Chapter 2 - The Man Behind the Cellar Door
Victor raised one hand.
Nobody moved.
Another knock came from inside the wine cellar.
Molly stared at the door.
It had no windows.
The cellar sat below the restaurant, accessible through a short hallway beside the kitchen. Staff used it constantly during dinner service, but Raymond had ordered it locked at seven that evening.
Molly remembered because one of the bartenders had complained.
At the time, Raymond claimed an expensive delivery was being inventoried.
Now the excuse sounded ridiculous.
Victor looked at Raymond.
“Who’s inside?”
Raymond shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
Victor’s expression changed.
It wasn’t anger.
It was disappointment.
“You’re not good at lying.”
“I’m telling you the truth.”
The handle moved again.
Sal drew a pistol.
Molly’s stomach tightened.
Victor noticed her reaction.
“Go upstairs.”
“No.”
Everyone looked at her.
Victor almost smiled.
“You enjoy dangerous rooms?”
“I enjoy answers.”
“That tendency gets people killed.”
“So does dinner.”
For one strange second, Victor seemed amused.
Then the cellar door rattled violently.
Sal moved into position.
Victor nodded.
One of his men unlocked it.
The door opened.
A man stumbled forward.
He was bound at the wrists.
Tape covered his mouth.
Blood stained one sleeve of his gray suit.
Molly recognized him instantly.
Adrian Pierce.
Victor’s attorney.
She had served him twice during business lunches.
Victor caught him before he hit the floor.
“Adrian.”
Sal cut the bindings.
Molly removed the tape.
Adrian gasped.
“Victor.”
“What happened?”
Adrian looked at Raymond.
Raymond backed away.
“It wasn’t me!”
Adrian pointed toward him.
“He knows.”
Victor’s voice hardened.
“Knows what?”
Adrian struggled to breathe.
“Your brother.”
Victor went completely still.
Molly had heard rumors.
Victor had one older brother, Dominic Hastings.
Where Victor was controlled, Dominic was supposedly reckless.
The brothers had inherited their father’s organization fifteen years earlier.
Then Dominic disappeared.
Some said he fled overseas.
Some said Victor killed him.
Nobody knew.
Victor stared at Adrian.
“What about Dominic?”
“He’s alive.”
Silence.
Raymond whispered, “Please.”
Victor turned toward him.
“You knew?”
Raymond’s face crumpled.
“They threatened my daughter.”
Molly’s anger shifted instantly.
“Your daughter?”
Raymond nodded.
“She’s nineteen. Sophie. She goes to Columbia. Three days ago someone sent me pictures of her leaving campus.”
His voice shook.
“They knew her schedule. Her roommate’s name. Everything.”
Victor stared.
“So you poisoned me.”
“No!”
Raymond wiped his face.
“I was told to prepare your table. That’s all.”
“You knew the food was contaminated.”
“Not until Molly stopped you.”
Molly watched him carefully.
“Then why wouldn’t you eat it?”
Raymond looked at her.
“Because after your hand touched Victor’s wrist, I saw Dennis panic.”
Dennis.
The missing manager.
Raymond continued.
“Dennis had insisted on carrying the finished plate himself. I thought he was trying to impress Victor. Then you stopped the fork. Dennis looked at me like he expected me to fix the situation.”
Molly remembered.
Dennis had been more interested in removing her than checking the food.
Victor looked toward Sal.
“Find him.”
“We’re searching.”
Adrian grabbed Victor’s sleeve.
“Listen to me.”
Victor crouched.
Adrian spoke quietly.
“Dominic has been planning this for months.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I tried.”
“When?”
“Three nights ago.”
Adrian looked ashamed.
“I came here because I thought Dominic wanted a private meeting.”
“Instead?”
“Dennis locked me downstairs.”
Molly frowned.
“Why keep you alive?”
Adrian looked at Victor.
“Because Dominic needs something only I can give him.”
Victor’s expression darkened.
“What?”
“Access to the Hastings family trust.”
Victor stood.
Molly didn’t understand.
Raymond did.
“That’s why tonight matters.”
Victor turned.
Raymond swallowed.
“Your father’s estate clause.”
Victor said nothing.
Molly looked between them.
“What clause?”
Adrian answered.
“If Victor dies before midnight tonight, control of the family trust does not pass to his children.”
“Victor has children?” Molly asked.
Victor’s gaze flickered.
“No.”
Adrian continued.
“It passes to the surviving Hastings sibling.”
Dominic.
Molly felt the pieces align.
“Midnight.”
Adrian nodded.
“After midnight, Victor’s new estate documents take effect. Everything changes.”
Victor had bought Maison Laurent three days earlier.
He had probably planned a business dinner here because the acquisition was newly completed.
Someone knew.
Someone had prepared for it.
Molly looked at the bottle labeled V.H.8.
“What does the eight mean?”
Adrian’s face tightened.
Victor noticed.
“You know.”
Adrian hesitated.
“Eight people.”
Molly stared.
“What?”
Adrian looked at Victor.
“You weren’t the only target.”
Victor’s eyes sharpened.
“Who else?”
“Seven members of the Hastings board.”
Sal cursed.
Victor turned toward the empty dining room.
Earlier, Victor had been dining alone.
Or so Molly thought.
“What time were they coming?”
