Chapter 2 - The Maid’s Secret and the Fiancée’s Lie
By sunrise, the Duca estate looked exactly the way it always had.
Perfect.
That was the most disturbing part.
The broken glass had been removed from the east corridor. The marble floor had been polished until it reflected the chandeliers above. The white roses from the engagement party still stood in crystal vases, untouched and beautiful.
Anyone walking through the mansion that morning would have believed nothing had happened.
But I knew better.
Perfect houses were often built on imperfect truths.
I stood in my office overlooking the estate grounds, watching rainwater slide down the windows.
The storm had finally stopped.
But the feeling it left behind remained.
My phone sat on the desk.
Three missed calls.
One from my attorney.
Two from Vivian.
I ignored all of them.
Instead, I looked at the security monitor in front of me.
The east corridor camera.
Black screen.
No signal.
A camera inside my home had gone offline at the exact moment a woman nearly died.
That was not an accident.
Not in my house.
Not under my security.
The door opened behind me.
I did not turn.
"Jonah."
My security chief entered quietly.
Jonah Vale was one of the few people in my life who understood silence.
He had worked for my family for eight years.
Former military.
Disciplined.
Loyal.
The kind of man who noticed things before other people realized there was something to notice.
"You wanted the report."
I nodded.
"Start with the camera."
Jonah placed a tablet on my desk.
"The east corridor camera didn't malfunction."
I looked at him.
"Someone disabled it."
"Yes."
"When?"
"Eleven minutes before Sophia Carter was found."
The room became colder.
"Can you trace who accessed the system?"
Jonah hesitated.
That was unusual.
He rarely hesitated.
"That's the problem."
I waited.
"The access log was erased."
I leaned back.
"By whom?"
"We don't know."
"Someone erased a security record inside my house."
"Yes."
"And you don't know who."
His jaw tightened.
"No."
I looked back at the screen.
For most people, that answer would have created panic.
For me, it created something else.
Focus.
Someone had entered my home.
Someone had disabled my security.
Someone had attacked Sophia Carter.
And someone wanted me to believe it was an accident.
"Find out."
Jonah nodded.
Then he paused.
"There is something else."
I looked at him.
"The emergency button."
"What about it?"
"It was working."
I said nothing.
Jonah continued.
"All three emergency buttons in the east wing were tested this morning. No damage. No malfunction."
I stared at the rain outside.
Vivian's explanation returned to my mind.
She fell.
But if Sophia had fallen...
Why hadn't anyone called for help?
Why had Vivian moved her?
Why had she touched the scene?
Questions.
Too many questions.
And the one person who could answer them was currently lying in a hospital bed.
Sophia Carter.
The woman I barely knew.
The woman who had worked under my roof for three years.
The woman whose daughter had trusted me before I had ever earned that trust.
"I want everything on Sophia Carter."
Jonah looked surprised.
"Background check?"
"Everything."
"Family?"
"Yes."
"Financial records?"
"Yes."
"Employment history?"
I looked at him.
"Everything."
He understood.
This was no longer about an injured employee.
This was about someone who had entered my life carrying a secret.
St. Vincent's Hospital was quieter than my mansion.
That surprised me.
Hospitals were supposed to be places of chaos.
But there was a strange honesty inside them.
People came there without titles.
Without money.
Without pretending.
A billionaire and a dishwasher were the same when they were waiting for a doctor to tell them if someone they loved would survive.
I entered Sophia's room just after noon.
Emma was asleep in a chair beside the bed.
Her teddy bear rested against her chest.
She looked impossibly small.
The same child who had walked through a dark mansion alone hours earlier.
A child who should have been worrying about cartoons and bedtime stories.
Not blood on her mother's sleeve.
I moved closer.
Sophia opened her eyes.
For a moment, fear crossed her face.
Then she saw me.
"Mr. Duca."
Her voice was weak.
"Alessandro."
I pulled a chair closer.
"How are you feeling?"
She looked toward Emma.
"Is she okay?"
"She's sleeping."
Sophia closed her eyes briefly.
Relief.
Again.
Always relief when she saw her daughter was safe.
Not herself.
Her daughter.
"You saved her."
I looked at her.
"No."
Sophia opened her eyes.
"You did."
She shook her head.
"She came to you."
The words stayed with me.
Because they were true.
