Chapter 9 - THE UNMASKING
The sound of her real name echoed inside the small stone room like a gunshot.
Nell’s breath hitched violently in her throat. The color drained from her cheeks, leaving her skin as pale as the white damask napkins resting beneath her iron.
For three seconds, the world stopped spinning.
She didn't scream. She didn't drop to her knees and beg for mercy. The fearful, quiet housemaid vanished instantly, replaced by a cold, hardened woman whose hazel eyes flashed with pure, unadulterated venom.
With a motion so fast it blurred in the dim pantry light, Nell ducked her chin out of his grip, reached under the clean white laundry on the work table, and pulled out a narrow, five-inch bone-handled paring knife she had hidden there two years ago.
She drove the blade straight toward Carmine’s throat.
Carmine didn't panic. He moved with the terrifying speed of a apex predator who had survived a hundred close-quarters ambushes. His left hand shot out like a steel trap, his fingers wrapping around her thin wrist two inches from his windpipe, stopping the point of the blade dead in the air.
The force of his grip was crushing, but Nell didn't drop the knife. She snarled, her teeth bared, using every ounce of her small frame's weight to push the steel closer to his neck.
"Do it!" Nell hissed, her voice dripping with ten years of suppressed rage and grief. "Kill me like your uncle killed my father in that kitchen! Go on! Finish it!"
Carmine didn't strike her back. He stood his ground, his powerful arm holding her blade completely stationary, his dark eyes searching every line of her furious, beautiful face.
"My uncle is dead, Helena," Carmine said softly, his voice remarkably calm amidst the lethal struggle. "He died six years ago of cancer in a federal prison hospital. I took over this family, and the first thing I did was put an end to the war with your father's remaining men."
"You wear his ring!" Nell spat, her eyes glistening with unshed tears as she pushed harder against his grip. "You live in his house! You drink from his glasses while my father’s restaurant is a pile of ash!"
Carmine looked down at the gleaming steel blade inches from his throat, then looked back into her eyes.
"I knew who you were the day you walked into this house three years ago," Carmine revealed quietly.
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Nell froze, her muscles locking in sudden, utter confusion. "What?"
"You think Odette’s cheap background check fooled me?" Carmine murmured, a small, dark smile touching his lips. "I watched you walk through the front gate. I saw your father’s eyes in your face. I let you stay."
