Chapter 2 - The Child Who Saw Too MuchLily Delgado had no idea that three hundred adults inside the Moretti mansion were pretending.
Pretending to celebrate.
Pretending to smile.
Pretending the woman in the red dress loved the man everyone feared.
She understood only what faces told her.
And faces rarely lied as well as mouths.
The three-year-old slipped through the kitchen door with Hopper tucked beneath one arm. The ballroom floor vibrated beneath her bare feet from music she could not hear. Golden light spilled across marble. Dresses moved like bright waves around her, and black shoes crossed in every direction.
No one noticed her.
To the guests, she was part of the staff’s invisible world.
To Lily, that made her free.
She followed her mother.
Rosa stood near the champagne table, replacing empty glasses while carefully avoiding Vivian Duca.
Lily saw her mother’s shoulders.
Tight.
Too tight.
Mama scared.
She knew that posture.
Rosa used the same body when strangers knocked too late at night.
Lily moved behind a silk curtain beside the terrace doors.
From there, she saw Vivian.
She also saw Luca Romano.
Vivian approached him when Alessandro turned away to speak with an elderly judge.
Luca did not touch her.
He did something worse.
He looked at her like he belonged to her.
Vivian’s lips moved.
Lily could not read them.
But she saw Luca shake his head.
Vivian smiled.
Then her hand brushed the inside of his wrist.
Luca’s fingers closed around hers for less than a second.
Lily squeezed Hopper.
Something bad.
She did not know why.
She only knew Mama had once told her that people who hid touching were usually hiding more.
Then Vivian moved toward a waiter.
Her expression changed instantly.
Warm.
Elegant.
Polite.
She took two glasses from his tray.
She placed one on a side table.
From a small silver case hidden in her palm, she removed something tiny.
Lily leaned forward.
Vivian dropped the object into the wine.
It disappeared.
Lily’s eyes widened.
Vivian stirred the drink once with the stem of a cocktail spoon.
Then she carried it to Alessandro.
Drink, she mouthed.
Lily’s heart began pounding.
She knew that sign.
Drink.
But Vivian had put something inside.
Bad.
Poison was not a sign Lily used often.
Her mother had taught it after Lily tried to touch a bottle of cleaning solution beneath the sink.
Poison meant danger.
Poison meant never.
Poison meant Mama’s face becoming very serious.
Lily looked for Rosa.
Her mother had disappeared through the servants’ corridor.
So Lily followed Alessandro.
He stepped onto the terrace alone.
Vivian returned to the ballroom.
The wind lifted Lily’s curls as she pushed open the heavy door.
Alessandro raised the glass.
Lily ran.
He saw her only when the wine touched his mouth.
Her hands flew upward.
Beautiful lady put bad in drink.
His entire body stopped.
Alessandro lowered the glass.
Poison? he signed.
Lily nodded violently.
Then she told him about her mother.
Mama saw beautiful lady look at other man.
Alessandro’s eyes changed.
He crouched.
At his height, even kneeling made him seem enormous beside her.
“Which man?”
Lily did not hear him.
His hands moved instead.
Which man?
She pointed through the glass.
Straight at Luca.
Alessandro did not react.
That frightened her.
Angry people usually showed anger.
Alessandro became still.
Very still.
Then he signed carefully.
Where is your mother?
Lily shook her head.
Don’t know.
He glanced toward the ballroom.
Rosa had vanished.
A pulse moved in Alessandro’s jaw.
He placed the wineglass on the stone railing.
“Stay beside me.”
Lily did not understand the words.
So he signed them.
Stay close.
She obeyed.
Inside, Vivian was laughing beside Alessandro’s aunt.
Luca stood across the room talking to a senator.
Both looked innocent.
Alessandro entered carrying Lily.
Conversation softened around him.
A mafia boss holding a barefoot toddler was unusual enough to attract attention.
Vivian turned.
Her smile faltered.
“What happened?”
Alessandro looked at her.
“Nothing.”
He handed the untouched glass to a passing waiter.
“Have that sent to the kitchen.”
Vivian’s eyes followed the wine.
Only for a second.
But Alessandro saw it.
“Why?”
“Because I’m done with it.”
Vivian recovered instantly.
“You barely drank.”
“I changed my mind.”
She smiled again.
Luca approached.
“Everything all right?”
Alessandro looked at the man who had once taken a bullet for him.
For fifteen years, Luca had stood beside him through wars, funerals, prison sentences, investigations and blood.
Now Lily’s tiny finger lifted.
She pointed directly at him.
“That him?” Alessandro asked.
Lily nodded.
Luca frowned.
“What is she doing?”
Alessandro smiled.
It was a cold smile.
“She likes you.”
Luca relaxed.
Too quickly.
Alessandro turned toward the head housekeeper.
“Where’s Rosa Delgado?”
Mrs. Whitcomb blinked.
