Chapter 10 - The Dinner Must Happen
By sunrise, the storm had passed.
Newport Harbor looked clean and bright beneath a cold October sky.
Inside the Virelli mansion, nobody had slept.
Dominic stood in the library while Rocco, Carlo, two attorneys, a cybersecurity specialist, and Dr. Mercer occupied the long table.
Marin sat beside Isabella.
Eli and Claire remained at the East Greenwich house under guard.
Charles was secured in a separate guest building.
Vivien remained upstairs.
No police had been called yet.
Dominic’s attorney hated that.
“You already have evidence of extortion and kidnapping.”
Elaine Porter spoke sharply.
“We call the state police now.”
“If we do, Vivien triggers the archive.”
“We don’t know that.”
Dominic looked at her.
“She told me.”
“She may be bluffing.”
“Are you willing to bet my mother’s life’s work on that?”
Elaine sighed.
“No.”
Dominic turned toward the cybersecurity specialist.
“Geneva?”
The man, Lucas Bennett, adjusted his glasses.
“The bank confirmed an access attempt.”
“By whom?”
“They won’t disclose without legal process.”
“Can they lock the archive?”
“It’s a physical deposit system paired with digital authorization.”
Dominic frowned.
“Meaning?”
“Someone has credentials.”
Isabella wrote something.
Marin read it.
“Two keys.”
Lucas looked at her.
“Two keys?”
Isabella nodded.
She wrote again.
MY KEY.
ANTONIO KEY.
Dominic looked at her.
“Dad had two physical tokens?”
She nodded.
“Where is yours?”
Isabella pointed to her necklace.
Marin helped remove the small gold crucifix.
Behind it was a thin metallic insert.
Dominic stared.
“You’ve worn that every day.”
Isabella nodded.
“What about Dad’s?”
She wrote:
LOST.
Dominic’s expression hardened.
“When?”
Isabella answered.
HOSPITAL.
Twelve years earlier.
The photographs.
Charles.
Marin.
Visitors.
Someone had stolen Antonio’s key while he was dying.
Charles claimed ignorance.
Vivien now apparently knew someone in Geneva.
Dominic looked at Marin.
“The photograph of you at St. Joseph’s.”
Her face tightened.
“You think I took it?”
“No.”
The answer came immediately.
“I think whoever took the key photographed everyone near my father.”
Marin nodded slowly.
Rocco spoke.
“We need the second key.”
Lucas shook his head.
“Not necessarily.”
Everyone looked at him.
“If Isabella’s token is still valid, we can ask the bank to require simultaneous physical verification.”
Dominic frowned.
“You can do that?”
“She owns the archive.”
Lucas looked at Isabella.
“If she issues the instruction directly.”
Isabella wrote:
DO IT.
Lucas nodded.
“I’ll prepare it.”
Dominic turned toward Elaine.
“And dinner?”
Elaine looked unhappy.
“If you proceed, every guest needs protection.”
“No one knows.”
“Dominic—”
“If we cancel, Vivien controls timing.”
He looked around the table.
“If we continue, she walks into a room we control.”
Carlo nodded.
“I agree.”
Elaine glared at him.
“Of course you do.”
Carlo shrugged.
“You pay lawyers to dislike plans.”
Dominic almost smiled.
Elaine did not.
Marin raised her hand slightly.
Everyone looked at her.
“What am I supposed to do?”
Dominic’s expression softened.
“Exactly what Vivien told you.”
Marin swallowed.
“Tell everyone Isabella blesses the marriage?”
“Yes.”
Isabella immediately wrote.
NO.
Dominic crouched beside her.
“Ma.”
She wrote harder.
NO.
“Listen to me.”
She stared.
“Vivien needs to believe she won.”
Isabella wrote:
HATE THIS PLAN.
Dominic smiled faintly.
“So do I.”
She glared.
“Let Marin speak.”
Isabella shook her head.
Dominic lowered his voice.
“Then when Vivien uses the forged document…”
He placed the original on the table.
“…we expose it.”
Isabella’s eyes sharpened.
Elaine understood.
“If Vivien presents it as legal authority, that establishes knowing use.”
Dominic nodded.
“And Charles already admitted the forgery.”
Elaine exhaled.
“That helps.”
Marin looked at Isabella.
“Then what?”
Dominic looked at his mother.
“Then she speaks for herself.”
Isabella’s face changed.
Marin glanced at him.
“She can’t.”
Dominic shook his head.
