Chapter 3 - The Woman Who Had Been Hiding My Daughter
Lily adjusted to the mansion faster than anyone expected.
By the second day, she had discovered the library.
By the third, she had named one of the security dogs Thunder.
By the fourth, she had convinced Rafael to teach her how the cameras worked.
By the fifth, she had announced that my office needed flowers.
“No.”
“Why?”
“It's a man's office.”
“Men can't have flowers?”
I looked at her.
“I suppose they can.”
“Then flowers.”
She won.
That was how my life changed.
A little girl walked into my home and somehow rearranged it without raising her voice.
But the real changes happened between me and Isabella.
She no longer called me Mr. Moretti.
She called me Alessandro.
Only when we were alone.
Every time she did, I remembered the alley.
Her hands covered in my blood.
Her terrified eyes.
The fact that she had carried my child alone.
One evening, she stood in the kitchen preparing tea.
“You're still working?”
“Yes.”
“You don't have to.”
“I run a criminal empire.”
She looked at me.
“Not all of it.”
I smiled.
“You've been reading my files.”
“I work in your house.”
“That doesn't answer the question.”
She shrugged.
“People talk.”
“They do.”
“Then you know.”
“Know what?”
“That I don't like being around weapons.”
I glanced at the gun on my belt.
“I can lock it away.”
Her eyes softened.
“You would?”
“For you.”
She looked away.
“Don't make it easy.”
“What?”
“Caring.”
I stared at her.
“Why?”
“Because people I care about tend to disappear.”
The words landed heavily.
Before I could answer, the lights went out.
Lily screamed upstairs.
I moved instantly.
“Stay here.”
I grabbed my weapon.
Isabella grabbed my arm.
“Alessandro.”
“Stay.”
She shook her head.
“Not without Lily.”
We ran.
The emergency lights flickered on.
A security alarm sounded.
Rafael appeared from the hallway.
“Boss!”
“Where?”
“Nursery.”
We reached Lily's room.
The window was open.
The bed was empty.
My blood froze.
“Lily!”
Nothing.
Isabella screamed.
I tore through the room.
Closet.
Bathroom.
Under bed.
Nothing.
Then a small voice came from behind the curtains.
“Daddy?”
I pulled them apart.
Lily was hiding there.
She leaped into my arms.
I held her tightly.
“Who told you to hide?”
“You.”
“What?”
“Before bedtime.”
I looked at Isabella.
She covered her mouth.
Lily pointed toward the window.
“A man was there.”
My blood turned cold.
“What man?”
“He had a snake tattoo.”
Rafael went still.
“Red Serpent.”
I looked at him.
“You know them.”
“Yes.”
I looked at Lily.
“What did he do?”
“He looked at me.”
“Did he come inside?”
She shook her head.
“He left when I hid.”
I hugged her.
“You did exactly right.”
She whispered:
“I was scared.”
“So was I.”
She looked at me.
“You don't look scared.”
I smiled faintly.
“That's because I'm pretending.”
She giggled.
Later, Isabella sat with Lily while I went through the security footage.
At 11:18 p.m., the camera outside the nursery had been cut.
At 11:20, a figure appeared in the garden.
At 11:21, the figure disappeared.
No entry.
No exit.
Someone had disabled the cameras from inside.
That meant the traitor was in the house.
Rafael placed the image on the screen.
“Could be someone with access.”
“How many?”
“Seventeen.”
“Start eliminating.”
He nodded.
Then he froze.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“Look.”
A second image appeared.
The person in the garden wasn't wearing a mask.
The face was clear.
I recognized him immediately.
Marco Bellini.
One of my senior guards.
He had worked for me for eleven years.
I stared.
“Find him.”
Marco's quarters were empty.
His gun was gone.
His phone was gone.
His family photograph remained on the desk.
Rafael looked disturbed.
“He's been loyal.”
“No.”
I looked at the screen.
“He's been pretending.”
Then Isabella entered.
She carried Lily.
“Alessandro.”
“What?”
“My mother left me something.”
She placed a small envelope on the desk.
I looked at it.
“Why now?”
“Because she died six months ago.”
I frowned.
“You never mentioned a mother.”
“She didn't want me to.”
“What is this?”
“A letter.”
I opened it.
Three paragraphs.
One sentence stood out:
THE MAN WHO ATTACKED ALESSANDRO MORETTI WAS NOT SENT BY KOVALENKO.
I looked at Isabella.
“Who was he?”
“My mother's handwriting says he worked for someone inside your father's organization.”
“My father's?”
She nodded.
“Your father built more than a business.”
“I know.”
“He built alliances.”
“And enemies.”
“Yes.”
“What's the name?”
She swallowed.
“Matteo Moretti.”
I froze.
My father's older cousin.
A man who had disappeared after my father's death.
A man everyone assumed had been killed.
I stared at Isabella.
“My family has been searching for him for fifteen years.”
“He was never far away.”
“What does he want?”
“The same thing your father tried to keep.”
“What?”
Isabella looked at Lily.
“Your family.”
I understood.
The enemy wasn't after territory.
He was after blood.
Lily was a Moretti.
And I had just made her public by acknowledging her.
The next morning, Matteo sent a message.
One line.
YOU HAVE SOMETHING THAT BELONGS TO ME.
I read it twice.
Then another message arrived.
THE GIRL.
My entire body went cold.
I showed it to Isabella.
She looked terrified.
“He knows.”
I nodded.
“About Lily?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
She whispered:
“Because he has known about her since she was born.”
My blood ran cold.
“You said nobody knew.”
“I was wrong.”
“Who told him?”
She looked at me.
“I think it was me.”
I stared.
“How?”
“When I first took the maid job.”
I didn't understand.
She continued.
“I didn't come here only for money.”
“You came to watch me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To see whether you were safe enough for Lily.”
“And?”
She looked at me.
“I saw the same thing I saw eight years ago.”
May you like
“What?”
“You were still surrounded by people you trusted too much.”
