Chapter 6 - The Woman Who Tried to Bury the Past
The message remained on the screen.
I KNOW YOU HEARD US.
Four words.
Nothing more.
But those four words changed everything.
Because a threat from outside the mansion would have been easier to understand.
A stranger.
An enemy.
Someone trying to hurt Lorenzo Duca.
That was the world everyone expected.
But this was different.
This message came from someone who knew.
Someone who had watched.
Someone who had access to the mansion, the security system, and my phone.
Someone close enough to know exactly what happened in that room.
Lorenzo stared at the screen without blinking.
The man standing beside me was no longer the exhausted businessman who had walked into my room hours earlier.
He was the person everyone feared.
The person whose name made powerful men lower their voices.
The person who built an empire because he trusted almost no one.
And now...
Someone had broken the one rule he lived by.
They had betrayed him from inside his own home.
“Trace it,” Lorenzo said.
Marco immediately picked up his equipment.
“I will try.”
“Not try.”
Lorenzo’s voice was calm.
“Find them.”
Marco nodded.
“I will.”
He left the room.
For a moment, only the rain could be heard.
Then Lorenzo looked at me.
“Clara.”
I looked up.
“From this moment forward, you and Emma do not leave this room without security.”
I frowned.
“Lorenzo—”
“No.”
The firmness in his voice surprised me.
“You almost died tonight.”
I looked away.
“I have survived before.”
His expression changed.
“That does not mean you should have to.”
Those words hurt more than I expected.
Because for years, survival had been the only thing I knew.
I survived losing Daniel.
I survived raising Emma alone.
I survived being ignored.
I survived people looking at me and deciding I was not important.
But nobody had ever looked at me and said I deserved protection.
Not until him.
“I am just a maid,” I whispered.
Lorenzo’s eyes hardened.
“Never say that again.”
I looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because that is exactly what they wanted you to believe.”
The room became silent.
“They underestimated you because of your position.”
He glanced toward Emma.
“And they underestimated her because of her age.”
My chest tightened.
“She is just a child.”
“No.”
Lorenzo looked at Emma.
“She is the reason the truth survived.”
I followed his gaze.
My daughter slept peacefully.
Completely unaware that her tiny voice had challenged one of the most powerful families in the city.
“She saved me,” I whispered.
Lorenzo shook his head.
“She saved both of us.”
Before I could answer, there was another knock.
Marco returned.
His expression told me immediately that he had found something.
“What happened?”
He looked at Lorenzo.
“The message came from inside the estate.”
My stomach dropped.
“Who?”
Marco hesitated.
“Someone used an internal security terminal.”
Lorenzo’s eyes became colder.
“Which one?”
“The old administration room.”
A pause.
“The one that only senior staff can access.”
The meaning was clear.
Someone who worked here.
Someone who knew the mansion.
Someone who knew the blind spots.
Lorenzo walked toward the window.
“List everyone with access.”
“I already checked.”
Marco handed him a file.
“There are only five people.”
Lorenzo opened it.
I watched his eyes move across the names.
Then stop.
“Impossible.”
The word was quiet.
I looked at him.
“Who?”
He did not answer immediately.
That scared me more than anything.
“Lorenzo.”
Finally, he closed the file.
“One of the names belongs to someone who has worked for my family for twenty years.”
The room felt colder.
“Who?”
He looked at me.
“Matteo.”
My heart tightened.
Matteo was the head of household security.
A man who had always been kind to Emma.
A man who had carried her when she fell asleep during family dinners.
A man everyone trusted.
“No.”
The word escaped me.
Lorenzo looked at me.
“You trust him?”
I hesitated.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he has always protected Emma.”
Lorenzo studied me.
“That is what makes this complicated.”
I looked toward the door.
“Do you think he helped Vivienne?”
“I do not know.”
That answer surprised me.
Lorenzo Duca admitting uncertainty was rare.
“But someone inside this house helped her.”
He paused.
“And until we know who…”
His eyes moved toward Emma.
“No one is safe.”
The next morning, the mansion felt completely different.
The staff moved quietly.
Security guards stood in every hallway.
Nobody laughed.
Nobody whispered.
Everyone knew something had happened.
But nobody knew what.
Except the people who needed to know.
I stayed inside with Emma.
She spent most of the morning drawing pictures.
Children were strange.
The world could fall apart around them, and they would still create something beautiful.
“Mommy?”
I looked up.
“Yes, sweetheart?”
She held up a drawing.
It showed three people.
Me.
Her.
And Lorenzo.
I smiled.
“Who is this?”
She pointed.
“Mr. Lorenzo.”
“And why is he here?”
She looked confused.
“Because he is our friend.”
My heart ached.
Children saw things adults complicated.
To Emma, Lorenzo was not a mafia boss.
Not a powerful man.
Not someone feared by the city.
He was simply the person who came when she called.
Later that afternoon, Lorenzo returned.
But something was different.
He looked more tired.
More distant.
“What happened?”
He closed the door behind him.
“We found Vivienne.”
My body became tense.
“Where?”
“In her room.”
I waited.
“What did she do?”
Lorenzo looked at me.
“She was packing.”
Of course.
She knew.
“She was going to leave.”
“Yes.”
My hands tightened.
“But she did not.”
“Why?”
“Because someone stopped her.”
I frowned.
“Who?”
Lorenzo looked toward the window.
“Her father.”
A cold feeling moved through me.
“Antonio?”
He nodded.
“He contacted her before we could.”
“What did they say?”
“I do not know.”
The answer surprised me.
“Why not?”
“Because Vivienne destroyed her phone.”
Of course.
She always removed evidence.
“She knew you were coming.”
“Yes.”
A pause.
“She knew because someone warned her.”
The truth settled heavily between us.
Someone inside the mansion was still helping her.
Then Lorenzo walked toward the table.
He placed something down.
A small envelope.
“What is that?”
“Something we found hidden in Vivienne’s room.”
I looked at it.
“Open it.”
Lorenzo shook his head.
“No.”
I frowned.
“Why?”
“Because it has your name on it.”
My blood ran cold.
“My name?”
He nodded.
“The envelope was prepared before tonight.”
I slowly reached for it.
My fingers trembled.
Inside was a single piece of paper.
Only one sentence.
But it was enough.
THE GIRL YOU ARE PROTECTING IS NOT THE ONLY CHILD WHO LOST A MOTHER.
I looked at Lorenzo.
“What does that mean?”
He did not answer.
Because he had no answer.
But there was something else inside the envelope.
A photograph.
I pulled it out.
And the moment I saw it...
I forgot how to breathe.
It was old.
Faded.
A picture of a young woman.
A woman I had never met.
But I knew her.
Because I had seen her face before.
In the portrait hanging in the Duca mansion.
Lorenzo’s mother.
My hands began shaking.
“What is this?”
Lorenzo took the photograph.
His expression changed completely.
Because on the back of the picture...
There was a date.
And a name.
A name neither of us expected.
Vivienne Rossi.
The woman who tried to destroy me...
Had been connected to Lorenzo’s family long before she entered this mansion.
And suddenly I understood.
The necklace.
The lies.
The missing footage.
The murder plan.
None of it started with me.
I was only the person who discovered it.
Lorenzo stared at the photograph.
Then he whispered the words that made my blood run cold.
“Vivienne did not come into my life by accident.”
A pause.
“She came here because of something that happened twenty years ago.”
Outside, the rain began again.
May you like
And somewhere inside the mansion...
Someone was still hiding the truth.
