Chapter 5 - THE WOMAN CHOSEN TO TAKE THE BLAME
Lorenzo didn't confront Renato that night.
That surprised everyone.
It terrified Renato more.
For two days, Lorenzo behaved as though nothing had changed.
Dinner at seven.
Business calls.
Security meetings.
Leo's doctors coming and going.
Renato remained inside the estate under the excuse of "family protection."
He even visited the nursery.
Lorenzo allowed it.
I didn't understand why until he explained.
"If I accuse him now, he denies it."
"Bellini talked."
"Bellini has gambling debt and falsified medical records. A defense attorney destroys him in twenty minutes."
"What about Aster?"
"Shell companies."
"The staffing agency?"
"More shells."
"Then what are you waiting for?"
"The person above Bellini."
"Renato?"
"The evidence that proves it."
I stared at him.
"You really aren't going to kill him?"
Lorenzo's expression was unreadable.
"I haven't decided."
I hated how calmly he said it.
"Lorenzo."
"What?"
"If you kill everyone before they talk, you're not investigating."
He looked at me.
"Is that your professional opinion?"
"Yes."
"What profession?"
"Maid."
A pause.
"Very respected investigative tradition."
Despite everything, I laughed.
He did too.
Then Leo cried from the bassinet.
We both turned immediately.
That was happening more often.
Not the crying.
The turning.
Both of us.
Together.
Leo had begun associating me with food.
The first time he rooted against my shirt in front of Lorenzo, I wanted the floor to swallow me.
Lorenzo simply turned his back.
"Tell me when you're decent."
"Very gentlemanly for a Mafia boss."
"I contain multitudes."
I stared at him.
"Did you just quote Walt Whitman?"
"Don't tell anyone."
I laughed so hard I woke Leo.
That evening, Nico located Travis.
Alive.
Not far away.
He had been staying under another name in a motel outside Newark.
Lorenzo left with Nico.
He told me nothing.
Three hours later, Travis was brought into the estate.
I heard his voice from the corridor.
"No, no, no, listen to me—"
My body froze.
Eight years.
That was how long I had loved that voice.
Three weeks.
That was how long I had hated it.
I stepped into the hall.
Two guards held Travis by the arms.
He looked thinner.
His beard had grown.
There was a bruise near his jaw.
Then he saw me.
Everything in his face changed.
"Maya."
I couldn't breathe.
He tried to move toward me.
The guards stopped him.
"Maya, baby, listen—"
"Don't call me that."
"I thought you were dead."
Something inside me snapped.
"You left me on the stairs."
"I panicked."
"You left me bleeding."
"I didn't know Lily—"
"Don't."
My voice became a scream.
"Do not say her name."
The hallway went silent.
Travis looked around.
Lorenzo stood behind him.
Watching.
Travis swallowed.
"Maya, I didn't mean for you to fall."
"You pushed me."
"I barely touched you."
There it was.
The sentence every frightened woman eventually hears.
It wasn't that bad.
You made me angry.
You fell.
I didn't hit you that hard.
I walked closer.
For years, I had imagined Travis huge.
Standing over me.
Blocking doors.
Throwing phones.
Breaking cabinets.
Now I saw him between two Rossi guards.
He looked ordinary.
Small, even.
I realized the monster in my memory had always been larger than the man.
"Why did you send me here?"
His eyes darted toward Lorenzo.
"I didn't."
"Wrong answer," Lorenzo said.
Travis flinched.
I stepped closer.
"We have the video."
His face collapsed.
"What video?"
That was a lie.
We had footage of him entering the staffing office, nothing more.
But he didn't know what we had.
His shoulders dropped.
"I gave them your information."
My chest hurt.
"Who?"
"I didn't know what they wanted."
"Who?"
"A guy from Meridian."
"Name."
"Felix."
Lorenzo looked at Nico.
Nico nodded.
They knew the name.
"Felix Moran," Travis continued. "He said he needed someone for domestic placement."
"Why me?"
"I owed Aster money."
"How?"
"I took inventory."
"What kind?"
"Medication. Controlled stuff."
Lorenzo's expression sharpened.
"Sedatives?"
Travis looked at him.
"Sometimes."
"You stole them?"
"I sold them."
"To who?"
"People."
Lorenzo stepped closer.
Travis shrank backward.
"They caught you."
"Yeah."
"And Felix offered to erase the debt."
Travis nodded.
"In exchange for Maya."
"I didn't know they were going to hurt her."
I stared.
"You gave strangers my medical history."
His face twisted.
"They already knew some of it."
"How?"
"I told Felix you lost the baby."
The floor shifted beneath me.
"You told him?"
"He asked why you'd stopped working."
"Why would he care?"
"I don't know!"
Lorenzo's voice cut through the room.
"What exactly did he ask?"
Travis breathed hard.
"He asked if she was still lactating."
Nobody moved.
There it was.
The final piece.
I hadn't been selected because I could clean bedrooms.
I had been selected because I had milk.
My daughter died.
And someone saw an opportunity.
I turned away.
My stomach rolled.
Lorenzo said my name.
I couldn't answer.
I walked.
Not toward my room.
Toward the kitchen.
Then through the servants' corridor.
Then out the back door.
Cold air hit me.
I made it to the garden before I threw up.
A moment later, Lorenzo was beside me.
Not touching.
Just there.
I wiped my mouth.
"He used Lily."
Lorenzo said nothing.
"He used her death."
My knees gave out.
This time Lorenzo caught me.
I hit his chest with both hands.
"Don't."
He released me immediately.
"I'm sorry."
I sat on the stone edge of a fountain.
For several minutes, neither of us spoke.
Finally I whispered, "They wanted you to find me with Leo."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"If he died after you'd been feeding him…"
"They could say I poisoned him."
"Or contaminated the milk."
"My medical records would show grief."
"Your false identity would make you look suspicious."
"Travis would be gone."
"And Bellini could produce medical charts claiming Leo deteriorated after your arrival."
I covered my face.
It was elegant.
Horrible.
But elegant.
A grieving mother secretly nursing a rich man's baby.
Obsessed.
Unstable.
Responsible.
Lorenzo would kill me before police ever asked a question.
The real killers would walk away.
I lowered my hands.
"Why Leo?"
Lorenzo looked back toward the mansion.
"I think I know."
"What?"
"Elena."
I frowned.
"Your wife?"
"Six months before she got pregnant, Elena hired auditors."
"For what?"
"Family businesses."
"And?"
"They found irregularities in Aster."
"Renato?"
"I stopped the audit."
"Why?"
"Because Elena became pregnant."
I stared.
"You postponed it?"
"She asked me to."
"Did Renato know?"
"Yes."
A terrible understanding moved across his face.
"If Leo survived and I left this life like Elena wanted…"
"You'd restart the audit."
"Exactly."
"And Renato's business disappears."
"Not just a business."
Lorenzo looked at me.
"Aster has moved money for the Rossi organization for almost twenty years."
"How much?"
"Hundreds of millions."
I stopped breathing.
"If I shut it down, people go to prison."
"Renato included."
Lorenzo nodded.
"So he needed you distracted."
"Grieving."
"Angry."
"Dependent on Bellini."
"And maybe eventually…"
I couldn't finish.
Leo dead.
Maya blamed.
Lorenzo broken.
Renato still controlling everything.
Lorenzo stared at the mansion.
"I thought my enemies were outside the gates."
I followed his gaze.
"No."
The lights glowed warmly in every window.
Beautiful.
Safe.
A home built like a fortress.
May you like
"The worst one helped build the gates."
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