Chapter 3 - The Cruelest TrickEllie Bennett entered the Valenti mansion the next morning wearing a yellow backpack, mismatched socks, and the expression of a child determined not to be impressed by rich people.
Mrs. Russo gave her the official list.
No running indoors.
No entering Dante’s office.
No electronics at meals.
Homework before games.
Lights out at nine.
The boys violated all five before lunch.
Mara found Luca racing a remote-control truck through the dining room, Leo watching videos under the table, and Nico attempting to pick the lock on Dante’s office.
She leaned against the wall.
“You know there’s a camera directly above you?”
Nico didn’t look up.
“Dad doesn’t watch every camera.”
“Somebody does.”
“Mr. Briggs is asleep after lunch.”
Mara looked toward the security room.
“Interesting.”
Nico stopped.
“You’re not telling?”
“No.”
He narrowed his eyes.
“Why not?”
“Because unsuccessful crime is its own punishment.”
The lock clicked.
Nico grinned.
Then the office alarm shrieked.
Red lights flashed.
A steel security door slammed down at the end of the hall.
Nico jumped so violently he dropped the lock pick.
Mara folded her arms.
“And there it is.”
Luca and Leo appeared around the corner.
“What happened?”
“Nico has been defeated by basic electronics.”
“I almost had it.”
Mara picked up the improvised lock pick.
It was a straightened hairpin.
“You’re using the wrong tool.”
Nico stared.
“You know how to pick locks?”
“No.”
“You just said—”
“I know enough to recognize that you don’t know either.”
Mrs. Russo hurried toward them.
Behind her came a large security chief named Briggs.
“What did you do?” he demanded.
Nico lifted his chin.
“Nothing.”
“Sir, he triggered Mr. Valenti’s office alarm.”
Mara stepped forward.
“He was trying to open the door.”
Briggs glared.
“Same thing.”
“No. Opening and attempting to open are different outcomes.”
Briggs stared at her.
“Whose side are you on?”
Mara looked down at Nico.
“The side that makes sure he understands consequences.”
For the first time, Nico looked uncertain.
Briggs reset the alarm.
“Mr. Valenti will deal with him tonight.”
“That seems inefficient.”
Briggs nearly choked.
“Excuse me?”
“If punishment is delayed, children disconnect it from the behavior.”
“You’re telling me how Mr. Valenti should raise his sons?”
“No. I’m telling you how children work.”
Briggs took one intimidating step closer.
Mara had dealt with debt collectors, angry landlords, one violent parent at a preschool, and an ex-husband who could turn any room into a battlefield.
Large men didn’t impress her anymore.
“What would you suggest?” Briggs asked sarcastically.
Mara handed Nico a cleaning cloth.
“He cleans every fingerprint off the hallway glass.”
Nico’s mouth fell open.
“What?”
“Then you’re giving me the lock pick.”
“No.”
“Then you can explain to your father why you were carrying burglary tools.”
Nico surrendered it.
Luca laughed.
Mara handed him a second cloth.
“What’s this for?”
“Enjoying someone else’s consequences.”
“That’s not fair!”
“Excellent observation.”
Leo backed away.
Mara handed him a third cloth.
“I didn’t do anything!”
“You came running because you wanted to watch.”
“That’s not a crime!”
“No. But I need the windows cleaned.”
Mrs. Russo turned away to hide a smile.
By three o’clock, Mara understood why the previous nannies had fled.
The triplets weren’t merely difficult.
They were organized.
At 3:07, Leo convinced her there was a snake in the laundry room.
There wasn’t.
At 3:24, Luca switched sugar and salt while Mara baked cookies.
At 4:03, Nico hid her handbag.
At 4:40, all three vanished.
That was the first time Mara became frightened.
She searched bedrooms.
Nothing.
Game room.
Nothing.
Library.
Empty.
Her stomach tightened.
“Luca!”
No answer.
“Leo?”
Silence.
“Nico?”
She ran downstairs.
Mrs. Russo looked up from arranging flowers.
“What is it?”
“I can’t find them.”
The housekeeper remained calm.
“They do this.”
“For how long?”
“Until the nanny panics.”
Mara stopped.
Of course.
Another test.
She inhaled slowly.
Then she walked into the kitchen.
“Mrs. Russo, do they like pizza?”
“Very much.”
“Can you help me?”
Twenty minutes later, the scent of homemade pizza drifted through the mansion.
Mara placed four plates at the kitchen island.
One for herself.
Three empty.
Then she sat down and ate.
Five minutes passed.
Ten.
At twelve minutes, a pantry door opened one inch.
Mara kept eating.
At fourteen, Leo crawled out from behind the curtain.
“Is that pepperoni?”
“Yes.”
“Where’s ours?”
“I assumed you had left the property.”
“We didn’t.”