“She can.”
He looked toward Lucas.
“Can we put Isabella’s tablet on the ballroom screens?”
“Yes.”
“Live?”
“Yes.”
Dominic looked at his mother.
“Every word you type.”
Isabella stared.
Dominic continued.
“Your words.”
“Your timing.”
“No Marin.”
“No me.”
“No one translating.”
Tears appeared in Isabella’s eyes.
She reached for the marker.
She wrote:
MY VOICE.
Dominic nodded.
“Your voice.”
Marin wiped tears from her face.
Elaine closed her folder.
“Fine.”
She looked at Dominic.
“If we’re doing this, we do it clean.”
“Meaning?”
“Police nearby.”
Dominic hesitated.
“Not inside.”
“Nearby.”
He nodded.
“Agreed.”
By noon, the mansion transformed.
Flowers arrived.
Catering vans entered.
Tables were set.
Guests received confirmation messages.
Nothing looked different.
Everything was different.
Vivien emerged from the guest suite at four thirty.
She wore a silver dress.
Dominic encountered her at the staircase.
For a moment, they simply looked at each other.
She smiled.
“You kept the dinner.”
“Yes.”
“I knew you would.”
“Did you?”
“You always choose family.”
Dominic looked at her.
“That’s true.”
Vivien misunderstood.
She stepped closer.
“Where’s my ring?”
“In my pocket.”
Her smile returned.
“Good.”
She touched his lapel.
“Tonight can still fix this.”
Dominic looked at her hand.
“Can it?”
“Yes.”
She whispered.
“No one has to know what happened.”
Dominic looked into her eyes.
“That’s what you want?”
“Isn’t it what you want?”
He thought of Eli’s backpack.
His mother unable to reach her writing board.
Claire tied to a chair because Peter Sloan wanted money.
Marin being slapped for standing between Vivien and a syringe.
“No.”
Vivien’s hand dropped.
Dominic walked away.
At six fifty-five, the first guests arrived.
At seven fifteen, the dining room was full.
Isabella entered in her wheelchair.
Marin walked beside her.
The room rose.
Vivien smiled beautifully.
Charles’s chair remained empty.
Several guests noticed.
Dominic explained that Charles had become ill.
Vivien’s eyes briefly met his.
She knew it was a lie.
Dinner began.
Wine poured.
Conversation moved carefully.
At eight twenty, Dominic stood.
The room quieted.
Vivien reached for his hand.
Dominic let her.
He looked toward his mother.
“Tomorrow was supposed to mark the beginning of two partnerships.”
Guests smiled.
“One in business.”
He looked at Vivien.
“And one in marriage.”
Vivien’s fingers tightened around his.
Dominic continued.
“But before either of those things happens…”
He looked at Isabella.
“…there is one blessing I care about more than any contract.”
The room turned toward her.
Isabella stared back.
Dominic looked at Marin.
“Marin?”
Her heart pounded.
This was the moment.
She stood.
Vivien smiled.
Marin looked toward Isabella.
Then at Dominic.
Then at the room.
“Mrs. Virelli asked me to tell everyone…”
Vivien breathed out.
“…that she gives Dominic and Vivien her blessing.”
Applause began.
Soft.
Polite.
Vivien smiled through tears.
She leaned toward Isabella.
“Thank you.”
Isabella stared at her.
Then Vivien stood.
“There is one more thing.”
Dominic looked at her.
Vivien reached into her handbag.
She removed a legal folder.
Elaine Porter quietly sat straighter.
Vivien smiled at the guests.
“Isabella has also made provisions for tomorrow’s business vote.”
Dominic felt the room tighten.
Vivien opened the folder.
“Given her medical limitations, she has authorized me to exercise proxy authority if necessary.”
She placed the forged document on the table.
Dominic looked at his mother.
Isabella’s eyes burned.
Vivien signed beneath the proxy acceptance line.
In front of twenty-six witnesses.
Elaine’s pen moved.
Evidence complete.
Dominic looked toward Lucas Bennett.
Lucas pressed one button.
The enormous decorative screen at the far end of the dining room turned black.
Conversation stopped.
Vivien frowned.
Then white letters appeared.
HELLO, VIVIEN.
Every face turned toward Isabella.
Her tablet rested across her lap.
Her left hand hovered over the keys.
Vivien stopped smiling.
May you like
Another sentence appeared.
YOU HAVE SPOKEN FOR ME LONG ENOUGH.
