Chapter 2 – THE ENVELOPE ON THE SILVER TRAY
The silence in the grand dining room was suffocating.Thirty-six of Chicago’s most influential people sat frozen beneath the crystal chandeliers, their dinner cooling on fine porcelain plates.
The only sound was the soft, broken weeping of a twenty-four-year-old expectant mother.Luca Moretti didn’t shout.
He didn’t slam his fist on the mahogany table.
For a man who controlled half the commercial real estate in the city, his stillness was infinitely more terrifying.He stared at the woman he was supposed to marry in two months.”Vanessa,” Luca repeated, his voice dropping to a low, lethal hum that made the fine hairs on my arms stand up. “What exactly have you been planning for my sister?”Vanessa Bellini swallowed hard.
The confident, mocking smile she had worn all evening was completely gone, replaced by a desperate, twitching panic.”Luca, darling, she’s hormonal,” Vanessa tried, forcing a small laugh that sounded more like a gasp. “She’s overwhelmed by the pregnancy.
I only suggested that perhaps a smaller, quieter environment would be better for a newborn than this massive estate.
She misunderstood my intentions.””She didn’t misunderstand,” I said softly.Vanessa’s head snapped toward me, her eyes flashing with pure, unadulterated venom. “Shut your mouth, Hannah.
You are a maid.””I am speaking,” Luca commanded, his dark eyes never leaving Vanessa. “Hannah, what do you know?”I gripped the back of Elena’s chair, my knuckles turning white.
I needed this job.
My brother was relying on me.
But looking at the tears on Elena’s cheeks, I couldn’t stay quiet anymore.”Mrs.
Bellini ordered the staff to begin boxing up Miss Elena’s room three days ago,” I said, my voice shaking but clear. “She told us the room was being repurposed into a private gym.”Luca closed his eyes.
A muscle feathered in his jaw.”Is this true, Vanessa?” he asked softly.”Luca, the room is completely unused!” Vanessa defended herself, stepping back as he took a slow step toward her. “Elena works all day!
She barely sleeps there!
I was trying to optimize the space for our future!””Our future,” Luca repeated bitterly.
He opened his eyes and looked at his sister. “Elena, where have you been sleeping if your room is being boxed up?”Elena looked down at the tiny white sweater in her hands.”Vanessa said… she said you needed the space,” Elena whispered. “She told me I could use the small room above the detached garage until I found a new apartment.”The entire dining room gasped.The detached garage was unheated, drafty, and completely isolated from the main house.
It was meant for storing seasonal landscaping equipment, not a seven-months-pregnant woman.”You put my pregnant sister in an unheated garage,” Luca said.
The words tasted like ash in his mouth.”It was temporary!” Vanessa shrieked, panic finally breaking through her anger. “She needed to learn independence, Luca!
You can’t coddle her forever!
Her baby’s father ran away because she’s so suffocating!”The sheer cruelty of the statement hit Elena like a physical blow.
She flinched, shrinking back into her chair.Luca’s restraint finally snapped.”Marco.”The name was spoken quietly, but instantly, a tall, heavily scarred man in a dark suit stepped out from the shadows near the dining room doors.
Marco was Luca’s head of security, and he moved with the terrifying grace of a predator.”Boss,” Marco said.”Take the ring,” Luca ordered.Vanessa froze, clutching her left hand to her chest. “What?
Luca, no!
You can’t do this!
We have a wedding in two months!””There is no wedding,” Luca said, his voice like ice. “Marco.”Marco stepped forward.
He didn’t ask.
He didn’t negotiate.
With a firm, bruising grip, he grabbed Vanessa’s wrist and efficiently pulled the massive diamond ring off her finger.”Get off me!” Vanessa screamed, thrashing wildly. “Luca, my father is a federal judge!
You humiliate me in front of these people, and he will tear your businesses apart!””Tell your father to try,” Luca said coldly. “Have her belongings packed and thrown onto the curb by midnight.
If she ever steps foot on my property again, break her legs.”Two more guards stepped in, grabbing Vanessa by the arms and dragging her out of the dining room.
Her furious, humiliated screams echoed down the grand hallway until the heavy front doors slammed shut, cutting her off completely.The dining room fell back into a stunned, heavy silence.Luca picked up the diamond ring Marco handed him and placed it casually on the table.
Then he turned back to his sister.The lethal mafia boss melted away instantly.
He knelt beside Elena’s chair again, gently wiping the tears from her cheeks with his thumbs.”I am so sorry, Elena,” Luca whispered, his voice cracking. “I didn’t know.
I swear to you, I didn’t know.”Elena leaned forward, burying her face in his shoulder, sobbing quietly. “I just wanted to come home, Luca.””You are home,” he promised fiercely, holding her tight. “And you are never leaving.”He looked up at me, still standing protectively behind her chair.”Hannah,” Luca said softly.I stood up straight. “Yes, Mr.
Moretti.””You risked your job tonight to protect my sister,” he said, his dark eyes studying my face. “You showed more loyalty to this family than the woman I was going to marry.””She didn’t deserve to be treated like that, sir,” I answered honestly.”No, she didn’t,” Luca agreed. “Tomorrow morning, you are being promoted to Head of Household.
Your salary is tripled.
And your brother’s rent?
Send the bills to my accountant.”I gasped, covering my mouth with both hands. “Mr.
Moretti…
I… thank you.
I don’t know what to say.””Say you’ll accept the job,” Luca smiled faintly.”I accept.
Thank you.”I thought the nightmare was over.
The villain was gone, the sister was safe, and my family was secure.But as Luca helped Elena stand up to take her to a comfortable room, she stopped.She reached into her handbag one more time.”Luca,” Elena said nervously. “There’s one more thing.”Luca frowned. “What is it, sweetheart?”Elena pulled out a thick, sealed white envelope.
It was unmarked, but it looked heavy.”Vanessa didn’t just tell me to leave,” Elena whispered, her hands shaking as she held the envelope out. “She came to the garage this morning.
She gave me this.”Luca took the envelope. “What is it?””She said it was from the baby’s father,” Elena cried softly. “She said he had contacted her.
That he wanted to pay me to leave Chicago before the baby was born.”Luca stared at the envelope.
The color completely drained from his face.”Elena…” Luca whispered, terrified. “The baby’s father didn’t run away.”Elena frowned, confused. “What do you mean?”
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Luca looked at the envelope, his hands trembling violently.”He didn’t run away,” Luca repeated, his voice dropping to a hollow, devastating whisper. “Because I paid a man to kill him seven months ago.”
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**“DON’T YOU DARE GIVE HER THAT CHAIR, HANNAH!
BEING PREGNANT DOESN’T MEAN SHE GETS SPECIAL TREATMENT!” THE MAFIA BOSS’S FIANCÉE HUMILIATED HIS 26-YEAR-OLD MAID FOR HELPING HIS SEVEN-MONTHS-PREGNANT SISTER SIT DOWN—BUT WHEN THE YOUNG WOMAN WHISPERED, “LUCA, I THOUGHT YOU DIDN’T WANT MY BABY IN YOUR FAMILY,” HE SLOWLY PUT DOWN HIS GLASS.**
