Chapter 7 - The Trap
The invitation went public three days later.
THE BELLINI FOUNDATION REBUILDING GALA.
Sienna announced that Bellini Bakery would reopen and that the Valente family would attend.
Adrian hated every word of the plan.
“That ballroom has twelve entrances.”
“Eleven.”
He stared.
“I checked.”
“That does not make me feel better.”
Sienna adjusted his tie.
“Alessandra needs access to me. So we give her access she thinks she created.”
“You are six months pregnant.”
“And surrounded by more security than the president.”
“Not helping.”
Sienna smiled.
“You're cute when you're terrified.”
“I am never cute.”
“Absolutely adorable.”
He kissed her before she could continue.
The gala occupied the ballroom of a Midtown hotel secretly controlled by one of Adrian’s companies.
Cameras covered every entrance.
Luca managed the interior security.
Rocco, now cooperating fully, served as bait.
Publicly, the family appeared divided.
Rumors suggested Adrian intended to remove Rocco and Luca permanently.
Other rumors claimed Sienna was considering leaving Adrian.
All of them were false.
All of them reached Alessandra.
At nine seventeen, the first sign appeared.
A waitress entered using credentials belonging to a woman who had called in sick.
Marco spotted her.
They did not stop her.
She delivered a folded note to Sienna.
Your husband lied to you. Room 1814. Come alone if you want proof.
Sienna showed Adrian.
“No.”
“That is literally the plan.”
“I have revised the plan.”
“You can't revise it because you're nervous.”
“I can revise anything. I'm rich.”
She almost laughed.
Instead she kissed his cheek.
“Five minutes.”
“Three.”
“Four.”
“Three.”
“Fine.”
Sienna entered the elevator alone.
Or appeared to.
Two guards were hidden in the service corridor. Marco watched through cameras. Adrian had an earpiece.
Room 1814 stood open.
Sienna entered.
Alessandra waited beside the window.
Elegant as ever.
“You've gotten larger.”
“That's generally how pregnancy works.”
Alessandra smiled.
“You've become brave.”
“No. I've become tired of you.”
On the table sat another medical file.
Adrian’s name.
“You wanted proof,” Alessandra said.
“Of what?”
“That Adrian knew more than he told you.”
Sienna did not touch it.
“Open it.”
“No.”
For the first time, Alessandra looked irritated.
“You don't trust your husband?”
“I don't trust stationery supplied by kidnappers.”
Alessandra laughed.
Then locked the door.
“Do you know what makes you dangerous, Sienna?”
“My baking?”
“You made Adrian want a future.”
Sienna’s smile faded.
“He was manageable when he believed there would be nothing after him. Men who expect their bloodline to end become careless about legacy.”
“And you need him careless.”
“I needed him lonely.”
The sentence chilled Sienna.
Alessandra stepped closer.
“Then you arrived.”
“You could have left us alone.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because Adrian's daughter will own everything.”
“She's not even born.”
“Exactly.”
Alessandra reached for Sienna’s stomach.
Sienna stepped backward.
“Don't touch me.”
A cold expression replaced Alessandra’s smile.
“She will be raised correctly.”
“By me and Adrian.”
“Adrian won't be there.”
Sienna's pulse jumped.
There.
The confession they needed.
Alessandra continued.
“Neither will you for long.”
Adrian heard every word.
So did Marco.
But before they could move, the fire alarm sounded.
Not part of the plan.
The lights flickered.
Alessandra smiled.
“You really thought I came alone?”
The hotel plunged into darkness.
Sienna reached for the emergency transmitter in her bracelet.
Someone grabbed her from behind.
She screamed.
The last thing she heard through her earpiece was Adrian shouting her name.
Then a cloth covered her mouth.
Darkness swallowed everything.
When Sienna woke, her wrists were tied.
She was inside a moving vehicle.
Alessandra sat opposite her.
“You underestimated me.”
Sienna fought nausea.
“You underestimated Adrian.”
“No. I taught Adrian half of what he knows.”
“Then he knows the other half.”
Alessandra’s smile vanished.
The vehicle stopped forty minutes later.
Sienna was taken into an abandoned mansion overlooking the Hudson.
She counted doors.
Windows.
Steps.
Anything useful.
“You're remarkably calm,” Alessandra observed.
Sienna looked down at her stomach.
“My daughter is listening.”
“To what?”
“To her mother not begging.”
Alessandra slapped her.
Sienna tasted blood.
But smiled.
“You really need a second move.”
Meanwhile, Adrian stood inside the hotel security room staring at a dead tracking signal.
Marco said, “We lost the vehicle.”
Adrian punched the wall.
Rocco grabbed his shoulder.
“Think.”
Adrian turned on him.
“She has my wife.”
“I know.”
“My daughter.”
“I know.”
“Then get your hand off me.”
Rocco did.
Luca entered carrying Sienna’s purse.
“We found this.”
Inside was her recipe box.
Sienna had brought it for the gala display.
Luca opened it.
One card was missing.
Adrian frowned.
“What?”
Luca showed him the remaining cards.
Sienna numbered every family recipe.
Twenty-three.
Twenty-five.
Recipe twenty-four was gone.
Adrian remembered.
Sienna had once told him about recipe twenty-four.
Her father’s walnut bread.
He baked it only at one place.
The old Bellini family vacation house.
On the Hudson.
Adrian looked up.
“She left us a message.”
Marco was already moving.
Twenty minutes later, Sienna heard engines outside.
Alessandra heard them too.
Her face changed.
“How?”
Sienna smiled through her split lip.
“My husband listens when I talk.”
Gunfire broke outside.
Alessandra pulled a pistol.
Sienna’s heart slammed.
The door burst open.
Adrian entered.
His eyes found Sienna.
Then the blood on her mouth.
Something terrifying passed across his face.
Alessandra pressed the gun against Sienna’s stomach.
May you like
Everyone froze.
“Another step,” she whispered, “and your miracle dies first.”
