Chapter 2 - Alessandro Discovered the Toddler Wasn't Wandering Into Sophia’s Nursery by Accident — She Was Following a Voice Only She Could HearBy morning, Alessandro had transformed the estate into a controlled operation.
Every corridor was monitored.
Every employee was questioned.
Nobody was allowed to mention the nursery incident.
Mia remained asleep in Elena's room.
Or so everyone believed.
At 8:15, Alessandro entered the staff wing.
Elena was making the bed.
She turned when she saw him.
“Sir?”
“Where's Mia?”
“Sleeping.”
Alessandro walked past her.
Mia was not sleeping.
She sat cross-legged on the floor, drawing with a blue crayon.
A crooked house.
Two adults.
Two children.
One woman with long dark hair standing above them.
Alessandro stopped.
“Who is that?”
Mia looked up.
She smiled.
“Your wife.”
Elena dropped the sheets.
“Mia.”
Alessandro's eyes moved to Elena.
“She knows?”
Elena shook her head quickly.
“No.”
“Then how?”
“I don't know.”
Mia returned to her drawing.
“She tells me.”
Alessandro crouched.
“You hear her?”
Mia nodded.
“What does she say?”
“She wants Sophia to be safe.”
His blood ran cold.
“Safe from what?”
Mia looked toward Elena.
Elena whispered:
“Don't.”
Mia stopped.
Alessandro stood.
“Elena.”
“I don't know what she's talking about.”
“You're lying.”
“I am not.”
He looked at Mia.
“What does she call you?”
“Tall daddy.”
Alessandro almost smiled despite himself.
“Why?”
“Because you're tall.”
He glanced at Elena.
“When did your daughter start talking about my wife?”
“She hasn't.”
Mia interrupted.
“She says her name is Isabella.”
Silence.
Elena closed her eyes.
Alessandro looked at her.
“Who are you?”
Elena shook her head.
“I told you.”
“No.”
His voice was low.
“I don't think you did.”
She stepped backward.
Mia stood.
“Mommy.”
Elena turned.
“It's okay.”
Mia walked toward Alessandro.
She held out her drawing.
“She says you're sad.”
Alessandro stared at the paper.
He couldn't remember the last time someone had drawn him into a picture.
He looked at the dead woman above him.
“She says you don't cry when people are looking.”
His chest tightened.
He stood.
“Where is my wife?”
Mia pointed toward the nursery.
“She is there.”
Alessandro turned.
He left.
Elena remained frozen.
Mia looked up.
“Mommy?”
Elena wiped her eyes.
“What?”
“Daddy knows now.”
Elena whispered:
“He was always going to.”
Inside the nursery, Alessandro stood in front of Sophia's crib.
The baby was awake.
She smiled at him.
Then looked toward the corner.
Alessandro followed her eyes.
Nothing.
His phone rang.
Richard.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“We found something in Elena's file.”
“Say it.”
“She was employed by Isabella before the marriage.”
Alessandro froze.
“How long?”
“Four months.”
“As what?”
“Nanny.”
Alessandro's grip tightened.
“How did she become a housekeeper?”
“She left the family shortly before Isabella died.”
“Why?”
“We're still digging.”
Alessandro looked at Sophia.
Something had been hidden from him.
And the hidden piece was standing beside his daughter every night.
He found Elena later that afternoon.
“You worked for Isabella.”
She looked at him.
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“She asked me not to.”
“What did she ask?”
“To protect Sophia.”
Alessandro's expression hardened.
“From whom?”
Elena hesitated.
“Your family.”
“My family?”
“Yes.”
“Which part?”
She looked toward the floor.
“Your father.”
Alessandro went still.
His father had died eight years earlier.
But the old man's influence still poisoned everything.
“What did he want?”
“Control.”
“Of what?”
Elena shook her head.
“I don't know.”
“You know more than that.”
“I was only her nanny.”
“Then why did Isabella trust you?”
Elena's eyes filled.
“Because she knew she was going to die.”
The words cut through the room.
Alessandro stared.
“Why?”
“She discovered something.”
“What?”
Elena looked at him.
“A secret account.”
“What kind?”
“One you didn't know existed.”
Alessandro's jaw tightened.
“Where?”
“She never told me.”
“Then what do you know?”
“She said if anything happened to her, Sophia couldn't stay here.”
His eyes narrowed.
“You knew she was in danger.”
“Yes.”
“And you did nothing.”
“I tried.”
“How?”
Elena pointed toward Mia's room.
“I took her.”
Alessandro froze.
“Took her where?”
“To my sister's house.”
“Then why did you return?”
Elena whispered:
“Because Isabella came back.”
Alessandro felt the room tilt.
“What?”
“She came to get Sophia.”
“She was dead.”
“I know.”
“Then how?”
Elena stared at him.
“She wasn't.”
His voice disappeared.
Elena continued:
“She told me she had to leave because someone inside the family was trying to kill her.”
“And then?”
“She disappeared.”
Alessandro looked toward the nursery.
“So the woman in the camera…”
Elena closed her eyes.
“I've seen her too.”
Silence.
The impossible became possible.
Or something much worse.
Alessandro went to Sophia's room.
Mia was there.
He opened the door.
The toddler looked at him.
“She came.”
“Who?”
“Your wife.”
“Where?”
Mia pointed beneath the crib.
Alessandro crouched.
Nothing.
He reached underneath.
His fingers touched a small object.
He pulled it out.
A silver locket.
Isabella's locket.
He knew it.
He had bought it for her on their second anniversary.
Inside was a photograph.
Alessandro and Isabella.
Young.
Happy.
On the back were two words.
Trust Elena.
He stared.
Then he saw another inscription.
Not Victor.
Victor was his uncle.
The man Alessandro had trusted with everything.
His security.
His accounts.
His father.
His family.
His empire.
And if Isabella had warned him not to trust Victor, then the danger had never been outside the mansion.
It had been inside.
That night, Alessandro installed more cameras.
Not to watch Mia.
To watch everyone else.
At 12:47, Mia appeared again.
She walked to Sophia.
She placed Mabel beside the baby.
Then she looked directly at the hidden camera.
“She says hurry.”
Alessandro watched.
Mia pointed toward the wall.
A panel opened.
A hidden passage.
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Someone had built a route directly into Sophia's nursery.
And someone had been using it.
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