Chapter 4 - Blood in the Wine Cellar
The subterranean levels of Blackwood Manor did not resemble the opulent Tudor estate above.
Beneath the polished oak floorboards lay limestone foundations dating back to the late nineteenth century.
The air smelled of chilled earth, wet iron, and aged oak barrels.
Natalie followed Damian down the narrow, spiraling stone stairs.
Ava had finally fallen asleep in the nursery, exhausted by the meltdown, clutching the unvarnished wooden sphere Natalie had given her.
Mrs. Gable had assumed guard duty by the nursery door, holding a silent, armed posture that left no doubt the old woman was more than a housekeeper.
“You didn’t have to follow me down here,” Damian said, not turning his head.
His footsteps were entirely silent against the rough masonry.
“You made it clear that my safety depends on knowing what’s happening in this house,” Natalie countered, her flats clicking softly.
“Curiosity is a dangerous substitute for caution, Natalie.”
“Ignorance is worse.”
Damian reached the foot of the stairs.
A reinforced steel security door stood ajar at the end of a long, arched corridor.
Inside sat Julian DeLuca.
He was stripped of his camel-hair coat.
His silk tie hung loose around his neck.
He sat on a simple wooden chair under an unshielded bulb, hands cuffed behind his back to the frame.
Marcus stood silently in the corner, arms crossed, his jacket unbuttoned.
Julian looked up as the shadows crossed the threshold, his face pale and shining with cold sweat.
“Damian... please. Let me explain.”
Damian didn’t respond immediately.
He walked over to a steel workbench resting against the damp wall, where several manila folders and a burner phone sat neatly arranged.
“You went to the Bellagio in Las Vegas three weeks ago,” Damian began, his tone dispassionate, like an auditor reviewing an overdue ledger.
“I was celebrating my birthday, Damian! That’s all!”
“You lost four hundred and twenty thousand dollars at the baccarat tables in forty-eight hours.”
Julian flinched.
“The house line of credit was extended by a holding company called Apex Horizon,” Damian continued, turning around slowly.
“Apex Horizon is an offshore shell entity registered in Cyprus.”
Damian took one step forward.
“Apex Horizon belongs to Salvatore Moretti.”
Natalie felt a chill run down her arms.
Even outside the underworld, the name Moretti was infamous.
The Moretti family controlled the south suburban transport corridors and had waged a bloody, low-intensity war with the DeLuca empire for over two decades.
Julian began to weep openly, his composure completely disintegrating.
“They set me up, Damian! The pit boss kept feeding me chips! I didn’t know it was Moretti’s outfit until they took me into the back room!”
“And what was the buy-out price for your debt, Julian?”
Silence fell over the cellar.
The only sound was the slow, steady drip of water from an exposed condensation pipe.
“Tell her,” Damian commanded, nodding toward Natalie.
“Tell Ava’s caregiver what you agreed to trade for your worthless life.”
Julian wouldn’t look at her.
His chin pressed against his chest.
“A route map,” Julian sobbed. “Just the transport schedule for Ava’s clinical appointments. That’s all they asked for.”
Natalie’s stomach lurched with sudden, violent disgust.
“You sold out your seven-year-old niece?” Natalie’s voice cut through the damp cellar, cold and sharp.
“She’s autistic! She’s an innocent child who trusts you!”
Julian snapped his head up, his eyes bloodshot and full of venomous self-pity.
“You don’t understand! Moretti told me they’d skin me alive and leave me in a trunk in Gary! Damian has billions! He could pay my markers with pocket change, but he cut me off!”
Damian stepped directly into Julian’s personal space.
He reached out, his hand wrapping firmly around his brother’s jaw, forcing him to look up into his cold, black eyes.
“I cut you off because you are a cancer to this family,” Damian whispered.
“I kept you fed. I kept you housed. I kept your name off the state indictments.”
Damian’s thumb dug into the hinge of Julian’s jaw until the younger man let out a strangled whimper.
“You were in Bellamy & Stone yesterday morning, weren’t you?”
Natalie froze.
Julian’s eyes stretched wide with pure terror.
“No... Damian, no, I swear—”
“Ava never wanders away from Marcus,” Damian stated evenly.
“Marcus was distracted outside the boutique by two men staging a fender bender with our lead escort car.”
Damian’s voice dropped an octave, resonating against the limestone.
“Ava walked out through the secondary service exit because someone unlocked the heavy access door from the inside.”
“Someone she recognized. Someone she trusted enough to follow.”
Julian’s breath came in ragged, hyperventilating gasps.
“They didn’t want to hurt her!” Julian shrieked.
“They just wanted leverage! Moretti just wanted you to release the shipping containers at the rail yard!”
Damian released his brother’s face as if dropping a piece of spoiled meat.
He wiped his fingers with a clean handkerchief.
“Marcus.”
“Yes, boss?”
“Put him on a private transport to the cabin in northern Michigan.”
“Damian, please! Don’t lock me up!”
“Strip his passport. Cut all cellular access. If he steps foot outside the cabin perimeter, shoot him in the leg and drag him back inside.”
“Damian! I’m your brother!” Julian screamed as Marcus hauled the chair and the prisoner backward toward the inner security cells.
“I’m your blood!”
The heavy iron door slammed shut.
The screaming became a muffled vibration, then stopped entirely.
Natalie stood near the stairs, her hands shaking slightly.
She looked at Damian DeLuca.
He stood under the harsh hanging light, his face showing no remorse, no hesitation, only the absolute, terrifying calculation of a man who had excised a rot.
“He would have let them take her,” Natalie said, her voice shaking.
“Yes,” Damian replied, walking toward the stairs.
“And now you understand why Ava was hiding under that glass display.”
He stopped beside Natalie, his shoulder inches from hers.
“She wasn’t just overwhelmed by the lights, Natalie.”
May you like
He looked down at her.
“She was running for her life from her own uncle.”
