Chapter 2 - The Maid Discovered the Mafia Boss’s Mother Was Alive—Then She Learned Her Father’s Gambling Debt Was Never RealFor several seconds, Harper could not process the words.
“Dante’s mother is dead.”
Rosalia looked at the bunker monitors.
“That is what Carmine needed everyone to believe.”
“No.”
“I understand.”
“No, you don’t.”
Harper backed away.
“I’ve worked beside you for eight months.”
“Yes.”
“You helped me hide money.”
“Yes.”
“You helped me get documents.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Rosalia finally looked at Harper’s stomach.
“Because I knew.”
Harper’s hand moved protectively over the baby.
“You knew I was pregnant?”
“Six weeks ago.”
“And you didn’t tell Dante?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because it was your secret to tell.”
Harper stared.
Nothing about this family made sense.
On the monitors, William remained tied to the chair.
Isabella paced nearby.
Carmine spoke into a phone.
Harper pointed.
“My father.”
“We’ll get him out.”
“How?”
“Dante.”
“Dante may be dead!”
Rosalia’s face changed.
For one instant she was no longer a spy or hidden Moretti.
She was a mother.
“He’s alive.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Rosalia pointed to a small screen.
A biometric signal blinked.
D.M.—ACTIVE.
Harper nearly collapsed with relief.
“He’s wearing a monitor?”
“Subdermal tracker.”
“Of course he is.”
Rosalia almost smiled.
“Being my son has disadvantages.”
Gunfire echoed faintly above.
Harper looked at William again.
“Why is Carmine doing this?”
Rosalia’s expression hardened.
“Because Carmine has spent twelve years trying to take what belonged to Dante’s father.”
“The organization?”
“Everything.”
She opened a secured cabinet.
Inside were files.
Photographs.
Bank statements.
Rosalia placed one folder in Harper’s hands.
SULLIVAN, WILLIAM.
Harper stopped breathing.
“What is this?”
“The truth about your father.”
She opened it.
William’s supposed gambling debt was listed.
$186,000.
But beneath it were payments.
Transfers.
Signatures.
Harper frowned.
“This says the debt was settled.”
“It was.”
“When?”
“Before you came here.”
Harper looked up.
“What?”
“Your father paid Carmine seven months before you entered this estate.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Then why was I working here?”
Rosalia’s expression filled with regret.
“Because Carmine wanted you inside.”
Harper stared at her.
“Why?”
“Because William Sullivan wasn’t merely a gambler.”
The bunker seemed to shrink.
“What was he?”
“An accountant.”
“I know. Before he lost his job.”
“Not just any accountant.”
Rosalia tapped the file.
“He worked for the Moretti organization.”
Harper laughed once.
“That’s impossible.”
“He managed shell corporations for Dante’s father.”
“No.”
“He discovered Carmine was stealing.”
Harper looked toward the monitor.
Her father.
The weak man she had spent years rescuing.
The man whose debts had destroyed her education.
“What did he discover?”
“Carmine was diverting money and supplying information to the Romanos.”
“Why didn’t Dad tell Dante?”
“He tried.”
Rosalia’s voice lowered.
“But Dante’s father was killed before the meeting.”
The car bombing.
Harper understood.
“Carmine?”
“We never proved it.”
“Until now?”
Rosalia nodded.
“William kept the original ledger.”
“And Carmine wanted it.”
“Yes.”
“So he invented the debt.”
“He needed leverage.”
“Why me?”
“Because William would tolerate threats against himself.”
Rosalia looked at Harper.
“But not against his daughter.”
Harper felt sick.
“My entire life fell apart because Carmine wanted a book.”
“Yes.”
“My nursing school.”
“Yes.”
“My apartment.”
“I’m sorry.”
“My job here?”
“Carmine wanted William to believe you were under Moretti control.”
Harper’s eyes burned.
“And you knew?”
“Not at first.”
“When?”
“Two months after you arrived.”
“You let me keep working.”
“I needed to know who Carmine was communicating with.”
“So you used me too.”
Rosalia accepted it.
“Yes.”
Harper slapped her.
The sound cracked through the bunker.
Rosalia did not move.
Harper’s hand shook.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.”
Rosalia looked at her steadily.
“You deserved one honest reaction tonight.”
Harper started crying.
“I don’t know who to trust.”
