Chapter 4 - The Matriarch's Mask
Julian didn't flinch. He walked slowly toward the door, standing right before the reinforced wood panel.
Through the camera monitor mounted beside the frame, he saw his mother, Victoria Rossi. She was sixty-five, exquisitely preserved by plastic surgery and dressed in a tailored Chanel suit, her pearl necklace gleaming under the hallway lights. Beside her stood Arthur Vance, looking grim, and two armed men in dark suits.
"Julian!" Victoria called out again, knocking her gold cane against the door. "Stop this absurd drama! Camila called her father in tears! What are you doing locked in a suite with a disgraced former employee?"
Julian pressed the intercom button. His voice was cold, smooth, and laced with absolute venom.
"She isn't a disgraced employee, Victoria," Julian said. "She is the pregnant CEO’s wife. And you are standing on private property."
Victoria’s posture stiffened visibly through the monitor screen. Her mask of aristocratic elegance slipped for a fraction of a second, revealing the cold, calculating strategist beneath.
"Julian, open this door so we can discuss this like civilized adults," Arthur Vance stepped forward, adjusting his tie. "You are confusing a minor personal distraction with a multi-billion-euro business alliance. The merger papers are scheduled to be signed on Monday. You cannot allow emotional instability to compromise Rossi Enterprises."
"Instability?" Julian let out a dark, booming laugh that vibrated through the speaker. "You forged medical records, Arthur. You used my mother to blackmail my wife. You threatened the life of my unborn child."
Arthur’s face paled slightly, his eyes darting toward Victoria.
"Julian, you've been lied to," Victoria said quickly, her tone turning motherly, dripping with fake concern. "Elena was unstable. She took money from the family vault! We paid her to leave to protect you from a public scandal! She is using that pregnancy to trap you again! How do you even know that baby is yours?"
In the living room behind Julian, Elena flinched at the cruel accusation, clutching her robe tightly around her chest.
Julian’s hand gripped the intercom housing so hard the metal groaned.
"If you ever speak about my wife or my child again, Victoria," Julian whispered, "I will ensure you spend the rest of your natural life in a maximum-security women's prison in Calabria."
"Julian!" Victoria shrieked, dropping all pretense of maternal warmth. "You wouldn't dare! I am your mother! I built you!"
"You didn't build me," Julian replied softly. "You merely shared my father’s name. And by sunrise, I will take even that away from you."
He cut the intercom connection, disabling the hallway camera feed.
Two minutes later, the muffled sound of a struggle echoed from the corridor outside, followed by heavy groans and the thud of bodies hitting the carpet.
Julian checked the door monitor.
Hector’s tactical team, dressed in unmarked black gear, had silently neutralized Victoria's guards. Hector stepped up to the camera, giving Julian a brief nod.
"The perimeter is secure, Boss," Hector’s voice came through Julian’s phone. "We have Victoria Rossi and Arthur Vance detained in the private elevator. Where do you want them?"
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Julian walked back to Elena, taking her hand and helping her stand up.
"Take them to the estate in Lake Como," Julian commanded cold-bloodedly into the phone. "Hold them in the lower wine cellars. No phones, no visitors, no contact with the outside world until I arrive."
