Chapter 3 - THE ENEMY INSIDE THE FAMILY
Lorenzo locked down the estate within seven minutes.
Nobody left.
Nobody called outside.
Every employee surrendered their phone.
Mrs. Gable protested the loudest.
“This is outrageous!”
Lorenzo stood in the foyer.
“My father spoke.”
The room went silent.
Mrs. Gable turned white.
“He… what?”
“Interesting reaction.”
“I’m shocked, naturally.”
“Are you?”
Her mouth opened.
Lorenzo’s security chief, Marcus Bell, approached carrying a plastic evidence bag.
Inside was Mrs. Gable’s phone.
“Recently deleted messages,” Marcus said. “We’re recovering them.”
Mrs. Gable’s knees nearly buckled.
Nora watched from the staircase.
She should have felt relieved.
Instead, fear crawled through her.
Someone had known Giovanni might recover.
Someone was afraid of it.
And that meant his neglect might never have been neglect at all.
It might have been intentional.
A doctor arrived from Manhattan before noon.
Dr. Samuel Hart had treated Giovanni after his stroke.
He performed neurological tests while Lorenzo, Nora, and Marcus watched.
The results stunned everyone.
“His cognition appears significantly better than his previous records indicate,” Hart said.
Lorenzo’s voice became dangerously quiet.
“How significantly?”
“I need imaging.”
“Answer me.”
Hart hesitated.
“Your father may have retained substantial awareness for years.”
Lorenzo stepped toward him.
“You told me he couldn’t understand speech.”
“That was based on his clinical assessments.”
“Whose assessments?”
Hart looked down.
And Lorenzo noticed.
“Whose?”
“Dr. Elias Moretti signed the neurological reports.”
Nora saw Lorenzo’s expression change.
“Who is Elias?” she asked.
Lorenzo didn’t answer immediately.
“My uncle.”
Giovanni’s younger brother.
A respected neurologist.
A philanthropist.
And the man who had managed Giovanni’s medical care for five years.
That afternoon, Lorenzo entered the study and opened a safe Nora never knew existed.
Inside were files belonging to the Moretti family.
Marcus stood beside him.
“If Elias falsified the reports…”
“He needed a reason.”
“Control?”
Lorenzo shook his head.
“I already inherited operational control.”
“Money?”
“Maybe.”
Marcus hesitated.
“There’s something else.”
He handed Lorenzo a recovered message from Mrs. Gable’s phone.
The recipient had been saved under a false name.
But the number belonged to a private company controlled by Elias Moretti.
Lorenzo stared at it.
He is starting to remember. Hurry.
His uncle had known.
Before Lorenzo could react, an alarm sounded upstairs.
Nora screamed.
Lorenzo ran.
He found her collapsed beside Giovanni’s wheelchair.
“Nora!”
She was conscious but clutching her stomach.
“There’s blood.”
Lorenzo looked down.
A small red stain had appeared on her uniform.
For the first time since entering the estate, Lorenzo Moretti looked genuinely frightened.
He lifted her without asking permission.
“Get the doctor!”
“I can walk.”
“No.”
“Giovanni—”
“Marcus has him.”
“Lorenzo—”
“Stop arguing.”
It was the first time she had called him Lorenzo.
Neither noticed until later.
Dr. Hart examined her in a guest bedroom.
Stress.
Overexertion.
Possible placental irritation.
The baby still had a strong heartbeat.
But Nora required immediate rest.
When the doctor left, Lorenzo remained beside the window.
Nora looked at him.
“You don’t have to stay.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you?”
He turned.
“I nearly watched you lose your child because people working in my house treated you like an animal.”
“That wasn’t your fault.”
“It happened under my roof.”
Nora studied him.
This wasn’t the ruthless Mafia figure servants whispered about.
This was a man discovering that power did not mean control.
“My father used to say something,” Lorenzo murmured.
“What?”
“A man who only knows what happens in front of him doesn’t run a kingdom. He runs a stage.”
Nora smiled faintly.
“He sounds exhausting.”
To her surprise, Lorenzo almost smiled.
“He was.”
“Still is.”
That erased the darkness from Lorenzo’s eyes for one precious second.
Then Nora’s phone rang downstairs.
Marcus brought it up.
Unknown number.
Nora answered.
“Hello?”
A familiar voice spoke.
“Miss me?”
Her blood went cold.
Brody.
She sat upright.
Lorenzo noticed immediately.
“Where are you?” Nora whispered.
“Closer than you think.”
“You disappeared.”
“I had problems.”
“You left me with your debts.”
“Yeah. About that.”
His voice changed.
“I need something from you.”
“No.”
“You haven’t even heard what.”
“I don’t care.”
Brody laughed.
“You work for the Morettis now. That changes things.”
Nora looked at Lorenzo.
His expression sharpened.
“How do you know where I work?”
A pause.
Then Brody said something that made her blood freeze.
“Because, Nora, I’m the reason you got that job.”
The line went dead.
She stared at the phone.
Lorenzo crossed the room.
“What did he say?”
Nora repeated it.
Marcus immediately began tracing the call.
Lorenzo’s gaze darkened.
“You said you applied through an agency.”
“I did.”
“Which one?”
“Hudson Domestic Staffing.”
Marcus stopped typing.
“That company doesn’t exist.”
Nora stared at him.
“What?”
“It’s a shell.”
Lorenzo looked toward his father’s room.
Suddenly Nora’s arrival at the Moretti estate no longer seemed accidental.
Someone had deliberately placed her here.
A pregnant maid.
Desperate for money.
Easy to manipulate.
Easy to blame.
Lorenzo looked at Nora.
“Do you know who Brody owes money to?”
“No.”
“How much?”
“He told me eighty thousand.”
Marcus glanced up.
“His actual gambling debt is over six hundred thousand.”
Nora went pale.
“To whom?”
Marcus hesitated.
Lorenzo answered.
“My uncle.”
That evening, Lorenzo ordered Nora moved from the servants’ quarters into a secure guest suite beside Giovanni’s room.
She protested.
He ignored her.
At midnight, Nora woke to the sound of glass breaking.
She stepped into the corridor.
Giovanni’s door was open.
His wheelchair was empty.
On the floor lay his heated blanket.
May you like
And written shakily across a sheet of paper on the table were three words.
TRUST NO MORETTI.