“She was working the east hall, sir.”
“Find her.”
The woman hurried away.
Vivian folded her arms.
“Why are you looking for the maid?”
Alessandro shifted Lily against his chest.
“She misplaced her daughter.”
Vivian’s face did not change.
But her fingers tightened around her purse.
Alessandro noticed.
Five minutes passed.
Then ten.
Mrs. Whitcomb returned pale.
“Mr. Moretti?”
“Yes.”
“Rosa isn’t in the east hall.”
“Then check the kitchen.”
“We did.”
“Laundry.”
“Empty.”
“Staff quarters.”
“Empty.”
The ballroom seemed colder.
“Her coat?” Alessandro asked.
“Still in the servants’ closet.”
“Purse?”
“Still there too.”
Vivian spoke gently.
“Perhaps she left suddenly.”
Alessandro turned toward her.
“Without her child?”
Vivian stopped smiling.
“No, of course not.”
Alessandro handed Lily to Mrs. Whitcomb.
Lily immediately reached back toward him.
“No,” he said softly.
Then he remembered.
He signed.
Safe. Stay here.
She stared at him.
Then nodded.
Alessandro looked at Luca.
“Lock the estate.”
Luca blinked.
“What?”
“Close the gates. Nobody leaves.”
A murmur moved across the ballroom.
Vivian stepped closer.
“Alessandro, we have important people here.”
“So?”
“You’re going to imprison judges and senators because a maid disappeared?”
His gaze settled on her.
“I’m going to make certain a mother didn’t disappear inside my home.”
Luca studied him.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
Alessandro looked at the scar on Luca’s cheek.
The scar he had believed meant loyalty.
“Nothing yet.”
He walked away before rage could make him careless.
Security teams spread through the mansion.
Doors were checked.
Cars searched.
Cameras reviewed.
Thirty minutes later, Alessandro stood inside the security room with his cousin Marco and two guards.
On one monitor, Rosa entered the west hallway carrying folded napkins.
Time stamp: 9:11 p.m.
At 9:13, she crossed near the old wine cellar.
At 9:14, a shadow appeared behind her.
The camera feed suddenly turned black.
Alessandro leaned closer.
“How long?”
The technician swallowed.
“Four minutes.”
“When does it return?”
“9:18.”
The image jumped back.
The hallway was empty.
No Rosa.
Alessandro’s voice dropped.
“Who can disable this system?”
The technician hesitated.
“Senior security.”
“Names.”
“You. Mr. Romano. Mr. Moretti’s uncle. And Mr. DeSantis.”
Luca.
Again.
Alessandro straightened.
A guard rushed through the door.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“We found something.”
They walked quickly to the wine cellar.
At the bottom of the stone stairs, one of Rosa’s black work shoes lay beside a drainage grate.
Lily’s missing shoe was beside it.
Alessandro stared.
Then he noticed blood.
Not much.
Three dark drops leading toward the locked storage room.
Marco reached for the handle.
“Locked.”
“Break it.”
They smashed the door open.
The room was empty.
A chair lay overturned.
Rope fibers rested on the floor.
And someone had written one sentence across the dusty table.
STOP LOOKING.
Marco cursed.
Alessandro touched the blood with one finger.
Still tacky.
Fresh.
He turned toward the stairs.
“Find Luca.”
Marco’s face tightened.
“You think—”
“I said find him.”
They returned to the ballroom.
Luca was gone.
So was Vivian.
Alessandro’s control nearly cracked.
Then a tiny hand tugged his jacket.
Lily.
Mrs. Whitcomb had brought her downstairs.
The child’s face was wet with tears.
Alessandro crouched.
“What?”
Lily signed quickly.
Mama phone.
“Your mother’s phone?”
Lily nodded.
She pointed toward the kitchen.
Alessandro followed.
Behind the crate where Lily had been sitting, Hopper’s fabric ear was caught against a cabinet.
Beneath it lay Rosa’s old cell phone.
The screen was cracked.
There was one unread message.
Sent from an unknown number three minutes earlier.
Alessandro opened it.
A photograph appeared.
Rosa sat tied to a chair.
Blood ran from her temple.
Behind her was a concrete wall.
Below the image was a message.
THE CHILD SHOULD HAVE STAYED IN THE KITCHEN.
Alessandro stared at it.
Then another text arrived.
BRING THE GIRL TO PIER 17.
COME ALONE.
OR HER MOTHER DIES.
Lily stood beside him, watching his face.
Alessandro slowly lowered the phone.
For the first time in fifteen years, someone had made the mistake of believing they could threaten a child inside his house.
He looked toward the locked gates.
“Marco.”
“Yes?”
“Find Vivian and Luca.”
“And the party?”
Alessandro’s expression became terrifyingly calm.
“The party is over.”
May you like
He looked down at Lily.
“But the war has just started.”
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