonged there.
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