Chapter 3 - THE MAID'S MASTER KEY
The click of ten weapons turning off their safeties echoed like firecrackers.
Evelyn pressed her trembling hand against the gold locket on her chest. Thomas immediately shifted, shielding her with his body.
Damian stood perfectly still.
“Celeste,” Damian warned, his voice dropping to a terrifying calm. “If one of those men touches her, I will spend the rest of my life erasing your family from this earth.”
Celeste laughed, a sharp, nervous sound.
“My family is already erased, Damian,” she snapped. “My father filed for bankruptcy three days ago. If this merger doesn't happen tonight, the Montgomerys will lose everything. The estates, the businesses, all of it.”
She slammed the marriage contract onto a side table and tossed a gold pen next to it.
“Sign it. You get your precious, tragic parents back, and I get the Vitelli bank accounts.”
Dominick sat in his chair amidst the broken glass, watching with grim satisfaction.
“She is right, Damian,” Dominick rasped. “A Vitelli does not break an engagement. Sign the paper. Accept your duty. Or this room becomes a tomb.”
I backed slowly into the shadows near the service doors.
My heart hammered against my ribs. My father was in the hospital. If I died here tonight, his life support would be turned off by Friday.
But I looked at Evelyn.
She was looking at Damian with such profound, selfless love. She slowly shook her head, silently begging him not to sell his soul for her.
I couldn't let this happen.
I was the housekeeper. I knew this mansion better than the men holding the guns. I knew the secrets hidden behind the velvet wallpaper.
I slipped my hand into my apron and gripped the heavy brass ring of master keys.
Then, I looked at the main circuit breaker hidden behind the decorative wooden panels just three feet away.
I locked eyes with Thomas Russo.
He had spent decades reading small gestures in dangerous rooms. He saw my hand hovering near the panel. He gave me a barely perceptible nod.
I yanked the wooden panel open and pulled the massive red lever down.
The dining room plunged into absolute, pitch-black darkness.
“Grab them!” Celeste shrieked.
Gunfire shattered the ceiling plaster, deafening and chaotic. Women screamed.
In the dark, I grabbed Evelyn’s hand.
“Follow me!” I hissed.
Damian and Thomas flanked us. I jammed my master key into the concealed servant’s door hidden in the wainscoting. It clicked open. I shoved Evelyn inside, and the men followed.
I pulled the door shut just as flashlights swept across the dining room walls.
We were standing in the narrow, pitch-black servant tunnels that ran between the walls of the estate.
“Anna,” Damian whispered in the dark. “Thank you.”
“We have to keep moving,” I breathed, my hands shaking. “They’ll figure out the panels soon.”
Thomas struck a lighter. The small orange flame illuminated the dust and cobwebs of the corridor.
He looked at Evelyn. He reached out, gently touching her cheek.
“Are you hurt?” he asked.
Evelyn leaned into his hand, tears shining in the lighter’s glow. “No. I have you. Both of you.”
Damian watched them, the hardened mafia boss reduced to a son witnessing his parents' love for the first time.
But the tender moment was shattered by a loud, metallic clatter on the floorboards.
Thomas aimed the lighter down.
Lying in the dust was Evelyn’s gold locket. The chain had snapped in the chaos.
Before I could pick it up, the locket sprang open.
Inside was a tiny, faded photograph. But it wasn't a baby picture of Damian.
It was a picture of Frances Vitelli.
But she wasn't smiling. She had a dark bruise across her cheek, and she was handing a thick, black leather book to Evelyn.
Damian stared at the tiny photo. “What is that book?”
Evelyn swallowed hard, her face going pale in the flickering light.
“It’s the reason I really came back tonight, Damian. I didn't just come for the wedding.”
May you like
She looked up at him, her eyes filled with terror.
“I came because Frances mailed me that ledger before she died. And if Dominick finds out I have it, he won't just kill me. He’ll burn this entire city to the ground.”
