Chapter 3

The lie hung in the air, suffocating and heavy.

Vanessa’s mouth opened, but no sound came out.

“Switzerland?” Mrs. Carter whispered from the doorway, her hand covering her mouth.

Luca stepped toward his fiancée. He wasn’t the polished billionaire anymore; he was the ruthless man who ran Chicago’s underworld.

“You forged my signature,” Luca read from the paper, his eyes blazing. “You enrolled my nine-year-old son in a disciplinary boarding school four thousand miles away. A facility that doesn’t allow family visitation for the first six months.”

Ethan grabbed my hand. He was trembling violently. “Daddy? Am I going away?”

Luca immediately softened, glancing down at his son. “Never, buddy. You are never leaving my side.”

He snapped his gaze back to Vanessa. “When was his flight?”

Vanessa burst into hysterical sobs. “It was for his own good! He needs specialized care, Luca! You coddle him! A boy in your position needs to be tough, and his allergy makes him weak!”

“His allergy makes him human!” Luca roared. It was the first time he had raised his voice, and the sound rattled the crystal glasses on the table.

“I was trying to protect our future!” Vanessa screamed back. “You can’t run an empire while playing nursemaid to a fragile child!”

“So you decided to exile him.”

“I was saving you from him!”

Luca stared at her as if looking at a monster. “Who is Victor Thorne?”

The name hit the room like a physical shockwave. Two of Luca’s private security guards at the door immediately stiffened, their hands drifting toward their jackets.

Vanessa froze, her tears instantly drying up. “W-what?”

Luca tapped the bottom of the contract. “Your signature is here as the stepmother. But the financial guarantor… the man paying the fifty-thousand-dollar tuition… is Victor Thorne.”

My blood ran cold. Even as a housemaid, I knew that name. Victor Thorne was the head of the rival family that controlled the port. He was the man suspected of ordering the hit on Luca’s warehouse three months ago.

“He’s… he’s just my financial advisor,” Vanessa stammered, her eyes darting toward the exits.

“Victor Thorne doesn’t balance checkbooks,” Luca said coldly. “Why is my enemy paying to send my son out of the country?”

Before Vanessa could invent another lie, Ethan tugged on my apron.

“Miss Nora?” Ethan whispered loudly enough for the silent room to hear.

“Yes, sweetie?” I asked softly, kneeling down to his eye level.

“Is Mr. Victor the man with the heavy coat?”

Luca’s head snapped toward his son. “What heavy coat, Ethan?”

Ethan pointed a small finger toward the grand hallway. “The man who gave Vanessa the papers yesterday. He smelled like cigar smoke. He gave her a really heavy black coat and told her to make sure I wore it when I went to sleep tonight.”

Vanessa let out a strangled, terrified gasp.

Luca’s face went deadly pale. He looked at his head of security. “Marcus. Check the guest closet.”

“No!” Vanessa screamed, lunging toward the hallway.

But Marcus was faster. He disappeared into the foyer and returned seconds later, carrying a massive, heavy black wool coat.

“Bring it here,” Luca ordered.

Marcus laid the coat over a dining chair. Luca reached into the deep inside pocket.

And pulled out a child-sized airplane ticket to Geneva. Scheduled for 11:30 PM tonight.

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