Chapter 4 - The Facedown Photograph
"Who's that?" Mia asked innocently, pointing at the desk.
Vincent’s warm smile instantly vanished.
A tight, cinematic close-up snapped to a wooden framed photograph resting flat on the mahogany desk, placed entirely facedown so nobody could see the picture.
The air in the grand foyer violently turned to absolute ice. The gentle, amused man completely evaporated. The lethal, haunted mafia boss fully returned.
Vincent moved with terrifying speed. He stepped over to the desk and violently flipped the photograph over, hiding it away in the top drawer with a loud, aggressive slam.
"Nobody," Vincent whispered, his voice dropping into a dark, hollow register.
Sophia immediately backed away, clutching Mia tightly. "Come on, Mia. Let's go to the kitchen."
As Sophia hurried away, Vincent stood entirely alone in the massive foyer, staring blankly at the closed drawer.
The photograph wasn't a picture of a rival boss or a dead enemy. It was a picture of a beautiful woman named Elena. Three years ago, Elena had been Vincent’s fiancée. She was the love of his life. But a week before their wedding, a massive sum of syndicate money had vanished, and all the digital evidence pointed directly to Elena.
Vincent’s ruthless underboss, a man named Carmine, had presented the undeniable proof. Feeling completely betrayed, Vincent had ordered Carmine to handle it. Elena had disappeared that same night.
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Vincent had lived with the agonizing, suffocating guilt of her betrayal ever since.
👉 What devastating conversation is the maid about to overhear?
