Chapter 2 - THE UNDERBOSS WHO THOUGHT HE WAS UNTOUCHABLE
“Yes.”
The word barely escaped Lily's mouth.
Lorenzo remained on one knee in front of her, his hands resting loosely at his sides. He did not demand details. He did not ask what she had been wearing or why she had been alone in the basement.
He simply waited until she could breathe again.
“Did you tell anyone?”
Lily shook her head.
“Did he threaten you?”
“He said nobody would believe a maid over the man who runs your business. He said you would blame me for embarrassing you.”
Lorenzo's expression became unreadable.
“And the bruise?”
“He grabbed me when I tried to leave.”
“Did he do anything else?”
Lily pressed her lips together.
She wanted to tell him everything. She wanted to explain the nights she had hidden in the laundry room, the way Vincent had started appearing whenever she worked alone, and the terror that had followed her home.
But there was something else.
Something that made every possible outcome feel unbearable.
She placed a trembling hand over her stomach.
Lorenzo followed the movement.
His gaze dropped to her hand, then returned to her face.
“Lily,” he said carefully, “is there something you're afraid to tell me?”
She could not answer.
The silence told him enough to make his expression change.
He stood and stepped away, giving her room to move.
“I'm calling a doctor.”
“No hospital.”
“That's not a negotiation.”
“Please.” She looked up at him. “I can't have anyone asking questions. I can't have my name appearing in records connected to your family.”
Lorenzo studied her for several seconds.
Then he picked up his phone.
“Dr. Bennett. I need you at the estate immediately. A confidential medical consultation. No staff records beyond what is legally necessary.”
He ended the call.
Lily stared at him.
“You're not going to ask why?”
“I will ask when you're ready to answer.”
It was the first thing he had said that did not sound like an order.
Before she could respond, Lorenzo called another number.
“Marco. Find Vincent. Do not approach him. Do not warn him. I want his location, his calls, his movements, and the names of everyone he's spoken to in the last seventy-two hours.”
A pause.
“And Marco?”
His voice dropped.
“If anyone tells him I asked, I'll know exactly who betrayed me.”
He ended the call.
Lily pulled herself upright using the counter.
“Please don't kill him.”
Lorenzo looked at her.
“Why?”
“Because then everyone will know something happened. They'll question me. They'll say I caused a war between you.”
“You didn't cause anything.”
“He'll say I seduced him. He'll say I wanted money.”
“Let him.”
“He has people who will believe him.”
“Then they'll have to explain their loyalty to me.”
Lily shook her head in frustration.
“You don't understand what it's like to be a woman with nothing in a house full of men who can ruin her life with a phone call.”
For a moment, Lorenzo said nothing.
Then he removed his jacket and placed it over the back of a chair.
“You're right.”
She had not expected that answer.
“I don't know what it's like to be you,” he continued. “But I know what it means when a man uses my name to make someone afraid. And I know what it means when one of my own people believes my rules don't apply to him.”
He walked to the kitchen doors and unlocked them.
“You're not trapped here. If you want to leave, Marco will take you wherever you choose. If you want to stay until the doctor arrives, the door remains open.”
Lily stared at the open doorway.
The choice was so simple that it almost hurt.
She remained where she was.
Twenty minutes later, Dr. Evelyn Bennett arrived with a medical bag. She was a middle-aged physician who had treated several members of the Moretti household, but she spoke to Lily as though she were a patient rather than a servant.
After examining Lily privately, she confirmed the pregnancy.
“Approximately eight weeks,” she said. “We'll need an ultrasound and routine testing to establish how everything is progressing. The nausea and dizziness could be related to the pregnancy, but I don't want to overlook the effects of stress or any injuries.”
Lily sat on the edge of the chair.
“Is the baby okay?”
“There's no way to promise that without further evaluation. But there's no reason to assume the worst. We'll arrange the appropriate care.”
Lily nodded, fighting tears.
Dr. Bennett packed her equipment and looked toward Lorenzo, who waited outside the sitting room.
“She needs rest, privacy, and freedom from intimidation. Those aren't optional.”
“They'll have them,” Lorenzo replied.
When the doctor left, Lily found Lorenzo standing beside the kitchen island.
He had not touched his drink.
“Does Vincent know?” he asked.
“No.”
“Does anyone else?”
She hesitated.
“No one.”
Lorenzo looked at her hand resting over her stomach.
“Is the child his?”
Lily closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
Something moved through Lorenzo's face, too quickly to identify.
He turned away and walked to the window.
For a long moment, he watched the rain slide down the glass.
Then he spoke.
“Vincent will answer for what he did to you. But I won't make decisions about your child without your consent.”
Lily's throat tightened.
“You don't know what you're promising.”
“No,” he said. “I don't.”
He turned back toward her.
“But I know what I won't do. I won't force you to stay here. I won't make you testify publicly if there is another safe option. And I won't let Vincent use my organization to threaten you again.”
A phone vibrated on the counter.
Lorenzo checked the message.
His expression hardened.
“What's wrong?” Lily asked.
He showed her the screen.
A photograph displayed Vincent Costa entering the underground garage of the Moretti estate twenty minutes earlier.
Beneath it was a message from Marco.
Boss, Vincent knows you're looking for him. He just called the estate's private security office and asked which employee was working in the kitchen tonight.
Lily's blood ran cold.
Lorenzo picked up his jacket.
“He's coming here.”
“No,” Lily whispered. “He wouldn't dare.”
Lorenzo looked toward the open kitchen door.
“He already has.”
May you like
A second message appeared.
He's inside the house. And he's asking for Lily.
