Betrayed at the Altar, I Married a Powerful Rival novel · Chapter 20 of 24

Chapter 20: The Peace Dinner

The Ruggeri dining room could seat forty, and Ruggeri had put twenty-two at the table.

I walked in on Federico's arm at eight o'clock sharp, with my hand on my stomach and a black notebook in my bag.

Paola walked in behind me with a bruise under one eye, and nobody said a word about it.

The chairman sat at the middle of the long side with two elders on either hand.

They nodded to Federico, and they nodded to me.

Ruggeri rose from the head of the table and spread his arms.

"My dear Gianna," he said. "How well you look. Sit, sit. I want the whole room to see the Orsini heir."

I did not answer.

Valentina sat at his right in a plain gray dress, with her hair loose and a cut on her lip she hadn't had at the clinic.

She wore ordinary black flats.

She didn't look at me.

At the far end of the table, Teresa sat in a black dress with her hands folded in front of her.

The little gold cross hung against her collarbone.

Dario's chair, beside hers, was empty.

Federico drew mine out, and I sat down with a hand under my belly.

The baby kicked, hard, and settled.

"A toast," Ruggeri said, and a servant filled glasses down the table. "To peace. To the Commission's wisdom, and to the family that has judged us fairly."

Nobody drank.

The chairman set down his empty hands.

"Mr. Ruggeri," he said. "You invited us to a peace. A peace is sworn on the truth, so it will be heard first."

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