Spare no details

Spare no details
Luca's POV

The others collapsed into chaos. The screaming and wailing instantly reduced, replaced with everyone begging. Their heads hitting the floor as they pleaded for their lives.

“Boss..."

“Please...”

They still cried, but they weren't as loud as before.

They were sensible now... Better.

“In the next five seconds,” I said, lowering the gun slightly, my finger steady on the trigger, “I will kill two more of you. Starting now.”

The fear finally broke them.

Five...

Four...

Three...

“Boss!” one cried. She left the crowd and fell at her feet, just few steps away from me.  “M... Mr. Morretti… t...he maid who cooked the soup isn’t in the mansion anymore. P..Please…”

My jaw tightened.

What?

That means they knew the maid.

How dare... I glared at the older maid who cane forward, my hands holding the gun tightened. "Who ordered her to make it?”

No answer came quickly enough.

It was as though they were scared of revealing the person's name.

I knew they couldn't have acted on their own... They just couldn't.

Their silence got me irritated, I raised the gun towards the maid who came forward, I gritted my teeth again.

I hated to repeat myself, but this people... they were pushing me to my limits. I exhaled, before raising my tone. “WHO ORDERED HER TO MAKE..."

“Ms V... Viola!” another screamed. “It was Ms Viola, Mr. Morretti!”

Viola?

The name echoed in my head, sharp and dissonant.

No.

This... this just didn’t fit.

Something about it felt wrong.... careless, sloppy.

Viola? How could she have done something so stupid at a time like this? Did she really know about the pregnancy already?

The younger maid who blurted out made her wys to the front and next next to the older one, both crying.

She was shivering more than the older one.

I changed the direction of the gun, pointing it at her while forcing myself to inhale slowly, evenly. I couldn't afford to lose my temper here, or now.

I had taken alcohol just fee moments ago, it was starting to work against my body.

I couldn't strain myself.

“Stand up and explain,” I said clenching my jaw. “Spare no details. Or else...”

The elderly maid looked towards the younger one next to her, as though silently begging her not to day anything. But the younger maid shook her head.

She loved her life too much to take that risk... Smart.

Then she turned away from the elderly maid who kept glaring at her and then stood up but kept her head bowed.

Her voice was still sounded terrified and it shook most of the times, but she was still coherent. “Ms V... Viola came to the kitchen a while ago” she said, voice cracking, “... and asked which food was best for a pregnant woman.”

Pregnant.

The word sliced through me.

That meant she knew.

She knew about Aria's pregnancy!

But... But how? How did she find out so quick?

Was it the old doctor?

No... I mentally shook my head.

Doctor C would never betray me like that, never.

He was one of the handful of people I knew were very loyal.

So... Did shs guess it after noticing the symptoms back when Aria was at the dungeon? Or...

The thought suddenly rushed to my head.

That bloody young doctor!

I didn't shut him up properly.

He could hafe actually known what he wa doing and figured out Aria was pregnant, Viola... She must hace tracked Jim.

'Fuck...'

I inwardly cursed shutting my eyes.

This was on me.

I opened my eyes after a while, they were a lot calmer. Then I inhaled before nodding at the maid. "Continue."

My calm voice made the maid shake, but she vigorously nodded in fright before going ahead with her explanation. “L...Lina suggested porridge,” she continued hurriedly, “and Ms Viola asked that we make it for her.”

Lina?

"One of the maid in the kitchen." The old maid chipped, noting my confusion regarding the name.

The younger maid nodded, as though agreeing to what her superior said. “S...she thought it would be Ms Viola drinking the soup,” the older maid added quickly. “We all did. After the wedding news..."

Wedding news?

“Keep fucking explaining.”

The curse slipped out low and lethal.

What did my wedding with Viola have to do with any of this?

“Ms Viola… we don’t like her,” the elderly woman admitted, she also stood up to stand next to the younger maid who almost couldn't control her trembling now. “None of us do. We know it’s not our place, but after the wedding news spread, we were afraid she would control the household.”

My grip tightened.

That was none of their bloody business!

They had no right to just chose for me the way they did.

The more she spoke, the angrier I became.

I was starting to see the full picture, and it was so annoying how stupid the real reason was.

“A servant was slapped by her a few days ago,” the woman continued, voice barely audible now. “It was the same servant she asked about the soup. Lina.”