“You vanished.”
“We were hiding.”
“Ah.”
She took another bite.
“So you’re safe.”
“Yes.”
“Wonderful.”
Luca appeared.
“So can we eat?”
Mara considered.
“That depends.”
“On what?”
“Whether the missing third brother is alive.”
A vent cover shifted.
Nico’s face appeared inside the wall.
“I’m alive.”
“Good.”
She cut three slices.
The boys approached suspiciously.
“You’re supposed to freak out,” Luca said.
“I did.”
“You didn’t look scared.”
“Being scared and acting stupid are different things.”
That quieted them.
Mara sat.
“Here’s a new rule.”
“We don’t do rules,” Nico announced.
“You do this one.”
“Why?”
“Because if I can’t find you, I can’t protect you.”
Luca rolled his eyes.
“From what?”
Mara looked around the enormous mansion.
“Hopefully nothing.”
Something in her tone made the boys listen.
“If you hide,” she continued, “you leave me a clue showing you’re still inside the house.”
Leo looked intrigued.
“Like a scavenger hunt?”
“Exactly.”
Nico smiled.
“That could be fun.”
“Great. Then we have a deal.”
They bumped fists.
That evening, Dante returned home at 8:16.
Mara knew because every employee seemed to straighten when his car entered the driveway.
He found her in the library.
She was sitting on the carpet.
Three boys were asleep around her.
Luca’s head rested against her knee.
Leo was curled beneath a blanket.
Nico lay beside an open book about airplanes.
Dante stopped in the doorway.
Mara looked up.
“They fought bedtime.”
“I can see that.”
“They lost.”
“That I can’t.”
His sons never slept outside their rooms.
Not since Elena died.
Dante stepped closer.
“What did you give them?”
“Pizza.”
“I meant sedatives.”
Mara smiled.
“No sedatives.”
He looked at the boys.
“They’ve been through seven nannies.”
“I heard.”
“They will try harder tomorrow.”
“I assumed.”
Dante’s gaze went to her handbag on the table.
“You said you had thirty-seven dollars.”
Mara’s smile faded.
“I shouldn’t have.”
“Why?”
“Because money makes people uncomfortable.”
“Not me.”
“That’s because you have it.”
That almost made him smile.
Almost.
“Why are you broke?”
Mara stood carefully without waking Luca.
“That’s not part of the employment interview.”
“It is now.”
She met his eyes.
“My husband died eighteen months ago.”
Dante’s expression changed.
“He left debt. Medical bills. A business loan I didn’t know he’d guaranteed personally.”
She paused.
“I lost the house three months ago.”
“I’m sorry.”
The words sounded strange coming from him.
Mara nodded.
“My daughter and I are staying with my sister.”
“You have a daughter?”
“Ellie. Seven.”
“You didn’t mention her.”
“You didn’t ask.”
Dante’s jaw tightened slightly.
Something about that answer bothered him.
Not because she had hidden anything.
Because the woman had walked into his house with thirty-seven dollars and a child depending on her, yet she had never begged.
Never played for sympathy.
Never asked for an advance.
“Bring her tomorrow,” he said.
Mara blinked.
“What?”
“You’re here twelve hours a day. Your daughter shouldn’t lose her mother because my sons need one.”
The sentence hung between them.
Dante seemed to regret the wording instantly.
Mara looked at the sleeping triplets.
“They have a mother.”
Dante’s face became stone.
“She’s dead.”
“I know.”
“Then what did you mean?”
Mara lowered her voice.
“They still have a mother. She’s just not here.”
Dante stared at her.
No one spoke about Elena in this house.
Not employees.
Not friends.
Not family.
Especially not in front of the boys.
Two years ago, Elena Valenti had died in a car bombing meant for Dante.
The official report called it an accident.
The Valenti family knew better.
Dante carried the truth like a bullet lodged behind his ribs.
Mara looked at Luca.
“Children don’t stop loving someone because they died.”
Dante’s voice turned cold.
“You don’t know anything about my family.”
“No.”
“Then don’t pretend you do.”
He walked away.
Mara watched him disappear down the hallway.
She thought she had crossed a line.
She didn’t know that upstairs, behind the library balcony, Nico was awake.
He had heard every word.
And for the first time in two years, someone had said something about his mother that didn’t make him feel like remembering her was forbidden.
That night, Nico went into his bedroom and opened a hidden box beneath his bed.
Inside was a photograph.
A beautiful dark-haired woman holding three newborn boys.
On the back, someone had written:
My three miracles. Never let fear turn you cruel.
Nico stared at those words for a long time.
Then he made a decision.
Tomorrow, he and his brothers were going to give Mara the cruelest test yet.
May you like
Not because they wanted her to leave.
Because they desperately needed to know whether she would stay.
Related Stories
