Chapter 1 - The Woman in the Midnight Kitchen
I spun barefoot beside the marble island, laughing quietly into my music:
“Just one more song.”
Dominic Russo stepped out of the darkness behind me and stared at the phone I had dropped.
On the screen was a message from an unknown number:
HE KNOWS ABOUT LEO.
That was the moment my private little dance stopped being harmless.
I froze.
For several seconds, neither of us moved.
The kitchen suddenly felt enormous.
A moment ago, I had been alone.
I had believed the mansion was sleeping.
I had believed nobody could see me.
Now Dominic stood in the doorway, one hand resting against the frame, his dark suit blending into the shadows behind him.
He wasn't smiling.
He wasn't angry.
He was simply watching me.
I slowly pulled one earbud from my ear.
“How long have you been standing there?”
“Long enough.”
My cheeks burned.
I looked down at myself.
The black satin robe-style dress was one of the few things I owned that made me feel beautiful. It wasn't expensive. It wasn't designer. But the cream trim and wide sash made my waist look elegant, and tonight, for the first time in weeks, I hadn't cared what anybody thought.
Until now.
I reached for my phone.
Dominic moved first.
He picked it up.
His eyes dropped to the screen.
His entire expression changed.
“What is this?”
I swallowed.
“I don't know.”
He looked at me.
“Beatrice.”
The way he said my name made my stomach tighten.
Dominic Russo rarely spoke more than necessary.
Six months earlier, when I had arrived at the estate to become Leo's nanny, he had barely looked at me.
The first day, he had said only three things.
Leo eats at seven.
Don't give him chocolate after dinner.
If there's trouble, you take him and run.
Then he had walked away.
That had suited me.
I had never wanted attention.
Attention had never been kind to me.
Growing up plus-size had taught me how quickly people could turn a body into a joke. At school, boys had laughed when I walked past. At restaurants, strangers had stared. At my first nanny job, the mother had quietly told me that I should wear "more flattering clothes" because the children’s father might have guests.
So I had learned to disappear.
Long cardigans.
Loose dresses.
Eyes lowered.
Quiet voice.
Then there was Leo.
Five years old.
Dark hair.
Serious brown eyes.
A small boy who had lost his mother three years earlier and had decided, somehow, that I belonged to him.
Within two weeks, he called me Bea.
Within a month, he refused to sleep unless I checked under his bed.
By the third month, he had started leaving drawings outside my bedroom door.
And somewhere along the way, I stopped thinking of him as my employer's son.
He became my child in every way that mattered.
Dominic knew that.
But until recently, he had seemed to regard me as furniture.
Useful.
Reliable.
Invisible.
Then came the dancing.
That night had changed something.
I had gone into the kitchen because I couldn't sleep.
The mansion was silent.
Leo was asleep upstairs.
The guards were changing shifts.
I put on music.
And I danced.
Not beautifully.
Not perfectly.
Just freely.
I had danced because nobody was watching.
Or so I thought.
Now Dominic stood in front of me holding my phone.
“Who sent this?”
“I don't know.”
“Has this number contacted you before?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
I nodded.
He stared at me for another moment.
Then his gaze shifted toward the doorway.
“Did anyone see you receive it?”
“I don't think so.”
“That isn't what I asked.”
I felt a chill.
“No.”
Dominic handed the phone back.
“From now on, you don't walk anywhere alone.”
I blinked.
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me.”
“You're giving me security?”
“I'm giving you instructions.”
I almost laughed.
“Those aren't the same thing.”
His eyes narrowed.
For the first time, I saw something almost human behind the coldness.
Concern.
“Beatrice, somebody knows about Leo.”
My heart stopped.
“What does that mean?”
Before he could answer, footsteps sounded in the hall.
Both of us turned.
A guard appeared.
“Boss.”
Dominic's expression hardened.
“What?”
“The west camera just went offline.”
Dominic looked at me.
“Stay here.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
“Beatrice.”
“Leo is upstairs.”
The guard exchanged a glance with Dominic.
Then the mansion lights flickered.
Once.
Twice.
And somewhere upstairs, a little boy screamed my name.
“BEA!”
I ran.
Dominic was right behind me.
We reached the staircase together.
Leo stood at the top, crying.
He was holding something in his tiny hand.
A black key card.
Dominic stopped dead.
Because his face changed the instant he saw it.
“That card,” he whispered.
Leo looked at him.
“I found it under my pillow.”
Dominic stepped forward.
Then Leo turned the card over.
There was a message scratched into the plastic.
SAFE CORRIDOR — 11:30 PM.
Dominic's phone rang.
He answered.
A voice said only four words.
May you like
“She's already inside the house.”
And then the call went dead.
