HE CAN EAT IN THE KITCHEN! NOBODY INVITED HIM TO EMBARRASS MY FAMILY!” THE MAFIA BOSS’S FIANCÉE HUMILIATED HIS 25-YEAR-OLD MAID FOR HELPING AN ELDERLY MAN SIT AT THE DINNER TABLE

I backed away from the door, pulling Sophie behind me.

Thomas stood up, leaning his full weight on his cane. He stepped between us and the heavy oak door.

"Vanessa," Thomas called out, his voice shockingly firm. "If you fire a weapon in this house, Luca will hear it."

"Luca is a bit tied up in the dining room," Vanessa's voice sneered through the wood. "My uncle’s men just arrived at the front gate. Open the door, Hannah. Hand over the envelope."

My blood ran cold. She knows about the envelope.

I looked down at the letter in my hands. The red wax seal was still intact. Hannah Collins. Catherine had addressed it to me three years before I even set foot in this mansion.

How?

"Hannah," Thomas whispered urgently. "Read it."

I tore open the wax seal. Inside was a single sheet of heavy stationary.

I read it aloud, my voice shaking.

“If you are reading this, my name is Catherine. By now, I am likely dead. My nurse, Vanessa, has been slowly poisoning me. But this letter isn't about me. It’s about you, Hannah. You don't know me, but I know you. Three years ago, your mother, Mary Collins, was the head surgical nurse at St. Jude’s Hospital. She discovered Dr. Elias Thorne was stealing hospital funds and falsifying autopsy reports for the Bellini family. Thorne ruined her career, blacklisted her, and drove her into poverty to keep her quiet.”

I stopped reading. The air in my lungs vanished.

My mother. My mother hadn't just gotten sick and lost her job. She had been targeted. Ruined.

I looked back down at the letter.

“I found your mother’s files in Elias’s office,” the letter continued. “I hid the original, un-falsified autopsy reports in a safety deposit box. The key is hidden inside the false bottom of my jewelry box. I am leaving this letter with Thomas because he is the only man I trust. I have told him to find you. When the time is right, he will bring you to this house. He will hire you. And you will help him destroy them.”

I slowly lowered the paper.

I looked at Thomas.

The frail, terrified old man who couldn't cut his own meat wasn't looking at the door anymore. He was looking at me. His posture had straightened. The trembling in his hands had completely stopped.

"You didn't stumble into this job, Hannah," Thomas said, his voice deep and steady. "I recruited you."

I stared at him in shock. "You've been pretending? The arthritis... the fear?"

"A harmless old man hears everything," Thomas said smoothly. "And a harmless old man is allowed to make mistakes. Like dropping a napkin to see who is paying attention."

"Bang!"

The door shuddered violently as Vanessa kicked it.

"I'm out of patience!" she screamed. "I'm blowing the lock!"

Thomas didn't flinch. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a sleek, black silencer pistol.

"Get Sophie in the closet," Thomas ordered me.

I grabbed Sophie and rushed her into the walk-in closet, hiding her behind the thick winter coats. "Stay quiet, baby," I whispered.

I stepped back out just as the doorknob exploded in a shower of wood splinters and metal.

The door swung open.

Vanessa stood there, a revolver in her hand. Behind her stood two of her uncle’s armed guards.

She smiled triumphantly. "Give me the letter, Hannah."

Thomas raised his weapon.

But before anyone could pull a trigger, a massive shadow appeared in the hallway behind Vanessa’s guards.