Chapter 6 - The Engagement Dinner
By the morning of the engagement dinner, Rosa Alvarez was still missing.
Dante had people checking hospitals, train stations, airports, family addresses, and every property connected to the Genovese organization.
Nothing surfaced.
Sophia wanted to cancel her appearance at the dinner.
Elena refused to allow it.
"If Vanessa wants you frightened," Elena said, "the worst thing you can do is reward her."
Sophia stood in Elena's dressing room while three gowns lay across the bed.
"This is not my war."
Elena adjusted one earring.
"It became your war when someone tried your apartment door."
"That is exactly why I should leave."
"Leave where?"
Sophia opened her mouth.
Elena continued before she could answer.
"Your apartment is watched."
"Your father cannot protect himself."
"Someone has your Social Security number."
"And my future daughter-in-law has decided you are a threat because my son cannot stop looking at you."
Sophia nearly dropped the dress she was holding.
"He does not."
Elena gave her a long look in the mirror.
"I am old, Sophia."
"I am not blind."
"He is engaged."
"I know."
"Do you?"
The question was quiet.
Sophia set the dress down.
"Nothing has happened."
"That was not my question."
Sophia looked away.
Elena sighed.
"Dante has spent most of his life doing what is useful instead of what makes him happy."
"That does not give him permission to hurt Vanessa."
"No."
Elena surprised her by agreeing.
"And it does not give Vanessa permission to hurt you."
Sophia chose the simplest gown.
Dark green silk.
High neckline.
No glitter.
No invitation to be noticed.
Elena looked at it and approved.
"Your grandmother would have called that respectable enough for church and dangerous enough for a wedding."
Sophia laughed.
For a moment, the house felt warm again.
Then the bedroom door opened.
Dante stood outside.
He was already dressed in a black tuxedo.
Sophia forgot the sentence she had been about to say.
Dante's eyes found her.
Then they stayed there one second too long.
Elena looked between them.
"I am going downstairs before one of you becomes interesting."
"Mama."
"What?"
She walked past Dante with her cane.
"Try not to wipe anything off her face."
Sophia wanted to disappear.
Dante watched his mother leave.
Then he looked at Sophia.
"You look beautiful."
Her pulse jumped.
"That is not helping."
"I did not intend it to."
"You have a fiancee downstairs."
His face changed.
"I know."
"Then remember it."
Dante took the rebuke without argument.
"I came to tell you that your father is secure."
Sophia's chest tightened.
Anthony had been moved to a small Moretti-owned apartment in Brooklyn with a guard outside.
He had called her thirteen times.
She had answered none.
"Good."
"And Rosa's daughter received a text from Rosa's number."
Sophia stepped closer.
"What did it say?"
"I'm safe. Don't look for me."
"Do you believe it?"
"No."
Neither did Sophia.
Dante reached into his pocket and held out a small phone.
"Keep this with you tonight."
"I have a phone."
"This connects directly to Enzo."
"That sounds romantic."
"I was hoping practical."
She accepted it.
Their fingers touched.
Both of them pulled away too quickly.
The engagement dinner filled the Moretti ballroom with old money, political donors, lawyers, developers, and people whose smiles changed depending on who entered the room.
Sophia recognized several guests from Veluto.
None of them recognized her without the apron at first.
When they did, surprise moved across their faces.
Vanessa noticed every reaction.
She wore ivory rather than red.
The color made her look almost bridal.
She crossed the ballroom with Carlo Genovese beside her.
Carlo was a broad man in his early sixties with silver hair and a smile that never reached his eyes.
"Dante."
The two men shook hands.
Carlo kissed Elena's cheek.
Then his attention moved to Sophia.
"And this must be Miss Rossi."
Sophia's stomach tightened.
"We haven't met."
"No."
Carlo smiled.
"But I knew your mother."
Dante stepped between them almost imperceptibly.
Sophia held Carlo's gaze.
"So I heard."
Carlo's smile changed.
"Maria was very good with numbers."
"Was she?"
"Exceptional."
"Then perhaps you can tell me what she found in yours."
Dante looked at Sophia.
Vanessa's smile disappeared.
Carlo did not react for several seconds.
Then he laughed.
"You have her courage too."
"I hope so."
"Courage is expensive in certain rooms."
Dante's voice became quiet.
"Not this one."
The message was clear.
Carlo looked at him.
Something passed between the two men that Sophia did not understand.
Then Vanessa took her father's arm.
"Come meet the senator."
They walked away.
Sophia exhaled.
"Your future father-in-law is charming."
"He is not my future father-in-law yet."
Sophia turned toward Dante.
