Chapter 1 - The Secret Beneath Her Maid's Uniform—and the Three Words That Made Chicago's Most Feared Mafia Boss TrembleThe first time Dominic Russo looked at my stomach like he knew what I was hiding, I thought my entire world was about to collapse.
I was standing in the kitchen of his enormous Chicago mansion, wearing the same black-and-white maid's uniform I'd worn every morning for the past eleven months.
My hands were shaking.
My heart was pounding.
And beneath my apron, our unborn baby had just kicked hard enough to make me gasp.
Dominic stood in the doorway.
Six feet five inches of muscle, expensive Italian tailoring, and dark tattoos that disappeared beneath the sleeves of his black shirt.
He was thirty-four years old.
The most feared Mafia boss in Chicago.
And the father of the child I had spent five months desperately trying to hide.
"Norah."
His deep voice made me straighten.
"Yes, Mr. Russo?"
His jaw tightened.
"How many times have I told you not to call me that when we're alone?"
I lowered my eyes.
"Sorry. Dominic."
He approached the kitchen island.
A fresh bruise marked his cheekbone, and his knuckles were scraped.
I didn't ask what had happened.
In Dominic Russo's world, asking the wrong question could be dangerous.
But I'd learned something about him that most people never discovered.
The man who could silence an entire room with one glance was also the father who sat beside his little daughter's bed until she fell asleep.
The man who controlled half of Chicago's criminal underworld still kept a tiny pink hair clip in his jacket pocket because his daughter had given it to him.
And the man who terrified everyone around him had once held me in his arms like I was the only thing keeping him alive.
That night had changed everything.
Unfortunately, I was the only one who seemed to remember it.
"You're pale," Dominic said.
"I'm just tired."
"You said that yesterday."
"I've been working."
"And Tuesday?"
I swallowed.
"Dominic—"
"You almost fainted in the laundry room."
My blood ran cold.
"How did you know?"
His expression remained unreadable.
"I know what happens inside my house."
Of course he did.
There were cameras in every hallway.
Armed guards at every entrance.
Security personnel monitoring the grounds around the clock.
Nothing happened inside the Russo mansion without someone reporting it.
Nothing.
Except the secret growing beneath my uniform.
Dominic stepped closer.
"You've stopped drinking coffee."
"I don't like it anymore."
"You've been refusing breakfast."
"My stomach's sensitive."
"And you've been wearing loose uniforms."
I froze.
His eyes moved downward.
For one horrifying second, I thought he was going to reach for my apron.
Instead, he placed a small black card on the counter.
"Saturday. Ten o'clock. My private physician."
My stomach dropped.
"I don't need a doctor."
"That wasn't a suggestion."
"Please, Dominic."
He stared at me.
"Why are you afraid of seeing a doctor?"
Because your doctor would tell you I'm pregnant.
Because he'd calculate the dates.
Because he'd realize the child belongs to you.
And because once you knew, nothing would ever be the same.
But I couldn't say any of that.
So I whispered, "I just don't like hospitals."
Something shifted in his expression.
For a moment, the ruthless Mafia boss disappeared.
The man standing before me looked almost concerned.
"Norah, if something is wrong, I need to know."
I wanted to tell him.
God, I wanted to.
But then a little voice rang through the kitchen.
"NORAH!"
Four-year-old Lily Russo came running around the corner, her blonde curls bouncing against her pink pajamas.
She threw herself against my legs.
"YOU PROMISED!"
I laughed despite my fear.
"Promised what, princess?"
"THE CASTLE!"
"Oh, the castle."
"With a dragon!"
"And a princess?"
Lily nodded fiercely.
"WITH A SWORD!"
Dominic's mouth twitched.
"Why does the princess need a sword?"
Lily turned toward him.
"Because the dragon might be mean, Daddy."
"And what if the dragon is friendly?"
She considered that.
"Then he can have cookies."
Dominic actually smiled.
It was a rare sight.
And every time it happened, something inside my chest hurt.
Lily reached for his hand.
"Daddy, come paint with us!"
"I have a meeting, sweetheart."
Her smile faded.
"You always have meetings."
The words landed harder than any accusation.
Dominic crouched before her.
"I'll try to finish early."
"You said that yesterday."
He said nothing.
Lily turned back to me.
"Norah always comes."
I saw the flicker of pain in his eyes.
Then he kissed her forehead.
