Chapter 3 - The torn photograph
The underground study of the Duca estate was soundproof, heavily armored, and entirely off-limits to everyone except Lorenzo and his most trusted capos. The air smelled of aged bourbon and expensive leather. Lorenzo stood behind his massive oak desk, looking at the man sitting across from him.
Marco was his underboss, a ruthless man with a scar running down his neck. He tossed a thin manila folder onto the desk.
That is everything we could find on the maid, Marco said, his voice grim. And when I say everything, I mean absolutely nothing.
Lorenzo opened the folder. Inside were a few standard employment papers, a basic background check, and a social security number. It looks completely normal, Marco.
That’s the problem, Marco replied, leaning forward. It’s too normal. The social security number was issued six months ago. The references are ghost companies that don't exist. Whoever she is, someone with immense federal or syndicate power scrubbed her existence from the world and planted her in your house.
Lorenzo stared at the grainy ID photo of Elena attached to the file. Why would a rival syndicate plant a spy as a maid, only to have her act like a terrified victim?
Unless she isn't a spy, Marco suggested. Unless she is hiding from them, and this house is the only place they wouldn't dare look.
Lorenzo closed the folder. Find out who erased her. I don't care how much it costs or who you have to bribe. I want her real name.
Meanwhile, in the sprawling laundry room of the estate, the warm scent of fresh linen was suffocated by the heavy perfume of Vivien. Elena was folding small, yellow dresses when the blonde woman walked in, closing the heavy wooden door behind her.
Elena kept her head down, her heart accelerating into a frantic rhythm.
You are running out of time, little mouse, Vivien purred, walking slowly around the large folding table. The council meets on Friday. If Lorenzo does not announce our engagement at the charity gala, I will make the phone call.
Elena gripped the edge of the table, her knuckles turning white. I am trying. I told him he needs a wife. I told him Mia needs a mother of high standing. He doesn't listen to a maid.
Then try harder, Vivien snapped, her elegant facade dropping into pure cruelty. Slip into his bed if you have to. Play the pathetic, desperate servant. I don't care how you do it. But if you fail, the Moretti family will find out exactly where the woman who stole their bloodline is hiding.
Elena choked back a sob. If you tell them, they will kill me. And they will take Mia.
Vivien smiled, a chilling, dead expression. They can have you. And once I am married to Lorenzo, I will personally hand the child over to them as a peace offering to end the turf war. Lorenzo will think it was a tragic kidnapping. Everyone wins. Except you.
Elena pulled a small burner phone from her apron pocket. She slammed it onto the table. I will show him this. I will show him the threatening messages you sent me. I will tell him everything.
Vivien laughed, a cold, mocking sound. Tell him. Tell the mafia boss that the maid he hired is actually the woman he had a drunken, anonymous one-night stand with four years ago. Tell him you hid his daughter from him for a year before the Moretti cartel hunted you down. Tell him you abandoned the baby at his gate like a coward and forged your way into his house. Do you think a man like Lorenzo Duca will forgive you for stealing the first three years of his daughter's life? He will put a bullet in your head himself.
Elena collapsed against the table, her strength entirely gone. Vivien picked up the burner phone, dropping it into a bucket of bleach nearby. The plastic fizzed and died.
May you like
Friday, Elena. Make him put the ring on my finger, or you both die. Vivien turned and swept out of the room.
Elena slid down the cabinets to the cold tile floor, pulling a torn, faded photograph from her pocket. It was a picture of a younger Lorenzo, taken secretly from across a crowded bar years ago. She pressed it to her chest, weeping for the man she had loved from the shadows, and the daughter she was about to lose forever.
