Chapter 1 - THE MAN SHE WANTED HIDDEN
THE MAFIA BOSS'S FIANCÉE ORDERED ME TO HIDE HIS 82-YEAR-OLD FATHER UPSTAIRS DURING THEIR ENGAGEMENT DINNER. BUT WHEN I BROUGHT HIM DOWN IN HIS WHEELCHAIR, HE WAS CRYING. WHAT HE REVEALED ABOUT HER SECRET PAST MADE THE ENTIRE BALLROOM GO SILENT.
"Turn that wheelchair around. He doesn't belong here."
Celeste Arden smiled as she gave the order.
Behind her, forty elegantly dressed guests were celebrating her engagement to Marco DeLuca, one of Chicago's most feared mafia bosses.
In front of me sat Marco's eighty-two-year-old father, Frank, wearing a navy suit and a crooked white rose.
His trembling hands gripped the wheelchair.
"Please," he whispered. "I just want to see my son."
My name is Natalie Brooks. I was twenty-nine and worked as Frank's caregiver.
I desperately needed this job. My mother required physical therapy, and my younger brother was attending college.
But what Celeste had done was something I couldn't ignore.
Earlier that evening, she'd told Frank that Marco was ashamed of his condition.
She claimed his stroke had damaged his memory and that he embarrassed the family.
Then she locked him inside his bedroom.
I'd found him crying behind the door, begging to attend his own son's engagement dinner.
Now Celeste was ordering me to take him back.
"He gets confused after sunset," she announced.
Suddenly, a chair scraped against the marble floor.
Marco stood.
"Why is my father crying?"
Celeste immediately answered, "He's confused, darling."
Marco's expression darkened.
"I asked my father."
The ballroom fell silent.
Frank reached for his son's hand.
"Did you... not want me here?"
Marco knelt beside him.
"Dad, this is your home. Who told you that?"
Frank pointed at Celeste.
Her smile disappeared.
When I explained that Frank had been locked upstairs, Marco demanded answers.
Celeste insisted his doctor had recommended isolation.
But Frank's neurologist was among the guests.
"That's completely false," the doctor declared. "His memory is excellent."
Then Frank whispered something unexpected.
"Elena... called."
Marco froze.
Elena was his younger sister. They hadn't spoken in seven years.
Frank explained that Elena had wanted to come home, but Celeste intercepted her call and told both siblings they didn't want to see each other.
Marco turned toward his fiancée.
"Why would you do that?"
Frank struggled to speak.
"Elena said... ask Celeste about Boston."
Celeste went pale.
"Three years ago," Frank continued. "The hotel."
Marco stared at her.
"What happened in Boston?"
Before she could answer, his security chief entered.
"Boss, Elena is at the front gate."
Frank began crying with relief.
"She's not alone," the guard added. "There's a little boy with her. About six years old."
Celeste grabbed the table.
Marco noticed.
"Bring them inside."
"NO!" Celeste screamed.
Every guest turned toward her.
Marco stepped closer.
"What are you hiding?"
Frank suddenly raised his trembling hand.
And as the ballroom doors began opening, he whispered the words that made Celeste collapse into her chair.
"She knows who the boy's father is."
The double doors opened.
A woman stepped into the ballroom wearing a rain-soaked gray coat. Her dark hair was pulled into a loose braid, and her face carried the unmistakable features of the DeLuca family.
Behind her stood a little boy holding a stuffed blue elephant.
Marco stopped breathing.
"Elena?"
His sister looked at him with tears in her eyes.
"Hello, Marco."
Seven years of silence filled the distance between them.
Then the little boy stepped forward.
He had dark curls, brown eyes, and a tiny scar beneath his chin.
He looked directly at Marco.
"Are you Uncle Marco?"
Marco slowly knelt.
"Yes."
The boy considered him.
"Mommy says you used to make her pancakes shaped like dinosaurs."
Marco laughed once, painfully.
"I did."
The boy smiled.
"I'm Theo."
Marco held out his hand.
Theo shook it solemnly.
Behind them, Frank began sobbing.
"My girl," he whispered.
Elena rushed toward his wheelchair.
"Dad."
She dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around him.
Frank held her as tightly as his weakened body allowed.
For a moment, everyone forgot Celeste.
Then she stood.
"This is ridiculous. Marco, you cannot allow her to manipulate you."
Elena turned.
The warmth disappeared from her face.
"Hello, Celeste."
Celeste swallowed.
"You shouldn't be here."
Elena rose slowly.
"That's what you told me in Boston."
Marco looked between them.
"What happened in Boston?"
Elena reached into her handbag.
She removed a white envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
She handed it to Marco.
I watched his face change as he examined it.
The photograph showed Celeste outside a Boston hotel, standing beside a tall man in a dark coat.
The man was holding Theo.
Marco looked up.
"Who is he?"
Elena answered.
"His name is Adrian Bell."
Celeste shook her head.
"She's lying."
Elena continued.
"He was Celeste's husband."
The ballroom went silent.
Marco looked toward his fiancée.
"Your husband?"
Celeste whispered, "Former husband."
Elena shook her head.
"No."
Her voice was steady.
"That's the problem."
She took another document from the envelope.
"According to the records I obtained last month, you're still legally married."
Marco stared at Celeste.
The diamond on her engagement ring caught the chandelier light.
Then Elena said something worse.
"And Adrian Bell is Theo's father."
Marco looked toward the little boy.
May you like
Elena's voice broke.
"He's also the man Celeste told me was dead."
