Chapter 7 - Safe in the Shadows
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The hallway outside the nursery fell into a deep, eerie quiet after the sirens were finally disabled.
I stood clutching the heavy brass poker, my heart pounding so loudly I could hear it inside my eardrums.
Footsteps approached the door—measured, heavy, and exhausted.
Three slow knocks rattled the wood.
“Wildflower,” Silas’s deep voice called out from the other side.
I let out a shuddering breath that felt like it released hours of terror.
I hauled the heavy mahogany chest away from the door and unlocked the brass deadbolt.
Silas stepped inside, his shirt stained with dust and a faint streak of blood across his left knuckle.
He looked at the iron poker gripped tightly in my knuckles, then looked up into my wide eyes.
A faint, tired smile touched the corner of his lips.
“You were ready to fight my whole security team with a fireplace tool,” he remarked softly.
“I promised you I would protect her with my life, sir,” I said, setting the heavy brass bar back onto the hearth.
“I don't make promises I don't intend to keep.”
Sophie heard his voice and burst out of the closet, racing across the room and leaping straight into his arms.
Silas caught her, lifting her high against his chest and burying his face into the crook of her neck.
“Daddy’s here, baby,” he whispered over and over, his voice cracking with emotion.
“Daddy’s here, and nobody is ever going to hurt you or take your mother’s memory away again.”
Sophie held him tightly, her small hands stroking his dark hair.
“Did Cousin Julian go away?” she asked quietly.
“Yes, sweetheart,” Silas answered, kissing her forehead.
“Julian and Maren are never coming back to this house again.”
He sat down on the large velvet sofa, keeping Sophie safely tucked in his lap.
He looked up at me, gesturing toward the armchair opposite him.
“Sit down, Hannah, please.”
I hesitated, conscious of my position as a domestic worker in this grand mansion.
“You are not a maid in this room tonight,” Silas said, reading my hesitation with sharp precision.
“You are the only person in this entire estate who didn't betray my family.”
I sat down slowly, feeling the immense weight of the night’s trauma settling into my bones.
“What happens now, Mr. Rourke?” I asked quietly.
May you like
Silas looked down at Sophie, who was already drifting back to sleep against his chest.
“Now,” Silas said, his eyes turning cold and resolute, “I settle the debt with Don Castiglione once and for all.”
