Chapter 3 - THE SECRET BEHIND THE THIRD FLOOR
I stood frozen in the hallway.
The woman's voice had come from upstairs.
Then footsteps approached.
I hurried back into my room just as a door closed above me.
The next morning, I asked Mr. Romano about the third floor.
His face changed.
"That is Mr. Castellano's private area."
"Does someone else live there?"
"No, ma'am."
His answer came too quickly.
I decided not to press.
Instead, I focused on Leo.
We established a morning routine. Breakfast together. Reading lessons. Afternoon walks through the gardens.
Whenever he became frightened, I taught him to draw a little shield on a piece of paper.
"Every shield means you did something brave," I explained.
Soon, he had an entire notebook filled with them.
Luca noticed.
One evening, he found us sitting beneath a tree.
Leo was laughing as I attempted to teach him how to whistle.
Luca stopped walking.
For several seconds, he simply watched.
"Something wrong?" I asked.
"No."
He glanced at his son.
"I haven't heard him laugh like that in a very long time."
That evening, he offered me additional money.
I refused.
"I don't need a raise every time Leo smiles."
"Then what do you need?"
The question startled me.
Nobody had asked me that in years.
After a moment, I answered.
"A used car. Something inexpensive."
Luca looked genuinely confused.
"You have access to every vehicle in my garage."
"I don't need a quarter-million-dollar sports car to buy groceries."
The next morning, an old blue sedan sat beside his collection of luxury vehicles.
A handwritten note rested on the windshield.
Four thousand eight hundred dollars. As requested.
I laughed so hard I cried.
For the first time, I began to see a different side of Luca.
He remembered how I took my coffee.
He noticed when I was tired.
He arranged for me to continue seeing my psychiatrist without interfering in my treatment.
And whenever Leo woke from a nightmare, Luca came downstairs to sit beside us.
Slowly, the three of us began to resemble a family.
Then everything changed.
One afternoon, Leo asked to visit a park outside the estate.
It was a remarkable step.
He hadn't willingly left the property since his kidnapping.
We spent two hours watching ducks and eating sandwiches.
On our way home, a black sedan followed us.
At first, I thought it was one of Luca's security vehicles.
Then the car accelerated.
My driver swore.
"Mrs. Castellano, get down."
A loud crack shattered the rear window.
Leo screamed.
I threw myself over him.
The driver turned sharply into a side street.
Another vehicle appeared behind us, forcing the sedan away.
Within minutes, Luca's security team surrounded our car.
Nobody was seriously injured.
But Leo was shaking violently.
I held him until Luca arrived.
He pulled open the door.
"Leo!"
His son reached for him.
Then Luca saw the blood on my hand.
A small piece of glass had cut my palm.
His expression became terrifyingly cold.
"Who did this?"
Nobody answered.
That night, after Leo finally fell asleep, Luca came to my room.
He looked exhausted.
"I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"For bringing danger into your life."
I studied him.
"Is this connected to Leo's kidnapping?"
He didn't answer.
Instead, he placed a photograph on my bedside table.
It showed a woman holding a newborn baby.
The woman looked remarkably like me.
"Who is she?" I whispered.
Luca stared at the photograph.
"Leo's mother."
May you like
Then he said something I never expected.
"She disappeared the night my son was kidnapped."
