Chapter 10 - Into the Golden Night
The grandfather clock in the corner of Restaurante Orelio chimed softly, marking the hour.
Matteo turned to his head bodyguard and gave a brief, sharp nod. The bodyguard immediately produced a sleek black leather phone, dialed a short code, and whispered a quick command to an unseen driver waiting outside.
Matteo looked back at Elina. "We are leaving," he said calmly.
"Leaving?" Elina repeated, her voice trembling. "I have to clock out... my manager—"
"I have just bought this restaurant," Matteo interrupted smoothly, taking a heavy gold pen and a leather checkbook from his inner jacket pocket. He scribbled a massive figure onto the paper, tore it out, and tossed it carelessly onto the nearest dining table for Manager Marco to find. "You don't work here anymore."
Elina gasped, watching the paper flutter onto the white tablecloth. "You can't just buy my life!"
"I just did," Matteo said, his voice dropping into a dark, velvet tone that was both a promise and a threat. "For your safety. And for his."
He reached out his hands, offering to take the baby so she could walk freely, but the moment his fingers brushed Leo’s back, the infant stirred, letting out a soft, warning whimper in his sleep.
Matteo stopped his hands in mid-air. He looked at his son, then looked up into Elina’s eyes, a rare, faint smirk touching the corner of his lips despite the lingering fear in his heart.
"It seems he prefers you to carry him," Matteo said softly.
Elina held the baby tighter against her chest. She looked at the gold-framed portrait of Isabella one last time, watching her own reflection mirrored in the glass over the painted face. The resemblance was absolute, terrifying, and undeniable.
"What happens now?" Elina asked, her voice quiet, accepting the inevitable pull of the dark, luxurious world opening up before her.
"Now," Matteo said, stepping alongside her and placing his broad, protective hand lightly against the small of her back, guiding her toward the front entrance of the restaurant, "we find out who killed my wife. And we protect our family."
The bodyguards stepped forward, pushing open the heavy velvet curtains and swinging the grand double doors of Restaurante Orelio wide open.
Outside, a sleek, pitch-black armored SUV sat idling at the curb under the warm glow of the streetlamps, its exhaust piping white steam into the cool night air. The side door was held open by another suit-clad guard.
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Elina took a deep breath, holding Baby Leo securely against her chest. The child slept on, completely untroubled by the storm brewing around them, his tiny hand firmly tangled in the white fabric of her apron.
Side by side with Matteo DeLuca, the feared mafia boss whose dark world she had just been dragged into, Elina Valdez stepped out of the elegant dining room and into the golden, dangerous night.
