Chapter 9 – The Morning After

The estate was quiet the next morning.

Too quiet.

For ten months, my mornings had been a flurry of laundry carts, cleaning supplies, and avoiding Sloane’s sharp remarks.

Today, I woke up in a guest suite on the third floor.

Matteo had insisted.

I sat up and looked at the silk sheets, feeling entirely out of place.

I was wearing an oversized t-shirt I’d borrowed from one of the other maids.

I swung my legs out of bed and padded over to the window.

The manicured lawns of the DeLuca estate were pristine, bathed in crisp November sunlight.

There was no sign of the chaos, the mud, or the blood from the night before.

A soft knock came at the door.

“Come in,” I called.

The door opened, and Grace walked in.

She wasn’t wearing her plain navy uniform.

She wore a soft grey cashmere sweater and dark slacks.

She looked ten years younger.

She carried a silver tray with coffee and a croissant.

“Grace, you don’t have to serve me,” I said quickly, moving to take the tray.

Grace smiled, her eyes crinkling warmly.

“I’m not serving you, Emily. I’m bringing coffee to my friend.”

She set the tray on a small glass table near the window.

I sat down, pulling my knees to my chest.

“How is Rose?” I asked.

“Furious,” Grace chuckled. “The doctor told her to stay in bed for three days because of the bruise on her hip. She threw a pillow at him.”

I laughed.

It felt good to laugh.

“And Leo?” I asked, my voice softening.

Grace’s smile deepened.

“He is in the sunroom. Showing Antonio how to build a Lego spaceship. I haven’t seen Antonio smile like that since he was a teenager.”

I took a sip of the coffee.

It was perfect.

“What happens now, Grace?”

Grace sat in the chair across from me.

She looked out the window.

“Now, we heal. This family has been carrying ghosts for a long time. Antonio’s return… it changes everything.”

She looked at me.

“It changes things for Matteo, too.”

My heart did a strange, sudden flutter.

Matteo.

I thought about the way he had wrapped his heavy coat around me in the freezing rain.

The way he had stood between me and Sloane.

“Matteo is… different than I thought,” I said carefully.

Grace nodded.

“He had to become stone to survive this world. When Antonio ‘died,’ Matteo had to take over everything. The businesses. The family. The danger. He didn’t want it, Emily. He was studying to be an architect.”

I blinked in surprise.

“An architect?”

“Yes. But the DeLuca name is heavy. It crushes the people who wear it.”

She looked at me intently.

“But last night, when he looked at you… the stone cracked.”

I felt a flush creeping up my neck.

“He was just grateful I helped Leo.”

“He is a man who notices everything, Emily,” Grace said softly. “And he has noticed you.”

Before I could process that, my phone buzzed on the nightstand.

It was my younger brother, Sam.

I picked it up quickly.

“Sam?”

“Em! Where are you? The landlord said you didn’t come home.”

“I’m safe, Sam. Everything is fine. I’m at work.”

“Work? You sound weird. Did something happen?”

“A lot happened,” I said, looking at Grace. “But we’re moving.”

“Moving? Where?”

“To Lake Forest. Pack your things, Sam. We’re done struggling.”

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