"Be good for Norah."
After he left, Lily wrapped both arms around my waist.
"Norah?"
"Yes, sweetheart?"
"Are you going to leave too?"
My heart broke.
"Why would you ask that?"
"Because Mommy left."
I knelt carefully.
Her mother, Elena Russo, had died two years earlier in a car explosion that Dominic's enemies had supposedly arranged.
Lily remembered very little.
Only loud noises.
Flames.
And the fact that her mother had never come home.
I brushed a curl away from her face.
"I'm right here."
"But will you stay?"
I looked into those enormous blue eyes.
Then I placed my hand protectively over my stomach.
"I'll stay as long as I can."
Lily hugged me.
And I prayed that would be enough.
Five months earlier, Dominic Russo had come home bleeding.
It was almost two in the morning.
The mansion was silent.
I'd been carrying fresh towels upstairs when I heard something crash inside his private study.
I should have kept walking.
Instead, I opened the door.
Dominic was leaning against his desk, one hand pressed against his side.
Blood soaked his white shirt.
"Dominic!"
He looked up sharply.
"Get out."
"You're hurt."
"I said get out."
I ignored him.
It was probably the bravest and stupidest decision I'd ever made.
I hurried toward him.
"Sit down."
"Norah."
"Sit. Down."
He stared at me.
Then, astonishingly, he obeyed.
I found the medical supplies hidden inside his desk and cleaned the wound.
It was a shallow bullet graze.
Painful.
Bloody.
But not life-threatening.
He watched me work.
"You're not afraid of me?"
I kept my eyes on the bandage.
"Should I be?"
"Most people are."
"Most people don't have to wash your socks."
He laughed.
A real laugh.
Low and surprised.
And suddenly, the enormous study felt different.
Less like the office of a dangerous criminal.
More like a room containing two exhausted people who had forgotten how to be happy.
We talked.
For hours.
About my childhood in Wisconsin.
About the mother I'd lost to cancer.
About his daughter.
About Elena.
He admitted that he still blamed himself for his wife's death.
I told him guilt wasn't the same as responsibility.
He looked at me for a long time.
Then he said something I'd never forgotten.
"You're the first person who's spoken to me like I'm human in years."
I should have left.
Instead, I stayed.
When he kissed me, it wasn't rough or commanding.
It was hesitant.
Almost disbelieving.
And when he pulled away, he whispered, "Tell me to stop."
I didn't.
That night, I fell asleep in Dominic Russo's arms.
For a few beautiful hours, I forgot he was my employer.
Forgot he was a Mafia boss.
Forgot the enormous distance between our worlds.
I was simply Norah.
And he was simply Dominic.
But by morning, everything had changed.
His security chief had arrived with news of a betrayal.
Three men were dead.
A shipment had disappeared.
And Dominic's enemies were preparing for war.
When I entered his study later that morning, he barely looked at me.
"Last night can't happen again."
The words felt like a slap.
I nodded.
"Of course."
"It's safer this way."
I waited for him to explain.
He didn't.
So I walked away with my dignity barely intact.
Six weeks later, I discovered I was pregnant.
The morning Lily found the ultrasound began like any other.
I was folding laundry in the upstairs sitting room.
Sunlight spilled across the marble floor.
A vase of white roses stood beside the window.
And Lily was sitting on the carpet, dressing a stuffed rabbit in one of her doll's tiny sweaters.
"Norah?"
"Yes?"
"Can babies hear music?"
I froze.
"Why do you ask?"
She shrugged.
"My teacher says babies like songs."
"Sometimes they do."
"Did I like songs when I was a baby?"
"I'm sure you did."
Lily smiled.
"Maybe Mommy sang to me."
My throat tightened.
"I'm sure she did, sweetheart."
I turned back to the laundry.
That was my mistake.
I'd left my handbag open beside the basket.
Inside was a small white envelope from my obstetrician.
And inside that envelope was the ultrasound photograph I'd been staring at every night.
Lily reached into the bag.
"What's this?"
I turned.
My heart stopped.
She was holding the photograph.
"Sweetheart, give me that."
But she was already studying it.
"Is that a baby?"
"Lily—"
"IT IS!"
She jumped up.
"IT'S A BABY!"
Before I could reach her, she ran into the hallway.
"DADDY!"
I chased her.
"Lily, wait!"
But she was faster.
She disappeared through the open doors of Dominic's study.