"That is a strange thing for an engaged man to say."
He looked as though he wanted to answer.
A waiter approached before he could.
Dinner began at eight.
Elena had seated Sophia at her own table beside her.
Vanessa sat on Dante's other side.
The arrangement was deliberate and disastrous.
Vanessa spent the first course discussing a summer wedding in Lake Como.
Dante barely responded.
Elena criticized the risotto.
Sophia tried to become invisible.
Then Vanessa touched her throat.
Her expression changed.
"My necklace."
Dante looked at her.
"What?"
"The Genovese emerald."
Vanessa stood abruptly.
"It's gone."
The nearby tables fell quiet.
Carlo rose from his seat.
"You were wearing it when you came in."
"I know."
Vanessa pressed one hand to her chest.
"It was here ten minutes ago."
Dante's face became hard.
"No one leaves the room until it is found."
Sophia looked at him.
He had moved instantly into control.
Staff began checking the floor around Vanessa's chair.
Guests murmured.
Then one of the housemaids approached Sophia.
"Miss Rossi?"
Sophia turned.
The maid looked terrified.
"I think something fell from your bag."
Sophia looked down.
Her small evening purse sat beside her chair.
The clasp was open.
She had closed it before dinner.
Cold rushed through her.
"Do not touch it," she said.
Too late.
Vanessa was already staring.
"What is in her bag?"
Sophia stood.
"Nothing that belongs to you."
Carlo's voice cut across the table.
"Then you won't mind showing us."
Dante rose.
"She does not have to show anyone anything."
Vanessa's eyes filled with perfectly measured hurt.
"Dante, that necklace belonged to my grandmother."
Elena looked at Sophia's open purse.
Sophia understood exactly what had happened.
"Open it," she said.
Dante turned to her.
"Sophia."
"Open it."
"You don't have to prove yourself to them."
"Yes, I do."
She picked up the purse and emptied it onto the white tablecloth.
Lip balm.
Keys.
A folded receipt.
The secure phone Dante had given her.
And an emerald necklace worth more than Sophia's apartment building.
Gasps moved through the room.
Vanessa covered her mouth.
Carlo looked almost satisfied.
Sophia stared at the necklace.
She had known it would be there.
Knowing did not make the humiliation smaller.
"I didn't take it."
Vanessa's voice came softly.
"Then how did it get into your purse?"
Sophia looked at her.
"You tell me."
Carlo slammed one hand onto the table.
"Enough."
Dante turned toward him.
"Sit down."
Carlo's eyes widened.
"Your employee steals from my daughter and you tell me to sit?"
"My mother's guest is accused in my house and I tell you to sit."
The entire ballroom had gone silent.
Vanessa looked at Dante in disbelief.
"You believe her?"
Dante did not even glance at Sophia before answering.
"Yes."
The word hit the room like a dropped glass.
Sophia looked at him.
He had doubted her for one second at the Lucky Ace.
He was not making the same mistake twice.
Vanessa's face tightened.
"On what basis?"
Dante looked at the emerald necklace.
"Sophia knew someone was trying to frame her before she walked into this ballroom."
"So?"
"So only an idiot would steal the most recognizable piece of jewelry in Manhattan and leave it in an open purse beside her chair."
A few guests looked away to hide smiles.
Vanessa flushed.
Carlo's voice hardened.
"Are you calling my daughter a liar?"
"I am calling this setup clumsy."
Vanessa stood very still.
"You think I planted it."
Dante looked at her.
"I think the cameras will tell me who did."
Vanessa's expression changed for half a second.
Sophia saw fear.
Only a flicker.
But it was there.
Enzo entered the ballroom moments later and leaned close to Dante.
Whatever he whispered made Dante's face turn colder.
"What?" Sophia asked.
Dante looked at the ceiling cameras.
"The ballroom footage is gone."
Murmurs erupted around them.
Enzo continued quietly.
"All of it."
"From when?"
"Seven forty-two until eight twenty-one."
The exact window in which the necklace disappeared.
Carlo gave a humorless laugh.
"Convenient."
Dante looked at him.
"Very."
Sophia picked up the secure phone from the table.
A notification had appeared on the screen.
One new message.
There was no sender.
She opened it.
A photograph filled the display.
Rosa Alvarez sat tied to a chair in an unfamiliar room.
Her face was frightened but alive.
Sophia's blood went cold.
Beneath the image was a single sentence.
Confess to stealing the necklace before midnight, or Rosa pays for your pride.
Sophia looked up at Vanessa.
May you like
Vanessa was watching her.
And this time, she was no longer smiling.
