Chapter 1 - The Whisper in the Hallway
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"Shh. Don't talk, Uncle Lorenzo. Follow me."
Mia's tiny hand wrapped around one of my fingers. Her grip was startlingly firm for a three-year-old, her skin warm and slightly sticky from whatever juice she had been drinking in the staff kitchen. I let her lead me.
I am Lorenzo Duca. Grown men have crossed crowded streets just to avoid meeting my eyes. Rival bosses have surrendered territory rather than risk a conversation with me in a dark room. Yet that crisp autumn afternoon, I found myself creeping through the sprawling corridors of my own mansion behind a toddler in a faded red skirt.
She stopped abruptly outside the master guest suite—the room currently occupied by Isabella, my mother, and frequented by Vivien. The heavy oak door was cracked open just an inch, spilling a narrow sliver of yellow light onto the marble floor.
Mia pointed a trembling finger at the gap.
I crouched beside her, bringing my ear level with the crack, and listened.
Inside, Elena, Mia's mother and one of my most reliable maids, stood pressed against the floral wallpaper, clutching a white linen towel to her chest as if it could serve as a shield. Vivien faced her.
My Vivien. The woman I had trusted with the inner workings of my estate. The woman I fully intended to marry in less than a month.
"You'll speak to Lorenzo tonight," Vivien said coldly, her voice entirely devoid of the sweet, melodic tone she used when speaking to me. "You'll tell him his mother approves of me."
Elena swallowed hard, her eyes wide with terror. "I can't lie to him, Miss Vivien. He will know."
Vivien stepped closer, invading the maid's personal space with predatory grace. "Then you'll leave this house without a reference. Nobody in this city will hire you after the Duca family dismisses you for theft."
Silence hung heavily in the room. Then Vivien said something that turned my blood completely cold.
"And Mia..."
Elena's face changed instantly, the color draining from her cheeks.
May you like
Vivien smiled, a sharp, ugly expression. "Children wander. Gates get left open. Cameras fail. Terrible things happen all the time, Elena."
Beside me, Mia pressed her small body closer to the doorframe, shrinking into the shadows. She had heard this exact tone before. That sudden, horrifying realization nearly broke whatever restraint I had left in my body.