Emma had not gone to the guards.
Not the staff.
Not Vivian.
Me.
"Tell me what happened."
Sophia became silent.
Too silent.
Her fingers tightened around the blanket.
"I fell."
I watched her carefully.
"No."
Her eyes lifted.
The room became still.
"I saw the mirror."
I continued.
"I saw the glass."
She looked away.
"Then you know."
"I know you didn't fall."
A tear appeared in her eye.
Not because she was afraid of me.
Because she was afraid of something else.
"Mr. Duca..."
"Who hurt you?"
She didn't answer.
"Was it Vivian?"
Her expression changed.
Only slightly.
But enough.
I saw it.
The reaction.
The hesitation.
The fear.
"Why are you protecting her?"
Sophia looked toward the sleeping Emma.
"Because I need to protect my daughter."
I leaned forward.
"From whom?"
She remained silent.
The silence told me more than words.
"Sophia."
She swallowed.
"Some things are better left buried."
I had heard that sentence before.
From people who were hiding things.
From people who thought secrets were safer underground.
They were usually wrong.
"Who told you that?"
Her eyes moved to mine.
"My brother."
I froze.
Not because of the answer.
Because of the word.
Brother.
Sophia Carter was not supposed to have a brother.
Not according to the first details Jonah had sent me.
"What was his name?"
Her lips trembled.
"Daniel."
The room changed.
A name I had not heard in years.
A name connected to the darkest chapter of my family's history.
My brother.
Daniel Duca.
My younger brother.
Dead seven years ago.
Officially, it was a car accident.
Officially, he lost control on a mountain road.
Officially, there was no mystery.
But families like mine had a way of making official stories convenient.
I stood slowly.
"Sophia."
She looked terrified.
"Why did you say that name?"
I stared at her.
"Because Daniel Duca was my brother."
Sophia's face went pale.
For a moment, she looked like she regretted speaking.
Then she whispered:
"I know."
The words hit harder than they should have.
"You knew?"
She nodded.
"Your brother knew my mother."
I said nothing.
"Before he died, he found something."
"What?"
She looked toward the door.
Checking.
Making sure no one was listening.
Then she lowered her voice.
"He found out someone inside your family was stealing from him."
My expression did not change.
But inside, something moved.
Daniel.
My brother.
The man everyone described as reckless.
The man everyone said was too emotional to lead.
The man whose death everyone accepted.
"Where is the evidence?"
Sophia looked terrified.
"I don't have it."
"Who does?"
She closed her eyes.
"Nobody."
I watched her.
That answer was a lie.
Not because she was lying to me.
Because she was trying to protect someone.
"Your daughter came to my room because she needed help."
Sophia looked at Emma.
"She shouldn't have."
"Why?"
"Because now they know."
The sentence made my blood run cold.
"Who knows?"
Sophia didn't answer.
The machines beside her continued their quiet rhythm.
Then she whispered:
"The people who killed your brother."
For the first time in years, I felt something I thought I had buried forever.
Not anger.
Not fear.
A memory.
Daniel laughing in the kitchen when we were younger.
Daniel telling me I trusted the wrong people.
Daniel saying:
"Alessandro, the people closest to you are the ones who know exactly where to place the knife."
I had ignored him.
I thought he was paranoid.
Now, seven years later, a wounded maid was lying in a hospital bed telling me my brother had discovered something.
And my fiancée had been standing over her when I arrived.
I looked at Sophia.
"Tell me everything."
She shook her head.
"I can't."
"You can."
"No."
Her eyes filled with fear.
"Because if I tell you..."
She looked at Emma.
"They will come for her."
I followed her gaze.
The little girl slept peacefully.
Completely unaware that powerful people were now connected to her life.
I stood.
"Nobody touches your daughter."
Sophia looked at me.
"You can't promise that."
I looked at Emma.
Then back at her.
"I can."
My voice was calm.
But I knew what that promise meant.
Someone had attacked a woman under my roof.
Someone had hidden a crime inside my home.
Someone had connected themselves to my dead brother.
And now they had made one mistake.
They had brought the secret back to me.
I left the hospital room with one thought.
The engagement party was supposed to announce my future.
Instead, it had uncovered my past.
May you like
And somewhere inside my perfect mansion...
Someone was terrified that I had finally started asking questions.