And by the time I reached the doorway, it was too late.
Dominic was sitting behind his desk.
His security chief, Gabriel Moretti, stood beside him.
Two other men were reviewing documents.
Lily rushed straight toward her father.
"DADDY! NORAH HAS A BABY PICTURE!"
Dominic took the ultrasound.
At first, he looked confused.
Then his eyes moved across the medical information.
Twenty-one weeks.
Three days.
He checked the date.
I watched the realization strike him.
His gaze moved to the doctor's handwritten note.
FATHER'S FAMILY HISTORY: RUSSO.
Silence filled the room.
Dominic slowly stood.
"Norah."
I couldn't breathe.
"Dominic, please."
He looked at my stomach.
Then at my face.
"Are you pregnant?"
Tears burned behind my eyes.
"Yes."
His jaw tightened.
"How far along?"
I whispered, "Five months."
He looked at the ultrasound again.
Then he asked the question I'd been dreading.
"Is the baby mine?"
I couldn't lie anymore.
"Yes."
Lily gasped.
"Daddy!"
Neither of us moved.
She tugged his sleeve.
"Does that mean I'm getting a baby?"
Dominic stared at me.
I nodded through my tears.
"Yes, sweetheart."
Lily squealed.
"A BABY BROTHER?"
"We don't know yet."
"A BABY SISTER?"
"Maybe."
She jumped excitedly.
"I'm going to be a BIG SISTER!"
But Dominic wasn't smiling.
He looked devastated.
Not angry.
Not disgusted.
Devastated.
"Five months," he said quietly.
I lowered my head.
"Dominic—"
"Five months, Norah."
"I was going to tell you."
"When?"
I had no answer.
His voice broke.
"When were you going to tell me I had another child?"
Tears spilled down my cheeks.
"I was afraid."
"Of me?"
I looked away.
That was answer enough.
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Then Dominic turned toward the men.
"Everyone out."
Gabriel hesitated.
"Boss—"
"NOW."
The men hurried toward the door.
But before Gabriel could leave, his phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed.
"Boss."
Dominic didn't turn.
"Not now."
"Dominic. You need to see this."
Something in Gabriel's voice made me look up.
He approached the desk and placed a photograph on the polished wood.
It showed me outside my doctor's office.
I recognized the blue coat I was wearing.
The shopping bag in my hand.
The entrance behind me.
Someone had photographed me from across the street.
And across the image, written in thick red letters, were three words.
KILL THE HEIR.
My knees weakened.
Dominic caught me before I fell.
"Who sent this?" he demanded.
Gabriel swallowed.
"Anonymous delivery. Came through the east security gate ten minutes ago."
"Find out who."
"We're already checking."
Dominic's arms tightened around me.
His face had gone frighteningly still.
"Who knows about the pregnancy?"
Gabriel shook his head.
"We don't know."
Dominic looked at me.
"Norah?"
I could barely speak.
"My doctor. One nurse. That's all."
"Anyone else?"
"No."
"Are you certain?"
I nodded.
Then I remembered something.
Something I'd dismissed as meaningless.
Three days earlier, I'd been leaving the doctor's office when a black SUV had slowed beside the sidewalk.
Its windows were tinted.
I hadn't seen the driver.
But I'd noticed a silver wolf emblem on the rear door.
I told Dominic.
His entire expression changed.
Gabriel went pale.
"What?" I whispered.
Dominic looked at his security chief.
"Tell me that's not what I think it is."
Gabriel said nothing.
"Gabriel."
"The wolf," he finally said, "was the symbol used by the organization that ordered Elena's assassination."
The room seemed to tilt.
Elena.
Dominic's dead wife.
Lily's mother.
The woman whose photograph still stood beside Dominic's bed.
I looked down at the threatening message.
Then at the little girl standing beside her father.
Lily was no longer smiling.
"Daddy?"
Dominic immediately crouched.
"Yes, princess?"
"Is somebody going to hurt the baby?"
His expression shattered.
He pulled her into his arms.
"No."
"Promise?"
He kissed her forehead.
"I promise."
But as I watched him hold his daughter, I noticed something else.
Gabriel was staring at the photograph.
Not with surprise.
Not with fear.
With recognition.
And when he realized I was watching him, he quickly looked away.
A terrible thought entered my mind.
What if the person threatening my baby wasn't outside the mansion?
