Chapter 6
Vittorio stopped a few feet away from the doorway. Lucy had stopped crying, her small hands tightly gripping Emma’s beige housekeeper uniform. Emma looked up at Vittorio, her dark-brown eyes wide with a mixture of profound relief and lingering anxiety.
Vittorio reached down and gently retrieved Emma’s smartphone from the floor. He didn't lock the screen; instead, he tapped the playback button again, his eyes narrowing as he analyzed the footage with the calculating precision of a Mafia boss.
He watched the video play from the very beginning. He noticed the angle. He noticed the steady, unmoving frame before Marcus ever closed the door, before Bianca ever placed her manicured hand on Lucy’s head. The recording hadn't been a panicked, spur-of-the-moment reaction.
Vittorio looked up from the screen, his intense gray eyes locking onto Emma’s delicate features.
"You were already recording," Vittorio stated, his voice a low, steady hum that carried a terrifying weight. "Before I walked in. Before the door closed. You were standing in the shadows, waiting for it to happen."
Emma swallowed hard, her arms tightening protectively around the little girl in her lap. "Yes, sir. I was."
"Why?" Vittorio asked, stepping closer. "Why were you waiting with your camera, Emma? Did you know what they were going to do?"
The breakfast room was dead silent, save for Bianca’s muffled sobs behind him. Emma looked down at Lucy, gently stroking the child's soft light-brown hair, before meeting the gaze of the most dangerous man in the city. Her chin trembled, but her eyes remained fiercely determined.
"Because this wasn’t the first time," Emma said, her voice shaking with restrained emotion.
Vittorio’s entire body seemed to freeze. The subtle tattoos on his chest contracted as he drew in a sharp, cold breath. "Explain."
"For the past three weeks," Emma began, a tear slipping down her cheek, "ever since you announced the engagement and started traveling more, she changed. Bianca... Ms. Sterling... she wouldn't let Lucy eat at the table. She fired the daytime nanny and told the staff it was to build a bond between them."
"And what did she actually do?" Vittorio demanded, the ice in his voice cracking to reveal a boiling, violent rage beneath.
"She locked her in the coat closet for hours," Emma confessed, the words rushing out. "She told Lucy that her mother died because Lucy was a bad girl. And the dog bowl... that started two days ago. I tried to tell the estate manager, but Marcus intercepted me. He threatened to have me deported, said he’d ruin my family if I spoke a word to you."
Vittorio slowly turned his head to look over his shoulder at Marcus, who was now desperately trying to crawl away from the shattered map rack.
"You thought," Vittorio said to Emma, though his lethal gaze was fixed entirely on Marcus, "that I wouldn't believe a housekeeper over my fiancée."
"Yes, Mr. Moretti," Emma nodded softly. "I needed undeniable proof. I had to protect her."
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Vittorio turned back to Emma. He knelt down gracefully, bringing himself to eye level with the young woman who had risked everything in his violent world to save his child. He reached out and gently took Lucy from Emma’s arms, holding his daughter tightly against his chest.
"You did," Vittorio whispered. "And you have my gratitude." He stood up, the warmth vanishing instantly as he turned back to the room. "But now, I require answers from them."