“Good.”
Harper stared.
Rosalia continued.
“That may save you.”
Dante was alive.
He had retreated from the west wing with six loyal men.
Felix Mercer reestablished communications.
“Boss is moving toward the cellar,” Rosalia said.
Harper grabbed the microphone.
“Dante?”
Static.
Then:
“Harper?”
His voice.
Alive.
Her knees nearly failed.
“I’m here.”
A pause.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“The baby?”
“I think okay.”
Dante exhaled.
Then his voice changed.
“Who entered the bunker?”
Harper looked at Rosalia.
“Your mother.”
Silence.
Complete silence.
Then Dante said:
“My what?”
Rosalia took the microphone.
“Hello, sweetheart.”
Another silence.
Harper would have laughed if men were not currently trying to kill them.
Finally Dante spoke.
“You’re dead.”
Rosalia sighed.
“You always were dramatic.”
“My mother is dead.”
“Technically, Rosalia Moretti is.”
Dante swore violently.
Harper almost smiled.
Rosalia said, “We can discuss your childhood trauma after we survive Carmine.”
“Where have you been for twelve years?”
“Protecting you.”
“By pretending to be dead?”
“Yes.”
“That is the stupidest—”
Harper interrupted.
“Dante.”
Silence.
“We need my father.”
His anger disappeared instantly.
“Where?”
“Cellar.”
“I saw.”
“Carmine wants a ledger.”
“I know about the ledger.”
Harper froze.
“You do?”
“I found references after Felix traced William’s old accounts.”
“When?”
“Two months ago.”
“You knew my father worked for your family?”
“Yes.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
Silence.
Harper closed her eyes.
Of course.
Another secret.
Dante spoke carefully.
“I didn’t know the debt was false.”
“But you knew something.”
“Yes.”
“And said nothing.”
“I was trying to protect—”
“Don’t.”
Dante stopped.
“Do not say protect me.”
Another silence.
“You’re right.”
That surprised her.
“We survive tonight,” Dante said. “Then you can hate me properly.”
Despite everything, Harper almost laughed.
“Deal.”
Carmine contacted the bunker twenty minutes later.
His face appeared on a monitor.
“Harper.”
She stared.
“Uncle Carmine.”
He smiled.
“I prefer when you call me Mr. Moretti.”
“I prefer when people don’t kidnap my father.”
His smile vanished.
“William has something that belongs to this family.”
“Then ask politely.”
Rosalia looked impressed.
Carmine continued.
“You have ten minutes to bring me the ledger.”
“I don’t have it.”
“Your father says otherwise.”
“Then he’s lying.”
William suddenly shouted from behind him.
“Harper! Don’t give him anything!”
Carmine struck him.
Harper lunged toward the screen.
“Stop!”
“Ten minutes.”
The screen went dark.
Harper turned to Rosalia.
“Where is the ledger?”
“I don’t know.”
“Dad must have hidden it.”
Her mind raced.
Then she remembered.
When she was fourteen, William had given her an old copy of Gray’s Anatomy after she told him she wanted to become a nurse.
He had written inside:
For Harper. Learn how to save people.
She still owned it.
It was in her room.
At the estate.
Harper looked at Rosalia.
“I know where it is.”
The book contained no ledger.
It contained a key.
A tiny brass key hidden beneath the spine.
The number engraved on it was 417.
Felix identified the number.
A safe-deposit box.
Manhattan.
Carmine had spent years searching the wrong places.
William had hidden the key in the one object he knew Harper would never throw away.
But Carmine still had William.
Dante reached the bunker thirty minutes later.
When the steel door opened, Harper saw blood.
“Dante.”
“It’s not mine.”
“Whose?”
He glanced behind him.
“Several opinions were exchanged.”
“Dante.”
“I’m fine.”
Then he saw Rosalia.
Everything stopped.
Mother and son stared at each other.
Twelve years.
Dante looked like a child for one heartbeat.
Then anger returned.
“You let me bury an empty coffin.”
Rosalia’s eyes filled.
“Yes.”
“You watched me become this.”
“I watched you survive.”
“You were in my kitchen.”
“Yes.”
“For eight months.”
“Yes.”
“And you said nothing.”
“I wanted to.”
“But you didn’t.”
“No.”
Dante looked away.
Harper understood something.
