Chapter 3 - Shadows of the Past
For two weeks, a strange, fragile rhythm established itself inside the Moretti estate.
Bella was no longer treated as domestic help. She was given fine clothes, full access to the estate's private courtyard, and three meals a day. But she was never allowed past the front gates. Silana’s security detail followed her every move at a respectful distance.
Silana himself changed. He began spending his evenings in the East Wing rather than his dark office. He sat on the rug, letting Leo pull at his gold wristwatch, teaching the toddler how to roll a wooden ball back and forth. For those brief hours every night, the murderous kingpin of Chicago transformed into a gentle guardian.
And yet, the terror of Bella’s past was catching up with her.
One chilly afternoon while Leo was napping, Bella sat in the estate library, pretending to read a book while keeping her eyes on the window. She knew David Miller was still out there somewhere, hiding from the syndicate. If Silana ever connected her to David...
The door opened, and Dominic walked in, holding a thick manila folder. His face was stern.
"Bella," Dominic said flatly. "The Boss wants to see you in his study."
Bella felt a cold knot tighten in her gut. She stood up, smoothing down her sweater, her hands trembling. "Is... is something wrong?"
"Just come with me."
She followed Dominic down the grand hallway to the West Wing. The heavy oak door of Silana’s office stood open. Silana was sitting behind his desk, but he wasn't alone. Spread out across the mahogany surface were dozens of surveillance photographs, financial ledgers, and background reports.
Silana looked up as she walked in. His face had returned to the cold, unreadable mask he wore during business.
"Sit down, Bella," Silana said softly.
Bella sat nervously in the leather chair across from him. "Mr. Moretti, what is this?"
Silana picked up a photograph from the pile and slid it across the desk toward her.
Bella’s breath caught in her throat. The photograph showed a man with messy blonde hair and a leather jacket, caught on a security camera outside a strip club in Southside Chicago.
It was David Miller.
"Do you know this man?" Silana asked, his dark eyes locking onto hers like a laser.
"I... I don't..." Bella stammered, panic surging through her blood.
"Don't lie to me, Bella," Silana interrupted, his tone chillingly calm. "David Miller stole fifty thousand dollars from one of my dummy corporations fourteen months ago. He vanished right after. My investigators have been tracking his old contacts."
He picked up a second paper—a copy of a medical record from a Southside clinic.
"Nine months ago, a woman named Bella Jenkins gave birth to a boy named Leo at Saint Jude’s Hospital," Silana read flatly. "The father listed on the birth certificate was left blank. But the emergency contact listed on your old lease agreement was David Miller."
Bella closed her eyes tightly, tears spilling over her lashes. The truth was out. The trap had sprung.
"I didn't know he stole from you!" Bella sobbed, dropping her face into her hands. "I swear to God, I didn't know! He left me when I was three months pregnant! He took all our savings and disappeared! I only took the job here because I was desperate, because I thought no one would look for his ex-girlfriend in your house!"
Silence stretched across the room. Bella waited for the order to be given, for Dominic to step forward and drag her away.
Instead, she heard the smooth slide of a drawer.
When she opened her eyes, Silana was holding a heavy silver fountain pen, casually signing his name at the bottom of a document.
"David Miller is a rat," Silana said quietly, setting the pen down. "A weak, pathetic coward who abandoned a pregnant woman and a helpless child to save his own skin."
Silana stood up, walking around the desk until he was standing right over her. He reached down, taking her trembling hands into his own warm, solid grip, forcing her to look up at him.
"You brought his child into my home under false pretenses," Silana said softly. "By the laws of my organization, that is a deception punishable by death."
Bella gasped, her heart hammering against her ribs.
"However," Silana continued, his eyes softening as he looked deep into her gaze, "you did it to feed your son. You worked yourself to the bone, scrubbing my floors, risking your life every single day just to keep him alive. That is not treason, Bella. That is motherly devotion. And I respect nothing more in this world."
May you like
He squeezed her hands gently.
"David Miller will be found," Silana vowed, his voice dropping into a promise of pure, lethal authority. "And he will pay for what he stole from me, and what he did to you. But you and Leo? You are under my protection now. No one—not the Castellanos, not the debt collectors, and certainly not David Miller—will ever harm a hair on your heads again."
