Chapter 1
“DON'T OPEN THAT DOOR!” THE MAFIA BOSS'S FIANCÉE SCREAMED WHEN HE FOLLOWED A FAINT KNOCKING SOUND INTO HIS DARK BASEMENT. BUT THE MOMENT HE BROKE THE LOCK, HIS HALF-FROZEN MAID COLLAPSED INTO HIS ARMS—AND WHAT SHE WHISPERED BEFORE LOSING CONSCIOUSNESS MADE HIM TURN ON THE WOMAN HE WAS ABOUT TO MARRY.
The first knock was so faint Dominic Moretti almost missed it.
Tap.
He stopped in the entrance hall.
It was nearly eleven at night.
The mansion was unusually quiet.
His fiancée, Vanessa Sterling, had told him the staff had gone home early.
Dominic loosened his tie.
Then he heard it again.
Tap… tap…
A weak, uneven sound.
Coming from somewhere beneath the floor.
“Hello?”
No answer.
He walked toward the basement staircase.
At the bottom, the lights were off.
Dominic switched on his phone flashlight and descended slowly.
Tap.
He stopped.
The sound came from behind a heavy wooden door at the end of the corridor.
The old wine cellar.
Dominic approached.
“Who's in there?”
Silence.
Then three desperate knocks.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
He gripped the handle.
Locked.
“Open the door.”
A woman's voice answered, barely audible.
“Help…”
Dominic's expression changed.
“Who's there?”
“Please…”
He recognized that voice.
Emily Carter.
His twenty-six-year-old housemaid.
“Emily?”
Something scraped against the other side of the door.
Then silence.
Dominic stepped back.
He was about to force the lock when hurried footsteps echoed down the stairs.
“Dominic!”
Vanessa appeared at the bottom, still wearing her expensive silk evening dress.
Her eyes widened when she saw where he stood.
“DON'T OPEN THAT DOOR!”
Dominic turned.
“Why?”
“There's nothing inside!”
He looked at the locked door.
“Then why is someone calling for help?”
Vanessa rushed toward him.
“Dominic, please! Just come upstairs!”
He pushed her hand away.
“MOVE.”
With one powerful kick, he broke the lock.
The door swung inward.
Cold air rushed into the hallway.
His flashlight swept across rows of wine racks.
The room was almost completely dark.
Then he saw her.
Emily stood unsteadily beside the door, one hand pressed against the wall.
Her maid's uniform was damp.
Her lips were pale.
Her whole body trembled uncontrollably.
“Emily?”
She tried to take one step.
Her knees buckled.
Dominic caught her before she hit the floor.
“Jesus Christ!”
He wrapped his arms around her.
Her skin felt frighteningly cold.
“Emily, look at me.”
She struggled to open her eyes.
“Mr. Moretti…”
“Who did this to you?”
Her lips moved.
No sound came out.
Dominic pulled off his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders.
“Stay with me. You're safe now.”
Vanessa stood frozen in the doorway.
Then she forced herself to speak.
“Dominic, she locked herself in there!”
He looked up.
“What?”
“She was caught stealing! She must have hidden inside when she realized we'd discovered it!”
Emily weakly shook her head.
“No…”
Dominic lowered his face toward hers.
“Don't try to stand. Tell me what happened.”
Emily clutched his sleeve.
Her fingers were trembling so badly she could barely hold on.
“She wanted me…”
Dominic leaned closer.
“What did she want?”
Emily's eyes filled with tears.
“To sign… the confession…”
Vanessa suddenly shouted:
“She's lying!”
Emily flinched.
Then whispered:
“I saw what she put… in your father's…”
Her voice faded.
Dominic froze.
“In my father's what?”
Emily tried to answer.
But her eyes rolled shut.
Her hand slipped from his sleeve.
“Emily?”
No response.
“EMILY!”
Dominic lifted her into his arms and hurried toward the stairs.
“CALL AN AMBULANCE!” he roared at the security guard rushing down the corridor.
