Chapter 9 – THE NEW NORMAL

A month passed.

The Blackwood mansion felt completely different.

The dark, brooding silence that used to hang over the halls had been replaced by the sound of cartoons and little footsteps.

Leo was thriving.

The private doctors Sebastian hired had his asthma completely under control.

He had his own playroom filled with more toys than a toy store.

But his favorite thing to do was follow Sebastian around.

Sebastian, the feared mafia boss, spent his mornings sitting on the floor teaching a five-year-old how to build Lego castles.

Anna was adjusting.

It was hard for her to accept that she was a millionaire heiress after spending her life struggling to pay rent.

She still insisted on cooking dinner most nights, much to the private chef’s dismay.

I didn’t work as a maid anymore.

Sebastian had given me an office.

I was officially the Estate Manager, but really, I was Anna’s confidante and Sebastian’s most trusted advisor.

My mother was doing beautifully. The stress of the bills was gone.

But despite the peace, I noticed Anna seemed distracted.

She would stare out the window for hours.

She would run her fingers over the faded burn scar on her arm.

One evening, I found her in the library.

She was holding a small wooden box.

“What’s that?” I asked, sitting across from her.

She looked up.

“Arthur Sterling sent it to me. Before he died last week. It was in his will.”

Arthur had passed away quietly in his sleep.

He had kept his secrets to the grave, except for the ones he gave to us.

Anna opened the box.

Inside was a delicate gold locket.

It was tarnished and black with age.

“Arthur said he took this off me the night of the fire at the orphanage,” Anna whispered. “He kept it all these years.”

I leaned in.

“Open it.”

She pressed the tiny clasp.

The locket popped open.

Inside was a tiny, perfectly preserved photograph of a man and a woman holding a baby.

The man was Sebastian and Anna’s father.

But the woman wasn’t their mother.

I stared at the picture, a cold chill running down my spine.

“Anna,” I breathed. “That’s Camille’s mother.”

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