“Nine-thirty.”
Molly checked the wall clock.
8:54.
Thirty-six minutes.
Victor issued orders immediately.
“Cancel the board dinner. Nobody comes here.”
Sal reached for his phone.
Adrian shook his head.
“No.”
Victor looked down.
“What?”
“That’s what Dominic wants.”
Victor stared.
Adrian pushed himself upright.
“The dinner wasn’t supposed to kill the board.”
Raymond whispered, “Then why eight?”
Adrian’s eyes moved to Molly.
“To make it look like Victor did.”
Nobody spoke.
Molly understood first.
“If seven board members die and Victor survives…”
“He becomes the obvious suspect,” Adrian said.
“And if Victor dies too?” Molly asked.
Adrian looked at the clock.
“Dominic inherits everything.”
Victor’s face turned stone cold.
The scheme had two possible outcomes.
Either Victor died before midnight and Dominic inherited the family empire.
Or Victor survived while seven powerful men died at his restaurant, destroying him publicly and legally.
Molly looked at Victor.
“You were never supposed to win.”
“No,” he said.
Adrian nodded weakly.
“Dominic spent fifteen years waiting for tonight.”
Molly frowned.
“Why fifteen years?”
Victor answered this time.
“Because fifteen years ago today, our father died.”
The room shifted.
Not physically.
Emotionally.
Molly suddenly understood this wasn’t only about money.
It was revenge.
Victor walked toward the dining room windows.
His reflection stared back at him.
For the first time, Molly saw something beneath his composure.
Pain.
“Everyone thinks I forced Dominic out,” he said.
“Did you?” Molly asked.
Victor turned.
“No.”
Adrian looked uneasy.
Victor continued.
“He killed someone.”
Molly waited.
“Our sister.”
Raymond lowered his head.
Victor’s voice remained even.
“Her name was Elena. She was twenty.”
Molly’s anger softened.
Victor looked away.
“Dominic was drunk. He drove. Elena was in the passenger seat. They crashed.”
“Did she die immediately?” Molly asked.
“No.”
Victor’s jaw tightened.
“She lived for two hours.”
Molly felt her throat close.
Victor continued.
“My father covered it up. Dominic was sent overseas. Publicly, Elena’s death was called an accident involving another driver.”
“And you?” Molly asked.
“I wanted the truth told.”
Adrian said quietly, “That destroyed the brothers.”
Victor gave a humorless smile.
“It destroyed everything.”
Molly understood why Dominic might hate him.
But none of it justified murder.
Sal returned.
“Dennis is gone.”
Victor turned sharply.
“How?”
“Delivery exit.”
“Camera?”
“Disabled.”
Victor looked toward Raymond.
“Who can disable the cameras?”
Raymond answered immediately.
“Dennis. Me. The owner.”
Victor’s eyes narrowed.
“I’m the owner.”
Raymond swallowed.
“And the previous owner.”
Molly frowned.
“Laurent?”
Raymond nodded.
“Claude Laurent still has administrative access. The transition paperwork isn’t finished.”
Victor looked at Sal.
“Find Laurent.”
Sal started dialing.
Adrian suddenly grabbed his chest.
Molly rushed over.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re not.”
Adrian’s breathing was shallow.
Molly touched his wrist.
His pulse raced.
“Call an ambulance.”
Victor nodded.
Sal made the call.
Adrian shook his head.
“No hospital.”
“You were kidnapped,” Molly said.
“That’s exactly why I can’t leave.”
“You can barely stand.”
“I know what Dominic is doing.”
Victor crouched again.
“Then tell me.”
Adrian looked around.
“Not here.”
“Why?”
Adrian’s eyes settled on the ceiling security camera.
“Because he can hear us.”
Everyone looked up.
A tiny red light blinked.
Victor stared at it.
Then the light turned off.
Sal swore.
Molly’s phone vibrated.
She looked down.
Unknown number.
A text message.
She opened it.
A photograph loaded.
Molly’s breath stopped.
It showed her apartment building.
Her mother was walking out the front entrance carrying groceries.
Timestamp: two minutes ago.
Below it were six words.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LET HIM EAT.
Molly’s hands went numb.
Victor saw her face.
“What?”
She handed him the phone.
His expression changed instantly.
“Sal.”
“I’m on it.”
Victor’s men moved.
Molly grabbed Victor’s arm.
“My mother lives alone.”
“She won’t be alone for long.”
“You don’t know where she—”
“I’ll find her.”
“How?”
Victor looked at her.
“Because this is what I do.”
Molly hated that answer.
Tonight, she was grateful for it.
Her phone vibrated again.
Another message.
This one contained no photograph.
Only an address.
An abandoned warehouse in Brooklyn.
Then another sentence appeared.
MIDNIGHT. BRING VICTOR ALONE.
Molly stared.
Victor read over her shoulder.
A third message arrived.
OR YOUR MOTHER TAKES HIS PLACE.
Molly looked up at Victor.
Before either could speak, Adrian whispered from behind them.
“That address…”
Victor turned.
“What about it?”
Adrian’s face had gone white.
“That’s where Elena died.”
Then every light in the restaurant went out.
May you like
In the darkness, the wine-cellar door slammed shut.
And from somewhere downstairs, a woman screamed Molly’s name.