He carried Emily into the warm sitting room, laid her on a sofa, and ordered the staff to bring blankets while they waited for the paramedics.
Vanessa followed.
“Dominic, you're making a terrible mistake.”
He didn't answer.
His attention was fixed on Emily's pale face.
Then something fell from inside her sleeve.
A folded piece of paper.
Dominic picked it up.
Across the top were the words:
EMPLOYEE CONFESSION OF THEFT.
The document accused Emily of stealing valuable jewelry from the Moretti family collection.
At the bottom was a blank signature line.
And beside it, a prepared witness statement.
Already signed.
VANESSA STERLING.
Dominic slowly looked up.
“You said she was caught stealing.”
Vanessa swallowed.
“She was.”
“Then why is her confession unsigned?”
“Because she refused to admit it!”
Dominic examined the document.
A handwritten instruction appeared beneath the signature line.
Sign this and you can leave.
He stared at Vanessa.
“Leave where?”
Vanessa didn't answer.
Dominic stood.
“Where did you find the missing jewelry?”
“In her room.”
“Who searched her room?”
“I did.”
“Who witnessed it?”
Vanessa hesitated.
“Nobody. The staff had already left.”
Dominic looked toward the basement.
Then he remembered something.
The wine cellar had been converted into a temperature-controlled storage room after his father's death.
Its cooling system could only be changed through an administrator's code.
He returned to the basement.
Vanessa hurried after him.
“Dominic, where are you going?”
He didn't answer.
At the cellar entrance, he stopped beside the digital thermostat.
The display glowed red.
DEEP-COOL MODE: ACTIVATED.
The temperature had been set far below the normal storage range.
Dominic pressed the activity log.
One entry appeared.
ADMINISTRATOR OVERRIDE — V. STERLING.
Activated at 7:42 p.m.
Dominic stared at the screen.
Emily had been trapped inside for more than three hours.
Vanessa stopped behind him.
Her face drained of color.
“Dominic…”
He turned slowly.
“YOU TURNED THE COOLING SYSTEM DOWN?”
She shook her head.
“No! Someone must have used my code!”
“Who else knows it?”
Vanessa said nothing.
Dominic held up the unsigned confession.
“You locked her inside because she wouldn't sign this?”
“She stole from us!”
“Then why didn't you call the police?”
Vanessa stepped backward.
Dominic's voice grew colder.
“Why didn't you call me?”
“Because you always believe the servants over me!”
He took one step toward her.
“Emily was freezing to death behind that door.”
Vanessa began crying.
“I never meant for her to get hurt!”
Dominic went still.
He had not accused her of intending to hurt Emily.
Yet she'd answered as though she knew exactly what had happened.
From upstairs came the sound of the arriving paramedics.
Dominic glanced toward the staircase.
Then back at Vanessa.
Emily's unfinished sentence echoed in his mind.
I saw what she put… in your father's…
His father, Antonio Moretti, had died six months earlier.
And Vanessa had personally arranged the clearing of Antonio's private study.
Dominic slowly unfolded the confession again.
For the first time, he noticed that the jewelry listed as stolen belonged to Antonio's collection.
Jewelry that had supposedly disappeared before Emily even started working at the mansion.
He raised his eyes.
Vanessa was trembling.
“YOU WANTED HER TO CONFESS.”
He stepped closer.
“WHAT WERE YOU SO AFRAID SHE'D TELL ME?”
Vanessa opened her mouth.
But before she could answer, a security guard called from the stairs.
“Mr. Moretti!”
Dominic turned.
“The paramedics found something in Emily's hand.”
The guard held out a tiny brass key.
Attached was a tag bearing two words:
ANTONIO'S STUDY.
Dominic looked back at Vanessa.
Her expression changed from fear to outright panic.
And he suddenly understood that Emily hadn't been trying to steal anything.
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She had been trying to protect something his father left behind.
Read Chapter 2 in the first comment to discover what Emily witnessed inside Antonio's study—and why Vanessa was willing to leave her freezing in a locked cellar rather than let her tell Dominic the truth. Thank you for reading!
