Chapter 10 - THE FAMILY SHE NEVER EXPECTED
One year later, I walked into the Duca penthouse without carrying a laundry basket.
I carried a birthday cake.
Mia was running ahead of me.
She was almost two now.
And Alessandro was waiting beside the dining table.
He wasn't wearing a black suit.
He wore jeans.
A white shirt.
And the same black tie Mia had nearly destroyed the first day they met.
“You kept it,” I said.
He smiled.
“Of course.”
Mia ran into his arms.
He lifted her.
She laughed.
I watched them together.
Once, I had believed wealthy people lived in a different universe.
I had believed men like Alessandro Duca could never understand women like me.
I had been wrong.
Money had never been the real difference.
Fear was.
And Alessandro had spent his entire life surrounded by it.
Until a tiny girl crawled through his office door and changed everything.
That night, after Mia fell asleep, Alessandro and I stood beside the window.
“Do you regret hiring me?”
He laughed.
“Every day.”
I smiled.
“Why?”
“Because you cost me a fortune in baby furniture.”
I pushed his shoulder.
He caught my hand.
Then became serious.
“I'm glad she crawled through that door.”
“So am I.”
He looked at me.
“And I'm glad you stayed.”
I swallowed.
“I almost didn't.”
“I know.”
“Why did you?”
He looked toward the nursery.
“Because some families are chosen.”
He squeezed my hand.
“And some find you.”
For the first time, I allowed myself to believe I had found mine.
Mia woke upstairs.
We heard her cry.
Alessandro immediately moved toward the stairs.
I laughed.
“You're getting good at this.”
He turned.
“I'm learning.”
We climbed the stairs together.
But before I reached the nursery, my phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
One message.
You think Victor Bell was the end.
A second message appeared.
Ask Alessandro about the night Luca disappeared.
I stopped.
Alessandro looked back.
“What happened?”
I slowly put the phone into my pocket.
“Nothing.”
But I knew that wasn't true.
Because the past had just opened another door.
And somewhere in the city, someone was still watching us.
Someone who knew about Daniel.
Someone who knew about Luca.
Someone who knew the secret Alessandro had never told me.
I looked at my daughter sleeping peacefully in his arms.
Whatever came next, I knew one thing.
I wasn't the frightened maid hiding a baby in a laundry room anymore.
I wasn't alone.
And Alessandro Duca wasn't the untouchable man everyone feared.
He was a father now.
A man with something to lose.
And that made him more dangerous than ever.
But for the first time in his life, he had something worth fighting for.
Us.
I closed the nursery door.
And somewhere far away, an unknown man opened a file.
Inside was a photograph of Mia.
Underneath it were three words:
May you like
PHASE TWO BEGINS.
TO BE CONTINUED — SEASON TWO