What if they were already standing in the room?
That evening, Dominic doubled the guards.
He canceled every meeting.
He ordered the mansion locked down.
And for the first time since I'd known him, he personally checked every window in Lily's bedroom.
At nine o'clock, he came to my room.
I was sitting on the bed, holding the ultrasound.
He knocked softly.
"Can I come in?"
I nodded.
He entered without his jacket.
The tattoos covering his forearms were fully visible.
He looked exhausted.
"How are you feeling?"
"Scared."
He sat beside me.
For a long moment, neither of us spoke.
Then he said, "I never forgot that night."
My heart stopped.
I looked at him.
"What?"
"The night in my study."
I swallowed.
"You told me it couldn't happen again."
"I know."
"You barely looked at me afterward."
"I know."
I turned away.
"Do you have any idea what that felt like?"
His voice dropped.
"Every day."
I looked back.
He was staring at his hands.
"That morning, I learned someone close to me had betrayed us. I thought the attack was meant to draw me into a trap. I was afraid anyone I cared about would become a target."
"So you pushed me away."
"Yes."
"And you never thought to explain?"
He closed his eyes.
"I've made a lifetime of terrible decisions, Norah. That one may have been the worst."
Tears blurred my vision.
He looked at my stomach.
"Can I?"
I hesitated.
Then nodded.
Dominic slowly placed his enormous hand against the curve beneath my nightgown.
For several seconds, nothing happened.
Then the baby kicked.
His eyes widened.
He froze.
The baby kicked again.
Dominic let out a broken breath.
"Oh, God."
I watched the most feared Mafia boss in Chicago lower his head.
A tear slipped down his cheek.
"My baby," he whispered.
I began crying too.
For one fragile moment, I allowed myself to imagine that everything might be all right.
That Dominic would protect us.
That Lily would have her little brother or sister.
That perhaps the man I'd fallen in love with wasn't completely beyond my reach.
Then Dominic's phone rang.
He answered.
Gabriel's voice came through the speaker.
"Boss. We traced the photograph."
Dominic straightened.
"Where?"
A pause.
Then Gabriel said, "You're not going to like this."
"Tell me."
"The image wasn't taken from a street camera."
Dominic's expression darkened.
"What are you saying?"
"It was taken using equipment registered to our own security department."
My blood turned to ice.
Dominic slowly rose from the bed.
"Someone inside my organization photographed Norah?"
"Yes, Boss."
"Who?"
Gabriel hesitated.
"We're still checking the access records."
Dominic looked toward the bedroom door.
His voice became deadly quiet.
"Lock down the entire estate."
"Already done."
"No one leaves."
"Understood."
"And Gabriel?"
"Yes, Boss?"
"If there's a traitor inside my house, I want them found before sunrise."
Dominic ended the call.
He turned toward me.
"Pack a bag."
I stared at him.
"What?"
"You're not sleeping here tonight."
"Where are we going?"
He reached for my hand.
"Somewhere nobody knows about."
"And Lily?"
"She's coming with us."
I stood carefully.
"Dominic, what's happening?"
He looked at me with an expression I would never forget.
"Someone has declared war on my family."
His fingers tightened around mine.
"And they made the mistake of thinking I'd choose my empire over you."
Before I could answer, a sharp electronic sound came from the hallway.
The security alarm.
Then another.
And another.
Dominic moved toward the door.
A guard shouted from downstairs.
"BOSS! THE EAST WING CAMERAS ARE DOWN!"
Dominic reached beneath his jacket for his gun.
"Stay here."
But before he could leave, Lily appeared in the doorway.
She was crying.
"Daddy!"
Dominic rushed toward her.
"What happened, princess?"
She held up her favorite stuffed rabbit.
A small folded piece of paper had been pinned to its pink ribbon.
Dominic took it.
I watched his expression change as he unfolded the note.
There were only seven words.
THE FIRST BABY DIED. THE SECOND WILL TOO.
I stopped breathing.
Dominic stared at the message.
Then he looked at Gabriel, who had just appeared at the end of the hallway.
"Elena was pregnant?" Dominic whispered.
Gabriel's face went white.
And suddenly, I understood.
The threat against my unborn child was connected to something far darker than a Mafia rivalry.
Someone had buried a secret about Dominic's dead wife.
May you like
A secret involving another baby.
And whoever knew that secret was now coming for mine.
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