She and Dante were different in almost every possible way.
Yet both had spent years being “protected” by people who lied to them.
She touched his arm.
He looked down.
“Later,” she whispered.
Dante nodded.
“Later.”
Then his eyes moved to her stomach.
He hesitated.
“May I?”
Harper understood.
She took his hand.
Placed it gently over the small curve.
Dante stopped breathing.
Nothing happened.
Then—
A tiny movement.
Probably too small to truly be the baby.
Maybe only Harper’s body shifting.
But Dante’s expression broke anyway.
His eyes filled.
“That’s…”
“I know.”
“I almost lost both of you without knowing either of you existed.”
Harper’s throat tightened.
“You knew I existed.”
“Not properly.”
He looked at her.
“And that’s my fault.”
Before she could answer, Felix’s voice came over the radio.
“Boss.”
Dante straightened.
“Carmine is moving William.”
“Where?”
“Garage.”
Dante turned.
Harper grabbed his arm.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
Her expression hardened.
Dante stopped himself.
He closed his eyes.
Then corrected:
“I would prefer you remain somewhere safer.”
Harper almost smiled.
“Better.”
“Still no?”
“Still no.”
Rosalia laughed softly.
“My grandchild is doomed.”
Dante stared at her.
“Do not call yourself grandmother yet.”
Rosalia smiled.
“There’s my boy.”
They reached the garage as Carmine prepared to leave.
William was dragged toward an SUV.
Isabella stood beside him.
Enzo, wounded but alive, held a gun against William’s back.
Dante entered first.
“Let him go.”
Carmine smiled.
“Nephew.”
Dante’s men spread out.
Carmine’s did the same.
Nobody fired.
Not yet.
Then Isabella saw Harper.
Her face twisted.
“You.”
Harper instinctively covered her stomach.
Isabella laughed.
“You think carrying his bastard makes you important?”
Dante’s voice became deadly.
“Choose your next word carefully.”
Isabella looked at him.
“You were supposed to marry me.”
“I was supposed to prevent a war.”
“I am the treaty.”
“No.”
Dante looked at Harper.
“You were the price.”
Isabella’s face went white.
Dante continued.
“And I’m done paying people with lives.”
Carmine raised his weapon.
“You don’t have a choice.”
Dante looked at him.
“That’s where you were wrong.”
Rosalia stepped from the shadows.
Carmine froze.
His gun lowered.
“Rosalia?”
She smiled without warmth.
“Hello, Carmine.”
For the first time, the traitor looked terrified.
“You’re dead.”
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
William laughed despite the blood on his face.
Then everything happened at once.
Enzo fired.
Felix returned fire.
Harper dropped behind a car.
Dante covered her.
Rosalia shot a light fixture.
Darkness swallowed the garage.
Men shouted.
Engines roared.
Then Isabella screamed.
When emergency lights flickered on, Enzo was down.
Carmine was gone.
So was Isabella.
William remained.
Alive.
Harper ran to him.
“Dad!”
He collapsed into her arms.
“I’m sorry.”
She cried.
“For what?”
“For all of it.”
He looked at her stomach.
Then at Dante.
His eyes widened.
“Oh.”
Harper almost laughed through her tears.
“Yes.”
William looked at Dante.
“You?”
Dante nodded.
William sighed.
“I should have stayed with gambling.”
Harper laughed.
For one second, they were simply a family.
Then Felix approached.
“Boss.”
Dante turned.
“Carmine and Isabella escaped through the south gate.”
“Find them.”
“We will.”
Felix hesitated.
“But there’s something else.”
“What?”
“Carmine sent a message before leaving.”
Dante took the phone.
One sentence filled the screen.
BRING THE KEY TO THE WEDDING TOMORROW OR THE WAR BEGINS AT NOON.
Harper stared.
The engagement gala.
Hundreds of guests.
Every major family.
Politicians.
Business leaders.
Carmine did not intend to cancel the wedding.
He intended to turn it into an execution.
And now Harper knew exactly what she had to do.
She looked at Dante.
“Tomorrow, you’re getting engaged.”
His face hardened.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“To Isabella?”
“Yes.”
“Absolutely not.”
Harper looked at the key in her palm.
“If Carmine wants a bride, a groom, and an audience…”
May you like
Her fear disappeared.
“Let’s give him all three.”
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