Chapter 3 – THE MAN IN THE SHADOWS

The rain was coming down harder now, soaking through my thin uniform blouse.

Frank immediately pushed me behind him. Despite his bad knee and his sixty-two years, he moved with the instinct of a man who had survived a violent life.

“Stay behind me, Lily,” he ordered.

Footsteps crunched on the gravel. A man stepped out of the darkness. He was tall, wearing a tailored overcoat, holding an umbrella.

It was Richard. Victoria’s brother.

“You always were too sentimental, Frank,” Richard said, stopping ten feet away. “It’s a liability.”

“What did you do to the gates, Richard?” Frank demanded.

“Just a minor security override. Victoria called me from the car. She’s upset. Nico embarrassed her tonight.” Richard smiled, though it didn’t reach his eyes. “And she told me it was all because of a little waitress who wouldn’t mind her own business.”

He looked at me. His eyes were cold.

“Give me the rosary, Lily.”

My hand tightened around the silver beads. “Why do you want it?”

“Because it doesn’t belong to you. It belongs to my sister.”

A reversal hit me like a physical blow.

“That’s a lie,” I said. “This was my father’s.”

“Was it?” Richard laughed softly. “Then ask Frank why Victoria’s mother gave it to Rachel this morning.”

I looked at Frank. His jaw was clenched tight.

“Don’t listen to him, Lily,” Frank said.

“Tell her, Frank,” Richard taunted. “Tell her why Victoria’s mother has been keeping tabs on the Parker family for fifteen years. Tell her why Lily really got this job.”

My heart pounded against my ribs. I looked at the old driver.

“Mr. Russo?” I whispered. “Did you get me this job?”

Frank didn’t look at me. “I was trying to keep an eye on you. To keep you safe.”

“Safe from what?”

Before Frank could answer, a bright beam of light sliced through the darkness. The roar of an engine shattered the quiet as a black SUV sped across the lawn, tearing up the grass, and slammed its brakes between us and Richard.

The driver’s door flew open.

Nico stepped out. He wasn’t wearing his suit jacket anymore, and he had a heavy steel crowbar in his hand.

“Richard,” Nico said, his voice cutting through the rain. “You have exactly three seconds to get off my property before I break both of your legs.”

Richard held up his hands, stepping back. “Just checking the perimeter, Nico. Like a good security chief.”

“One,” Nico said, gripping the crowbar.

Richard didn’t wait. He turned and walked quickly toward a dark sedan parked outside the locked gates.

Nico dropped the crowbar. He turned to me and Frank.

“Are you both alright?”

“We’re fine,” Frank said, though he was breathing heavily.

I wasn’t fine. I stepped away from both of them.

“You knew,” I said, looking at Nico. “You knew who I was when you hired me.”

Nico’s expression softened. “Lily…”

“My father went to prison for your family,” I said, holding up the rosary. “Victoria’s family betrayed him. And you put me in this house to wait on the woman whose family ruined my life?”

Nico stepped closer, the rain soaking his shirt.

“I didn’t know Victoria’s mother was involved until tonight,” Nico said quietly. “But I knew who you were. I promised your father I would make sure you and your brother were taken care of.”

“By making me a waitress?” I cried.

Nico reached into his car and pulled something off the passenger seat. He held it out to me.

It was a thick manila envelope.

“By keeping you close until you turned twenty-five,” Nico said. “Today is your birthday, Lily. Open it.”

I took the envelope with shaking hands. I tore it open.

Inside was a deed to a property in downtown Chicago. A commercial building.

And a bank statement in my name.

With a balance of two million dollars.

“Your father didn’t vanish,” Nico said softly. “He invested. And he made me swear not to give it to you until you were old enough to protect yourself from Victoria’s family.”

I stared at the numbers. My brother’s tuition. My mother’s house. It was all solved.

But as I turned the deed over, a small handwritten note fell out.

It was my father’s handwriting.

Lily, if Nico gives you this, it means I’m dead. Don’t trust Frank Russo.

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