696 "The grieving maid ran toward the mafia boss’s screaming baby—and the moment he fell silent in her arms, his father realized something was terribly wrong. By dawn, Matteo Varric would discover why his nine-month-old son recognized a woman he had never met.

The woman stood motionless beside the idling SUV. Her skin was pale, her features sharp and exquisite—identical to the framed oil paintings that hung in the grand gallery of the Varric estate.

Elena Varric, the woman Matteo had mourned for seven months, was standing twenty feet away, alive and breathing.

"Hello, Matteo," Elena said. Her voice was cool, distant, completely devoid of warmth. It lacked the loving tone Matteo had remembered from their marriage; instead, it sounded like ice scraping across steel.

Matteo’s hands trembled. He stepped in front of Liana and Nico, his body forming an impenetrable wall between the dead woman and his child.

"How?" Matteo rasped, his voice choked with emotion. "I buried you. I held your hand while your heart stopped in the hospital!"

Elena let out a soft, bitter laugh that echoed chillingly off the concrete garage walls. "You held the hand of a body double, Matteo. A terminally ill woman from an asylum in Prague whom my family paid five hundred thousand dollars to play my final scene. The doctors, the nurses, the coroner... they all worked for the Syndicate."

Liana gasped from behind Matteo, her hands tightening around Nico.

"The Syndicate..." Matteo whispered, his amber eyes narrowing into slits of pure fury. "The Moretti family. You were working with your father all along?"

"I never stopped working for my father," Elena corrected smoothly, taking a slow step forward. Her leather boots clicked sharply on the stained floor. "Our marriage was a business transaction, Matteo. My father needed time to infiltrate your distribution networks in Europe. I gave him that time by keeping you blinded by 'love' and domestic bliss."

"And Nico?" Matteo demanded, his voice dropping into a deadly growl. "You put that device in his crib! You tormented your own son for three weeks!"

Elena glanced at the bundle in Liana’s arms, her blue eyes showing zero maternal affection. "He isn't my son, Matteo. He was a bargaining chip that took too long to yield results. When I realized you were transitioning the Varric business into legitimate legal enterprises, you became useless to the Syndicate. But the child... the child retains fifty percent of the Varric family trust assets."

She extended her gloved hand toward Liana. "Hand the boy over, maid. And perhaps my men will let you walk out of this garage alive."

Liana didn't move an inch. She glared at Elena with a fierce, uncompromising hatred that shocked even Matteo.

"You're a monster," Liana said, her voice steady and ringing through the cavernous garage. "A mother doesn't hurt her child for money. You don't deserve to even look at him."

Elena’s eyes flashed with annoyance. She reached into her coat, pulling out a sleek silver revolver. "I don't have time for a servant's moral lecture."

Before Elena could raise the weapon, Matteo fired three rapid shots at her feet!

SPARKS flew off the concrete, forcing Elena to dive back into the open door of the SUV!

"GO!" Matteo roared to Liana. "GET TO THE PANIC ROOM! NOW!"

The third SUV accelerated violently, tearing out of the garage bay as Elena’s surviving men opened fire to cover her escape!

Matteo grabbed Liana by the arm, shielding her with his body as they ducked through the heavy steel blast doors leading to the estate's fortified core. He hit the emergency lock panel, and a three-inch-thick steel barrier slammed down with a deafening metallic THUD, sealing them off from the garage!

Inside the brightly lit, sterile panic room, the chaotic sound of gunfire was instantly muted.

Liana collapsed onto a leather sofa, trembling violently, holding Nico tight against her chest. The baby was crying softly now, overwhelmed by the loud noises and smoke. Liana immediately began humming—six simple, descending notes of a sweet, soothing melody she used to sing to her own lost child.

Nico’s small body relaxed instantly. His whimpers faded as he tucked his head under her chin, listening to the vibration of her voice.

Matteo stood near the heavy steel door, his back against the wall, staring at the floor. The weapon in his hand hung loose at his side. The revelation had crushed him. The woman he had loved, the marriage he had cherished, the grief that had consumed his life for seven months... it had all been an elaborate, cruel lie.

He slowly walked over to the sofa and sank down beside Liana.

He looked down at his son, then at Liana, whose red uniform was torn, covered in dust, and stained with blood from small cuts on her arms. Yet, she was gently rocking his son, her voice soft and tender, giving Nico the love his real mother had stripped away.

"I’m sorry," Matteo whispered, his voice cracking slightly—a rare sound from a man who ruled an empire. "I brought you into a nightmare, Liana."

Liana stopped humming and looked at him. She saw the profound, devastating pain in his amber eyes—the pain of a man who realized he was completely alone in the world.