Chapter 8 - The Night the Mansion Went Dark|
The headlines spread faster than we could correct them.
By morning, strangers were arguing over whether I was a gold digger, a villain, or a woman who had somehow tricked Dante DeLuca into marrying her without his knowledge.
The truth was less entertaining.
I wasn't legally married to him.
I had requested financial independence rather than access to his fortune.
And the only thing I had taken from Nico was a broken picture frame, which I had repaired and returned.
But truth rarely traveled as quickly as outrage.
Mara advised us not to respond impulsively.
Dante hired a legal team to preserve evidence of the defamatory posts and examine the accounts connected to them.
I concentrated on Nico.
He had begun sleeping through the night.
That small improvement mattered more than every headline in Chicago.
Three evenings later, we were eating dinner when the lights went out.
The mansion fell into complete darkness.
Nico gasped.
I immediately reached for his hand.
"I'm here."
He gripped my fingers.
Across the table, Dante rose.
"Gabriel?"
No answer came through the intercom.
Then a metallic crash echoed from the eastern hallway.
Dante moved toward us.
"Stay together."
I could barely see his silhouette.
Somewhere upstairs, a door slammed.
Nico began trembling.
"It's the blue room," he whispered.
I crouched beside him.
"Nobody is putting you there."
He shook his head.
"No, Alessia."
His voice became urgent.
"That's where Miss Valentina looks for Mommy's things."
I froze.
"What things?"
Nico opened his mouth.
Before he could answer, footsteps sounded above us.
Dante pulled out his phone and switched on the flashlight.
"Alessia, take Nico into the kitchen and lock the service door."
I wanted to argue.
Instead, I picked Nico up and carried him toward the rear corridor.
The emergency lighting should have activated.
It hadn't.
Something was very wrong.
As I reached the kitchen, a dark figure appeared at the far end of the hallway.
For one terrible moment, neither of us moved.
Then the figure turned and ran upstairs.
I recognized the pale coat.
Valentina.
I set Nico behind the kitchen island and called Gabriel on my phone.
He answered immediately.
"Mrs. Moretti, where are you?"
"In the kitchen."
"The security system was deliberately disabled."
"Valentina is inside."
A pause.
"Keep Nico away from the eastern stairs."
The call ended.
I locked the kitchen door and pulled Nico close.
He was crying silently.
"Did I do something bad?" he whispered.
"No."
"She said Mommy's things weren't mine."
"She was wrong."
His small fingers dug into my sleeve.
"She wants the red box."
My heart raced.
"Do you know what's inside?"
Nico nodded.
"Mommy's important papers."
"Where did you see it last?"
He pointed toward the ceiling.
"Under the window seat in her old room."
Not the blue room.
Elena's former bedroom.
I realized Valentina had been searching the wrong place.
A minute later, footsteps hurried toward the kitchen.
Dante's voice came through the door.
"Alessia, it's me."
I unlocked it.
He stepped inside, breathing hard.
"Are you both safe?"
I nodded.
"Nico says Elena hid something in her old bedroom."
Dante looked at his son.
"Are you certain?"
Nico nodded.
"Mommy said the little car would help."
Dante frowned.
"What little car?"
"The one in my treasure box."
Before we could ask more, Gabriel called.
Security had detained a man near the garage, but Valentina had escaped through the garden.
The man carried an access card and a bag containing documents removed from Dante's office.
The bag also contained a photograph of my mother's locket.
Dante looked at the image.
His expression became frighteningly calm.
"They weren't searching for Elena's jewelry."
"No," I said.
"They were searching for evidence."
Police arrived to investigate the break-in.
By midnight, Gabriel had restored the security system and secured the affected areas.
Dante insisted that Nico and I leave the mansion until the property could be thoroughly checked.
He had a private apartment downtown, with a separate security system and limited staff access.
I agreed immediately.
As I packed Nico's pajamas, he approached me carrying his metal box.
"Alessia?"
"Yes, sweetheart?"
"Can I keep this with me?"
"Always."
He opened it.
Inside were his coins, the broken watch, and two toy cars.
One was red.
The other was blue.
Nico held up the blue car.
"Mommy told me it was very special."
I examined it.
It looked ordinary, except for a tiny seam beneath the back wheel.
"Why special?"
He frowned, trying to remember.
"She said when I got bigger, Daddy would know what to do with it."
A chill passed through me.
I carried the toy downstairs to Dante.
Under the office lamp, he examined the seam carefully.
Then he pressed the rear axle.
A hidden compartment opened.
Inside was a small black memory card.
Dante stared at it.
For the first time since our strange marriage arrangement began, I saw genuine fear in his eyes.
"Elena," he whispered.
May you like
I stood beside him, holding my breath.
And then he said, "Whatever is on this card, someone has been willing to destroy our family to find it."
