Chapter 3 - Shadows in the East Wing
The rain poured heavily against the glass panes of the grand corridor as I walked toward the east wing of the estate. The Valenti family had been our primary rivals in the city for over a decade. Five years ago, we established a tense truce, but bad blood never truly washes away. Knowing that Evelyn had been funneling my schedule to them meant every meeting, every shipment, and every movement I made over the past six months was compromised.
Marco met me outside Evelyn's office. He handed me a tablet displaying a list of encrypted bank statements.
"The payments started small about eight months ago," Marco reported. "Five thousand here, ten thousand there. Then three months ago—right around the time Anna requested the ramp—the payments spiked."
"She was using the fake marble restoration invoices to launder the bribe money through our own accounting system," I said, skimming the data. "Brilliant in its arrogance."
"What do you want to do with her?" Marco asked, his hand resting near his coat.
"Not yet," I replied. "If the Valentis realize we know, they'll pull back and find another angle. Keep Evelyn isolated in her room. Cut off her phones, her internet, every line of communication. Let her think I'm just investigating the stolen money for now."
"Understood."
"And Marco?"
"Yeah, boss?"
"Call a contractor right now. I don't care if it costs ten times the original estimate. I want that marble threshold removed and replaced with a smooth wooden ramp before sunrise tomorrow."
Marco gave a rare, genuine smile. "I'll handle it personally."
I walked back down toward the lower levels, feeling a strange pull toward the staff living quarters in the west wing. It was a part of the house I rarely visited. The hallways were narrower, the ceilings lower, but it felt remarkably warmer than the cold marble halls of the main residence.
As I approached the small apartment assigned to Anna and Lily, I heard quiet music playing from behind the half-open door. It was a soft lullaby played on an old acoustic guitar. I paused, not wanting to intrude, but through the gap, I saw Anna sitting on a small rug, her hands strumming the strings while Lily sat beside her, coloring in a picture book.
Lily’s leg brace lay on the floor near the couch, giving her small leg a moment to rest.
"Mama," Lily asked, her small voice carrying into the hall. "Is the tall man going to make us leave?"
Anna paused her playing, setting the guitar gently on her lap. "No, sweetie. Mr. Moretti is... he's fixing things."
"Is he a bad man?" Lily asked innocently. "Evelyn said he sends bad people away."
Anna reached out, brushing a strand of hair from her daughter's face. "He's the owner of this house, Lily. And today, he was very kind to us. We have to respect him."
"He looked sad," Lily said softly. "Like he doesn't have anyone to play with."
I stepped back into the shadows, a strange sensation tightening in my chest. In my world, people looked at me with fear, respect, or hatred. Nobody had ever looked at me and thought I was sad.
I turned quietly and made my way back to my study.
That night, I sat up until 3:00 AM going through every piece of data Marco's team extracted from Evelyn's computer. It quickly became clear that Evelyn wasn't working alone. The transfers were authorized using a secondary access key that belonged to someone higher up in my organization.
Someone close to me was feeding Evelyn the codes.
A light knock at my study door broke the silence.
I closed the laptop. "Enter."
It was Norah, Evelyn's young assistant who had handed me the denied request earlier that morning. She looked terrified, clutching a manila folder against her chest.
"Mr. Moretti," she stammered. "I... I hope I'm not disturbing you."
"Come in, Norah," I said, gesturing to the desk. "You took a big risk downstairs today. Why did you do it?"
Norah stepped inside, keeping her eyes fixed on the floor. "Because Anna is a good person, sir. And Lily... that little girl doesn't deserve to be treated like garbage just because her mother works here. Evelyn has been cruel to everyone, but what she did to them was too much."
"Did you know about the money?"
"I suspected," Norah admitted, placing the folder on my desk. "Evelyn always made me file the marble maintenance invoices in a separate physical folder that she kept locked in her desk. She never let the main accounting team touch them. I managed to make copies of these last week."
I opened the folder. Inside were duplicate receipts, signature pages, and something else—a photocopy of a old birth certificate.
I picked up the birth certificate and read the name.
Lily Sofia Valenti.
My blood ran cold.
May you like
I stared at the paper, then looked up at Norah. "Where did you get this?"
"It was tucked inside Evelyn's private file on Anna," Norah whispered. "Mr. Moretti... Anna isn't just a housekeeper. Her late husband was Julian Valenti."
