Chapter 7 - THE UNRAVELING OF TABLE NINE
The air inside the alcove of Table Nine was so thick with tension it felt suffocating.
Behind Adrien, the two triplet boys had stood up from their chairs. For the first time in two years, their faces were alive with emotion—their wide dark eyes looking back and forth between their sister, the waitress, and their father.
"Daddy...?" the oldest boy whispered softly.
It was a second miracle—a second voice breaking through two years of frozen silence.
Adrien didn't turn around. He closed his eyes for a fraction of a second, letting out a ragged, shuddering breath as his son’s voice hit his ears, but his focus remained pinned on Evelyn with lethal intensity.
"How long have you worked here, Evelyn?" Adrien asked, his voice returning to its smooth, dangerous, executive cadence.
"Four... four months, sir," Evelyn answered, her chest heaving as she held her silver tray. "Just four months."
"Who hired you?"
"Mr. Vance... the general manager," she stammered, pointing a trembling hand toward the podium near the front entrance where the restaurant manager was currently standing, pale and sweating profusely.
Adrien slowly turned his head toward his head security lieutenant, a broad-shouldered man in his late forties named Greco who stood near the archway.
"Greco," Adrien commanded flatly.
"Sir?" Greco responded, stepping forward instantly.
"Lock the private dining room doors," Adrien ordered, his voice echoing clearly across the hushed restaurant. "Nobody leaves the Grand Aurelia until I say so. Cancel the rest of the dinner service. Pay every guest's tab and clear the floor."
A collective murmur of shock and alarm rippled through the wealthy diners at surrounding tables. Several hedge fund executives stood up in protest, but a single cold, lethal glare from Greco made them sit back down instantly.
Within forty-five seconds, the Grand Aurelia’s security team had discreetly ushered the civilian guests toward the front coats check, sealed the heavy mahogany entrance doors, and pulled the velvet privacy drapes across the high arched windows overlooking the street.
The vast, golden dining room was empty, save for the staff, the security detail, Adrien, his three children, and Evelyn.
May you like
Adrien turned back to Evelyn. He pulled out the heavy mahogany chair beside his daughter’s seat and gestured toward it with a single, elegant motion of his hand.
"Sit down, Evelyn," Adrien said softly. "You and I are going to have a conversation about my wife."
