Chapter 3 - The Golden Heir
Isabella took her seat next to Salvatore, violently snapping her fingers at a passing busboy to bring her a glass of champagne.
"You shouldn't speak to the staff like that, Mother," Gabriel said, his voice laced with quiet disapproval. He smoothed his maroon shirt, his dark eyes still tracking the kitchen doors where Tessa had disappeared. "She was just doing her job."
Isabella scoffed, taking a sip of her expensive champagne.
"We do not apologize to the help, Gabriel," Isabella sneered, adjusting her diamond necklace. "Tonight is the most important night of your life. Your father is officially naming you the Underboss of the Rossi syndicate. I will not have our celebration ruined by some incompetent girl in a cheap apron."
Salvatore didn't say a word. He sat rigidly in his chair, his hands resting on the silver handle of his cane. His fierce, formidable mind was completely consumed by the waitress.
Twenty-five years ago, Antonio—his beloved firstborn son—had supposedly betrayed the family. Isabella had brought Salvatore the banking documents proving Antonio had embezzled ten million dollars from the syndicate's emergency vault. Isabella claimed Antonio had fled the country like a coward. A week later, a rival cartel claimed they had killed him in a shootout.
Salvatore had buried an empty casket. His heart had turned to stone, and he had poured all his remaining love into his second son, Gabriel.
But the dialect. The exact inflection. The fearless look in the waitress's eyes. It was exactly like Antonio.
"Salvatore, are you even listening to me?" Isabella snapped, her shrill voice cutting through his memories. "I want that girl fired. She looked at me with disrespect."
"She stays," Salvatore commanded, his voice a low, lethal rumble that left absolutely no room for debate.
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Isabella’s face flushed with angry humiliation, but she knew better than to cross her husband in public. She gripped her champagne glass, a dark, malicious plan forming in her cruel mind to destroy the waitress herself.
👉 What vicious trap is the stepmother setting for Tessa?
