Chapter 4 - THE GILDED CAGE AND THE WOLF’S VESTIBULE
The private wing of the hospital was unlike anything I had ever seen.
It smelled of lilies and expensive floor wax.
My mother was asleep in a bed that looked more like a cloud than a piece of medical equipment.
Her breathing was steady.
The machines were quiet, sophisticated, and life-giving.
A doctor came in and told me the prognosis was good.
With the new treatment, she could be home in a month.
I sat by her side and cried for the second time that day.
But these weren't tears of despair.
They were tears of relief so deep it felt like my soul was being washed.
Two days later, a car arrived to take me back to the mansion.
I didn't go back to the servant’s quarters.
David led me to a suite on the second floor.
It was a room filled with books, soft silks, and a view of the sprawling gardens.
“Mr. DeLuca will see you for dinner,” David informed me.
I spent the afternoon soaking in a tub that was larger than my entire bathroom at home.
I looked at the bruises in the mirror.
They were fading.
The purple was turning to a pale yellow.
But the memory of the night in the kitchen was as sharp as ever.
When the clock struck seven, I walked down the grand staircase.
I wasn't wearing my uniform.
David had left a simple, elegant black dress on my bed.
I felt like an imposter.
I felt like a maid playing dress-up in a queen’s castle.
Carmine was waiting in the dining room.
The table was set for two.
He looked up from a stack of papers, his expression unreadable.
“You look better, Ivy,” he said.
“Thank you, sir. For everything.”
“Sit,” he commanded, gesturing to the chair opposite him.
We ate in a silence that was surprisingly comfortable.
He didn't ask me to serve him.
He didn't treat me like a subordinate.
“Rocco is gone,” he said suddenly, halfway through the meal.
“Gone where?” I asked, though I already knew the answer.
“Somewhere he can never touch you again. Somewhere he can never touch anyone again.”
He leaned back, his dark eyes fixed on mine.
“My men thought I was distracted by the new mergers.”
“They thought I had stopped paying attention to the details of my own home.”
“Rocco was a symptom of a larger problem.”
I looked at my plate. “I never wanted to cause trouble.”
“You didn't cause it, Ivy. You exposed it.”
He reached across the table and placed his hand near mine.
He didn't touch me, but I could feel the heat radiating from him.
“I’ve spent my life surrounded by people who want something from me.”
“Money. Power. Blood.”
“You were the only one who wanted nothing but to do your job and save your mother.”
“That kind of loyalty is rare. And I reward it.”
I looked up at him, my heart racing again.
“What happens now?”
“Now,” Carmine said, a ghost of a smile touching his lips.
“You decide what you want to be.”
“The invisible maid is dead, Ivy.”
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“Who do you want to be tomorrow?”
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