Some Lines Cannot Be Crossed Chapter 05

Some Lines Cannot Be Crossed Chapter 05

Friday, 2.30 p.m. Sunlight glinted off the chrome of the convoy. A beautiful day, the kind meant for new beginnings.

I intended to end this one very differently.

“Ms. Castillo, are you sure?” Mateo asked, his concern clear in the rearview mirror.

“I’m sure.” I smoothed the front of my simple dove-gray couture dress. Hair swept back. No jewelry. My authority was

my only ornament.

The ceremony’s at three.” Leo murmured beside me. “My son and his… bride… are already at the cathedral. The

guests have arrived.”

Then we shouldn’t keep them waiting.” I said.

The convoy of twelve identical black SUVS pulled away from the curb. St. Michael’s Cathedral was a Gilded Age

masterpiece. Today, it was draped in white orchids and white silk, a red carpet cascading down the steps like a movie set.

Pure fantasy.

No one expected us to arrive at this wedding like this.

The first SUV stopped at the curb, shattering the serene picture. Then the second. Then the third. The uniformed

valets froze mid-script. Guests clustered on the steps turned away from their conversations.

Mateo emerged first, all in black. He opened my door. I placed my hand in his and stepped out. Leo exited from the

other side and took his place on my left.

Together, they escorted me up the carpet. Behind us, doors opened in perfect synchrony. The Family Office members

stepped out, twenty of the most formidable men and women in the city, falling in behind me.

Whispers erupted, a frantic, rustling wave.

“Is that… Don Leo Castill?”

“Who’s the woman?”

“My God, is that the senior Consigliere? Elara Castillo?”

I thought she was dead!”

“What the hell is going on?”

The cathedral’s heavy oak doors were held open by a bewildered usher. We entered

Inside. the air was thick with luxurious anticipation Lilies and perfume Hundreds of guests filled the pews.

At the end of the aisle, an enormous portrait loomed over the soon-to-be couple, the playboy heir, Lorenzo Castill.

all charm and charisma, and beside him. Janice, airbrushed and draped in white satin, transformed into a radiant bride

Every head turned.

And there was Janice. She was laughing with a cluster of friends, drowning in layers of tulle and lace. Her laughter

died the moment she turned and saw me. Her face went absolutely white. The champagne glass slipped from her fingers

and shattered on the marble floor.

“Janice? Honey, what’s wrong?” one of her friends asked.

Her eyes were wide, pure terror flooding them.

I walked forward, stopping a few feet from her. Leo and Mateo flanked me on either side.

“We meet again,” I said.

“Elara. Her knees buckled. She collapsed to the floor, her wedding gown pooling around her like a deflated dream.

“I… I’m so sorry…” she choked out, her voice strangled. “Please… I was wrong…”

The people around her recoiled in horror, bewilderment hardening into fear.

Lorenzo burst through a side door, irritation twisting his features. “What the hell is going…?” He spotted us, and his

feet stopped dead. “Father?”

Then his gaze landed on me, and his tan face drained of color. “You? Why are you here?”

“Because I’m the Consigliere of this family.” I replied.

“No, that’s… impossible… Janice said…” His eyes darted between me and the sobbing woman on the floor.

“What did she say?” Leo’s voice rarely rose, but now it boomed through the cathedral. “What exactly did this snake

tell you?”

“She.. she said you were some lonely old woman… a tenant in my building… that you were… not well…”

“She also told you I was nobody. She told you locking me in a closet for three days with no food and no water was for

my own good. Isn’t that right?”

Lorenzo dropped his head.

I turned to Leo. He gave a slight nod.

I faced the congregation. The wedding is canceled. The Castillo family does not welcome thieves and liars”

“As for the rest of you.” My gaze swept over the crowd. The council convenes tomorrow As they say, big things are

coming

With that, I turned to leave. Leo and Mateo fell into step beside me. The entire council pivoted in unison, a line of

black suits filing out behind us.