Chapter 2 - The velvet cage
The restaurant was dead silent. Maya felt the blood drain from her face as she looked down at the little girl with fair, rosy cheeks in her arms. She tried to process the child’s words, but her mind was completely blank.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” Maya said. “I think you have me confused with someone else.”
Dante stood up slowly. His pale gray eyes were no longer just exhausted; they were piercing, sharp, and focused entirely on Maya. He stepped so close that she could smell the expensive cedar and bergamot cologne radiating from his charcoal-black suit.
“Who are you?” Dante asked.
“Maya. Maya Bennett,” she answered. “I just work here. I don’t know your wife, sir.”
Tony rushed over, his dress shoes tapping urgently against the marble floor. He stepped slightly between Maya and Dante, offering a polite but strained smile.
“Mr. Russo, Maya is one of my best servers. She works double shifts. She doesn’t know anyone in your circles, I can assure you.”
“My daughter hasn’t spoken a single word in three days, Tony,” Dante said. “And the first thing she says is that this waitress knows where my missing wife is.”
“She’s just a child, sir,” Maya tried to explain. “She must be very tired.”
Dante reached out and gently took Sophia from Maya’s arms. Sophia whimpered slightly but allowed her father to hold her, burying her face into his broad shoulder. Dante looked back at Maya.
“You are coming with us,” Dante said.
“What? No, I can’t leave, I have three hours left on my shift,” Maya protested.
“Tony,” Dante said without looking away from Maya. “I am taking your waitress. Her shift is over. Permanently.”
“Mr. Russo, please,” Tony said nervously.
“I will compensate you for the inconvenience,” Dante said. “Maya, walk to the door. Now.”
Maya wanted to run, but the sheer authority in his voice left her feet glued to the floor. She looked at Tony, hoping her boss would stop this, but Tony simply looked at the ground, his expression defeated. Realizing she had no choice, Maya untied her black apron, tossed it onto a nearby table, and walked toward the exit, her heart hammering against her ribs.
Ten minutes later, Maya was sitting in the back of a luxury black SUV. The leather seats were pristine, and the tinted windows made the bright city lights blur into streaks of neon. Dante sat across from her, holding a sleeping Sophia in his lap. The ride was tense and silent. Maya kept her hands folded tightly in her lap, her chestnut-brown hair falling over her shoulders as she stared out the window.
The SUV pulled through a massive set of wrought-iron gates and drove up a winding driveway lined with bright green, perfectly manicured hedges. The estate was massive, built of pale stone with grand, sweeping windows that glowed warmly against the night sky.
“I really don’t know anything,” Maya said softly.
“We will find out soon enough,” Dante replied.
Inside the house, everything was bright and impeccably clean. Crystal chandeliers hung from vaulted ceilings, casting a warm glow over polished hardwood floors. Dante handed the sleeping Sophia to an older nanny who appeared silently from a hallway, then turned to Maya.
“My wife, Clara, vanished on Tuesday afternoon,” Dante said. “No luggage taken. No money withdrawn. She simply walked out of the garden and disappeared.”
“I don’t know a Clara,” Maya said honestly. “I work here at Bellanote at night, and I work at a small diner downtown during the day. That’s my whole life.”
Dante stepped closer, trapping her against the edge of a massive mahogany dining table. His eyes searched hers, looking for any sign of a lie.
“Then why did my daughter say that to you?” he asked.
“I don’t know!” Maya said.
Dante stared at her for a long moment, the tension between them thick and suffocating. Finally, he stepped back and pointed toward the grand staircase.
May you like
“You will stay in the guest room at the end of the hall. You are not leaving this house until I find out exactly how you fit into this.”
Maya watched him walk away, realizing with a cold knot in her stomach that she was no longer a waitress. She was a prisoner in a very beautiful, very dangerous velvet cage.
